Track Listing

1. Diamonds Is Forever
2. Guns & Roses
3. U Dont Know Remix
4. Meet The Parents
5. Some How Some Way
6. Some People Hate
7. Blueprint 2
8. Nigga Please
9. 2 Many Hoes
10. As One
11. A Ballad For The Fallen Soldier
12. Show You How
13. Bitches & Sisters
14. What They Gonna Do Part II
15. A Dream
16. Hovi Baby
17. The Watcher 2
18. 03' Bonnie & Clyde
19. Excuse Me Miss
20. What They Gonna Do
21. All Around The World
22. Popin' Tags
23. Fuck All Nite
24. The Bounce
25. I Did It My Way

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1909 in Music
• Released on: 2002-11-18
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
To release seven strong albums in as many years is a phenomenal achievement. Just ask Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. The rapper's fans know he won't let them down, so Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse is as near to a no-risk investment as this notoriously variable genre can produce. In hip-hop, stars are born, rise, shine briefly, then fade and fall with alarming speed. Yet, seven years after his independently produced debut, Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z is still shining. This sprawling, contrary, brash and supremely competent double CD isn't without its faults, but they're easily overlooked. Whether resurrecting the career of a forgotten producer (Heavy D's "Guns & Roses" should do for his career what "Hard Knock Life" did for the 45 King's) or continuing to nurture new talent (Just Blaze and Kanye West, unknown before the first Blueprint, produce the majority of tracks here), Carter knows how to get the best from his collaborators. And, especially considering he works on his lyrics "live", committing them to both memory and tape instead of writing them down, Jay's wordsmithery is particularly impressive. Nobody in rap history can match his consistency; the only problem will be living up to his own standards. --Angus Batey

CD Description
Hip-hop superstar's seventh studio album is a sprawling, 110-minute double CD set featuring no less than 25 tracks. Experimenting with a varied range of sounds and styles, the manborn Shawn Carter collaborates with a dizzying ensemble cast of guest artists including Dr. Dre, Rakim, Faith Evans, Sean Paul, Outkast, MOP, Lenny Kravitz and Beyonce Knowles. While not as focused as 'Vol.1', this cements Jay-Z's place atthe top of the hip-hop game.

Customer Reviews

Probably the best rap album of the year
Jay-z is back in style with the usual combination that has made him so enduring in the often flash in the pan rap scene. This album packs the usual tight production from the likes of Timbaland, Kanye West, Just Blaze and the seemingly omnipresent neptunes. Some top guest appearances including Scarface, Dre, Outkasts Big Boi, reggaes hottest new star Sean Paul and girlfriend? Beyonce Knowles, Along with the rest of the rest of the rocafellar family

The album kicks of in style with "A dream" a song featuring a verse by Notorious big lifted from the his song "juicy". Jay again uses a fallen stars' tune on the love or hate "03 Bonnie and Clyde" that uses Tupacs classic "me and my girlfriend", although this song will undoubtedly help shift albums fans of the song should check out the original.
Jay-z is at his best on the gift where he is being his own original self on tracks like "Hovi Baby" and the Kanye West produced "Poppin Tags".

The second disc the curse is where the albums real bangers can be found the mop remixed "u don't know" is hot, a potentially disastrous collabo with lenny Kravitz comes of real good, Jay-z takes more swipes at nemesis nas on the excellent "blueprint2" and answers critics who accuse him of misogyny on the sure to be controversial "bitches and sisters"

Although the usual and frequent references to diamonds, dating models and cash for which jay-z is often critized for are still there, the track "meet the parents" shows he can tell a story as well as anyone.

Overall his album is a must buy for most rap fans, it is one of, if not the best double rap albums I have heard (BIG's and tupacs efforts included), although this may be the last we will hear of Jay-z for a while there are enough hot tracks for this album to stay in the cd changer for a long time to come.

A classic album better by only a few in history.
5 Stars

A Worthy Buy, but no classic!
I had been waiting in anticipation for some time for the release of this album, after the Blueprint, i was sure it would be another classic. But i must say, i was disappointed. I cannot deny that if jay-z "isn't better than BIG, then he's the closest one", not better, but indeed the closest one. Bluprint 2 has some superb beats, my favourte being the title track (blueprint 2) with one of the theme tunes to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, a fantastic idea to use this, it goes incredibly well with his voice. However, he lacks originality throughout the album.As well as qouting the legend Christopher Wallace far too often, he has re-used the beat from "U Dont Know" on Blueprint. Also the single '03 Bonnie & Clyde ' has turned a hardcore, metaphoric tupac track about his love for his gun (Me and my Girlfriend- Makaveli)into a R 'n' B style love song. An Injustice, so to speak. But dont get me wrong, i dont think that Blueprint 2 is a bad album, and it is definately a worthy addition to any Hip Hop Collection.

Jay-Z - The Blueprint 2: The Gift and The Curse
Its a showcase of some of the best producers in the world, some of the best artists and of course the man himself. The two tracks released as singles ('03 Bonnie & Clyde and Excuse me Miss) are good but there are two hidden gems on this album...1)Meet the Parents, due to the subject matter it can be understood why this wasn't released as a single but it really is incredibly hard hitting stuff. 2) The Bounce, For me (and possibly me alone) this is as good a Timbo/Jigga collabo as 'Big Pimpin'and thats saying something. Dr Dre's work is ok, but those of us who have heard 'The Watcher' will perhaps wonder what he did to earn his fee, although Rakim appears on this tracks and drops an excellent verse. The Neptunes take four tracks, the best of which is 'Excuse me Miss', the other three are like every other track produced by them during this period. Just Blaze adds the excellent 'Meet the Parents' while 'Hovi Baby' is rather overblown and 'U Don't Know remix' is quite poor. Unfortunatly the Lenny Kravitz collaboration, which had so much potential, proved a bit of a dissapointment. At 22 tracks long, spread over 2 CD's, it is too hit and miss. Too many guest artists can get a little annoying too, but again, one thing you can always depend on is that Jay-Z has something to say. Every one of his albums is worth getting purely for the excellent lyricism and wordplay.