On This Day: “The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse“

On this day 18 years ago, Jay-Z released “The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse”, his 7th studio album. With singles like “ ‘03 Bonnie & Clyde”, “Hovi Baby” & Excuse Me Miss”, the album went on to sell 545,000 units it’s first week, debuting at Number 1 on the charts & eventually went Triple Platinum. Blueprint² is a two disc album based on it’s title, disc one being “The Gift”, his mainstream tracks & disc 2 being “The Curse”, his underground cult hits from the album. The song “The Bounce”, produced by Timbaland features an uncredited verse by Kanye West, which would be his first introduction as a rapper on any Roc-A-Fella song. This album would receive mixed reviews upon it’s release, with Hov even stating the music suffered due to him recently becoming President of Def Jam Records recently to the time. In 2003, parts of the album were reissued for “The Blueprint 2.1”, his compilation album.

November 12th, 2002