The Blueprint  by Jay-Z

In the midst of various court rulings pending against him, Jay-Z recorded and released his sixth album titled The Blueprint in 2001, which is considered among the best of his entire career. In fact, The Blueprint is one of the best examples of an East Coast hip hop album for the first decade of the 21st century and one of the most complete albums in overall hip hop music of all time.

The reason for its great success was simple. The album stood out due to its clear soul identity, with the samples over which Jay-Z sang his lyrics mainly deriving from compositions by Bobby Blue Bland, Al Green, the Jackson 5, David Ruffin, and many others. What is impressive is that in this album, through some form of production or song interpretation, Eminem, Kanye West, Timbaland, and many other stars of the hip hop scene of that period collaborated.

The album recordings took place from April to July 2001. Coincidentally, it was released on September 11, 2001, the day of the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in the U.S. This did not prevent The Blueprint from selling 427,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release and going straight to No.1 on the Billboard.