This that Blueprint 3 shit right here.

Thank you, Jeezy.

I could tell there was something off about Blueprint 3 right away and it wasn’t just the awful tracks Jay got from Timbaland or the hopelessly corny “Young Forever.” Even though Jay-Z gives his best performance in years and there are number of standout tracks, there was something deeply disappointing about Blueprint 3 that I couldn’t put my finger on.

Then Jeff Weiss pinpointed it: Blueprint 3’s problem is that Jay “relied on Kanye and Timbaland to tell him what THE FUTURE sounds like.”

We typically associate the future with space travel, infinitely useful brain-chips, and robots butlers that satisfy our every wish. Thus, when we describe music as “futuristic,” we’re usually referring to synthesizers, vocal effects and other relatively new technology/beeps and bloops.

But it’s 2009 and I still don’t have a flying car.

The fantasies we have about the future are actually very unrealistic and silly. Likewise, Blueprint 3’s “future” sound is really just pop-influenced electro-bullshit. “Future music” is not Mr. Hudson. Future music is unexpected and groundbreaking. Blueprint 3, while very entertaining at times (my picks below), is neither.

Download: Jay-Z – Thank You (produced by Kanye West, No I.D.)

Download: Jay-Z – Already Home (produced by Kanye West)

And of course “D.O.A.” and “Run This Town”