For those of us, who are a certain age, we will remember vividly how big 'The Blueprint' was in the months leading up to it's release. 11 years....feels like forever ago, but I remember it all well. Everyone went crazy when he performed 'Izzo' at the BET Awards, I never liked that song, but it was huge, everyone scrambling for the mp3, people had live performance rips and shyt. Then, that commercial with just the cover (?) and 'Momma Loves Me' instrumental playing in the background. The battle between Sigel and Jada was pitched and Jay had just done Summer Jam. He and Sigel covered XXL, talking about their albums, Jay was talking about how he had done the album in about two weeks, Kanye and Just were still unproven. Then, the album leaked, maybe 10 days before, I had the real audio links, the hidden tracks, the full Nas diss, the production, Em's verse on 'Renegade'.
On the morning of 9/11, I remember my mom yelling up at me, to get up, and then she said turn on the tv, a plane just hit the WTC. I was like whatever, and rolled over, back to sleep for like ten minutes. Then I saw some of the coverage, and was still kinda uninterested, a 15 year old at 6:30 AM is not going to be. At school everyone was talking about it, then we watched some coverage in class. But, after school, all I wanted to do was get the album. Walked to Target, and grabbed one, listened to it in my disc man the whole walk home. I had heard most of it on the RA leaks, just a special album. I knew Jay's lyrics were a step down, from 'Vol. 3', he had a more relaxed flow, and simpler lyrics, but the production, the song concepts, were kinda unlike much Jay had ever done. And the 'Takeover', people not around during this time, won't know how crazy that shyt was, Jay and Nas going at each other, directly. People were saying they were through with Nas, unless he responded. Remember the freestyle he dropped after 'dropped the same day as the twin towers'
What does everyone else remember?
On the morning of 9/11, I remember my mom yelling up at me, to get up, and then she said turn on the tv, a plane just hit the WTC. I was like whatever, and rolled over, back to sleep for like ten minutes. Then I saw some of the coverage, and was still kinda uninterested, a 15 year old at 6:30 AM is not going to be. At school everyone was talking about it, then we watched some coverage in class. But, after school, all I wanted to do was get the album. Walked to Target, and grabbed one, listened to it in my disc man the whole walk home. I had heard most of it on the RA leaks, just a special album. I knew Jay's lyrics were a step down, from 'Vol. 3', he had a more relaxed flow, and simpler lyrics, but the production, the song concepts, were kinda unlike much Jay had ever done. And the 'Takeover', people not around during this time, won't know how crazy that shyt was, Jay and Nas going at each other, directly. People were saying they were through with Nas, unless he responded. Remember the freestyle he dropped after 'dropped the same day as the twin towers'
What does everyone else remember?
