I was never able to relate to people who say that they went to the store to cop The Blueprint on the day the Twin Towers fell 25 years ago. That was because I had already bought the album a day early on Monday, Sept. 10 at Eclipse Records in downtown Paterson, NJ. It’s not around anymore unfortunately, but they were known for selling highly-anticipated albums a day early if you went in and asked if they already had the particular project you wanted in stock.
I remember immediately getting into my car and throwing it in the CD player, and not putting it in drive until after “U Don’t Know” melted my brain. I would spend the rest of that day hanging out with friends and listening to it a bunch of times, especially because it would be the first time we heard the rest of “Takeover” after he had teased it at Summer Jam earlier that year — moving on to another song after namedropping Nas. His decision to declare war on the Queens MC triggered “Ether,” but before we were able to get to that, the world stopped the very next day for other reasons.
When I woke up on Tuesday, Sept. 11, I thought I was going to head to class at our local community college during my first week of freshman year. I walked into my kitchen and saw my grandmother, who lived on the second floor, nervously washing dishes while she had the news on the TV in the living room. When she saw me, she said somebody had bombed the Twin Towers. I kinda dismissed her and told her that was old news, because terrorists had bombed the Towers a few years earlier. But then I walked into the living room and saw the smoke coming out of the first building that was hit first, and as I stood there watching the live coverage, I saw the second plane hit.
The rest of the day was spent talking with family and friends about what we had witnessed and listening to this album. I sometimes forget how this particular project is so intertwined with this day. It’s a testament to how things like music can help you escape the harsh realities of the world.
The Blueprint is Jay-Z‘s magnum opus. If it dropped in 2026, every song would chart in the Top 40. It’s the closet project of Jay’s to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, because every track on this album could’ve been a single. The Brooklyn rapper had fully crossed over into the mainstream at this point and was thirsty to be anointed the King of New York, which back then meant the King of Rap. With this project, he not only solidified his standing, he took the throne — even after ultimately losing his battle with Nas. Regardless how you about the Jigga Man, you have to concede that this is not only one of the most pivotal albums in his career, it’s also one of the pivotal albums in rap history. It set off his beef with Nas and it essentially gave us Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), who produced some of the set’s most seismic tracks.
For its 25th anniversary, we ranked every track on The Blueprint. Check out our picks below.
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“Jigga That N—a”
Producer(s): Trackmasters
This would be a single and have a nice, shiny video if it came out today. It just has radio written all over it — and while it might get a bad rap from some fans, this joint rang off during his Yankee Stadium performance. I was right there rapping along with everybody else. However, I will concede that this track is pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, and it’s Blueprint tracks like this that make me rate Reasonable Doubt higher on my personal Jay-Z Albums Ranked list.
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“Izzo (H.O.V.A.)”
Producer(s): Ye (formerly Kanye West)
Jay wearing the Sprewell jersey in the music video remains iconic, but I’ve grown tired of this track over the years. I can appreciate the Jackson 5 lift, and the song’s overall catchiness, but this sometimes is a skip for me. They used give the music video all the time too, so that could be why I usually don’t really pay this any mind. “Izzo” was this project’s lead single and Jay’s first Hot 100 top 10 hit as a lead artist — and was also Ye’s coming out party as a producer. So I don’t wanna just dismiss it, but that’s the way I feel about it.
He’s going off on this track, though. He gave us quotables like, “Use to dribble down in V.A.,” “Show ’em how to move in a room full of vultures/ Industry shady, it need to be taken over,” “I’m overcharging n—as for what they did to the Cold Crush,” “N—as acting like I sold you crack/ Like I told you sell drugs/ No, Hov did that, so hopefully you won’t have to go through that,” and of course, “I’ve seen hoop dreams deflate like a true fiend’s weight.”
Okay, so maybe it’s not really as played out as I made it out to be.
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“All I Need”
Producer(s): Bink!
It still trips me out that this wasn’t a single. It has all the ingredients just like “Jigga That N—a” and “Hola’ Hovito” do. The production and hook are made for radio and for the club. He should retroactively make videos for those songs. I think that’s would’ve been cool for the anniversary. Anyway, I’m not gonna die on the “All I Need” hill. Just know it passes the car test and had a sold-out crowd singing along. Shout out, Bink!. He’s one of the must underrated.
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“Girls, Girls, Girls, Pt. II”
Producer(s): Ye (formerly Kanye West)
I like the Just Blaze version better, but this is still a worthy sequel. Jay’s having fun with the wordplay and isn’t leaning too much on stereotypes like on the first one — and then you get early, yet quintessential Kanye production with the way you can hear him punching pads on the MPC he used to make this on. It’s just a beautifully genius way to flip that sample.
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“Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise)”
Producer(s): Just Blaze
Never forget how much streaming took so much from us. My friends and I stumbled on this track by complete mistake. We were hotboxing in my sea green ’89 Honda Accord coupe after playing the album straight through, and were bulls—tting around looking for the next CD to listen to — when all of a sudden, we heard the start of this track. Then I remember we went crazy he said he was the “Trinidad of the Game” — but that line aged like milk because B. Hop beat the breaks off our favorite Bori of the moment a few weeks later. I wanna say that he did this same thing on Vol. 3 when he included “Jigga My N—a” and “Girl’s Best Friend” at the end of the bonus cut “Anything.” This was a cool street single and easter egg that I still listen to and remember every word.
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“The Ruler’s Back”
Producer(s): Bink!
People don’t give Bink the credit he deserves when it comes to this album. Here he and Jay set things off with one of his more triumphant intros, as they pays tribute to Slick Rick by doing their own version of the the classic cut of the same name. I don’t have this in my top five Jay-Z intros, but it was the perfect one to start this particular album with — and proved prophetic, because he hasn’t stepped down from rap’s throne since. -
“Hola’ Hovito”
Producer(s): Timbaland
I always liked this track. It’s another one of those records on this project that would’ve been a single and a video today, now that I look back on it. The formula for a hit record during the early 2000s is all there. You have the upbeat Timbaland beat, the catchy hook, Jay at the top of his game rapping in Spanish; I mean, what more could you ask for? This had Yankee Stadium rocking just like it used to have the club rockin’ back in the day, with everyone in attendance screaming “Hola Hovito” in unison in collared shirts and dress shoes.
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“Girls, Girls, Girls”
Producer(s): Just Blaze
Cancel culture would’ve had a field day with this song if it came out today, because of all the stereotypes that he’s leaning on. In fact, he barely performed it during the second night of his Yankee Stadium weekend if I remember correctly. Outdated humor aside, I feel like Just Blaze doesn’t get enough credit for how soulful this beat is. I’ve always felt like it’s one of his best. The chorus is pretty great too, and you know what? Some of these lines are still funny. “Mami’s a narcoleptic, she’s always sleepin’ on Hov,” will always get a chuckle out of me. Sue me.
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“Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)”
Producer(s): Bink!
Well, well, well, what do we have here? Yet another beat I bet some casual thinks Ye made. Jay did this type of outro on The Black Album a couple years later on the track “My 1st Song” where he’s shouting people out in his verses as well. The coolest thing about this song — and this is something you won’t experience unless you get a physical copy — is that it’s about 11 minutes long because the next two tracks after were hidden at the end of this one. I’ll always love the way Bink! incorporated those organs, and how it makes this track feel like a gospel song.
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“Renegade” (feat. Eminem)
Producer(s): Eminem
The biggest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the masses that Eminem washed Jay on this track. Now, don’t get me wrong, Slim Shady got off — especially when you consider he did double duty as the song’s producer — but some fans seriously underrate Jigga Man’s performance on here. In the first verse, he’s talking crazy to critics of rap music and how they don’t understand the trials and tribulations it took for someone like him to get to where he’s at, and in his second verse, he’s rapping about the dire situation he grew up in. Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?
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“Never Change”
Producer(s): Ye (formerly Kanye West)
The hood f—ks with this record heavy. The loss of 92 bricks aside (I believe him), the somber production coupled with the detailed sincerity in his voice makes this a favorite of those that have been around the things and situations he’s referring to. “Never Change” is a ghetto anthem, I don’t how else to put it. Lines like, “We all fish, better teach your folk/ Give him money to eat, the next week, he’s broke/ ‘Cause when you sleep, he’s reachin’ for your throat,” “Streets robbed me, wasn’t educated properly,” and “Chains are cool to cop, but more important are lawyer fees” are some of the best and memorable lines he ever laid down. And I gotta show love to Ye on the hook. I might get “I’m still f—kin’ with crime, ’cause crime pays/ Out hustlin’, same clothes for days/ I never change, I’m too stuck in my ways, I’ll never change” tatted in the form of a Dead Sea Scroll one of these days.
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“Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”
Producer(s): Ye (formerly Kanye West)
When people mention Kanye’s imprint on this album, I think of this song and “Never Change” before anything else. Jay feeling like he doesn’t get the reverence he deserves is nothing new. He was looked at as the best rapper alive by many during this period, but not to all, so he still had a chip on his shoulder — and this was him getting in the booth, sighing and wondering why some fans and peers didn’t rock with him like they really should. His nonchalant delivery over Ye’s masterful Bobby Bland flip makes this one of the many standout songs on a classic album.
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“Song Cry”
Producer(s): Just Blaze
Again, why do we let people act like this is a Kanye album — and like if it wasn’t for Kanye, this album wouldn’t be as revered as it is today? Just and Bink! are all over this project, alongside the Chicago producer. I’m convince some of you fools don’t read lines notes. This one was a first for Jay, who’d hop on R&B remixes in the past, but had never given us a heartbreak anthem before — even if he was gonna get right back after f—kin’ around. This track isn’t as serious as some of the others, but I always felt like it was in the vein of some of his more vulnerable efforts like “You Must Love Me” and “Soon You’ll Understand.” The humorous vulnerability over Just Blaze’s beautiful production…
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“Takeover”
Producer(s): Ye (formerly Kanye West)
You just had to be there when word came back from Summer Jam. Not only did he infamously put Prodigy (RIP) “on that Summer Jam screen” and call out the then-reigning King of New York in Nas, he also brought out Micheal Jackson, who he sampled on the track after this one. It’s really hard to explain how seismic this moment was if you weren’t there in real time. He didn’t perform the whole song during his set, so this was the first time everybody was hearing him going directly at Nas in the last verse. It was an act of war that would set off a battle royale between the Roc and Queensbridge, while changing the course of rap history as we know it.
With that being said, I can’t fail to mention how hard this beat is. Ye’s sampling of the Doors’ classic “Five to One” I’m sure put the legendary rock band on the radar for many rap fans who weren’t privy to their work and influence before. This most brilliant sample flips are ones like this — simple, yet effective — and it remains one of the more memorable tracks in both Ye’s and Jigga’s catalog. “Takeover” is in the pantheon of all-time great diss songs, and there it will remain.
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“U Don’t Know”
Producer(s): Just Blaze
This is one of those “I remember where I was and what I was doing” type of songs. I was still sitting out front of the record store in my car when I got to this song. The beat — maybe Just Blaze’s best — the confidence he rapped with, the bars that would eventually become prophecy… it all blew my mind. It was my favorite song on the album back then, it remains my favorite track, and seeing this ring off live at Yankee Stadium was a moment I’ll never forget. Jay laid everything out there and gave cats the blueprint as he really began to ascend to new heights in the business world.
My own personal politics aside, it’s always going to be impressive how he did what he’s done while navigating the environment that he’s from. He had me really thinking I was getting to the bag like he was, and had me talking like I was signed to Def Jam and had a clothing line that was clocking millions in annual revenue. I would also like to add that I think it’s pretty fascinating that most of Jigga’s most memorable songs are the non-singles. This track doesn’t even have it’s own Wiki page — as if it’s not a top 10 song in his catalog.
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