Shawn Carter, better known by his artist name Jay Z, is currently one of the most successful rappers of his time. With a current net worth of over 610 million, Jay Z demonstrates the ideal achievement of the American Dream. His roots are established in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, right in the infamous Marcy projects. Carter has had the opportunity to develop a rapping career out of the Marcy Houses and become a widely recognized artist. While Jay’s current music may not be his best, we cannot deviate from his captivating lyrics from his early career. As his sixth studio album, The Blueprint is a representation of Carter’s greatest works, earning a spot on The Village Voice’s “The 50 Most NYC Albums Ever” and is considered one of the greatest albums of the 2000s as well as the current decade. Numerous factors can be considered into the success of The Blueprint most noticeably the authenticity of his story of his life and hustle in one of the most violent housing complexes in New York City.

The Blueprint is really an embodiment of the struggles of living in the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn. Carter described his attachment to his origins, the violence he was exposed to, the inevitable drug dealing, and the struggle to survive. Jay Z had said, “crack was everywhere – it was inescapable. There wasn’t any place you could go for isolation or a break. You go in the hallway; [there are] crackheads in the hallway… We were living in a tough situation, but my mother managed; she juggled. Sometimes we’d pay the light bill, sometimes we paid the phone, sometimes the gas went off. We weren’t starving—we were eating, we were O.K.” (As reported by Lisa Robinson in an interview for Vanity Fair in the November 2013 issue). Even on the last track of The Blueprint, “Blueprint (Momma loves me)” Jay Z raps

“Marcy raised me, and whether right or wrong/Streets gave me all I write in the song”

The couplet suggests that his lyrics are a product of his life in the projects. Carter had spent the first half of his lifetime living in the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, all the experiences and lessons he acquired throughout those years provided him with the substance to write raps about his struggles. This is what I would consider the “real” or “old” Jay Z. Hearing about his lifetime was not foreign because many of his fans were living with him.

On another note, everyone has heard of the infamous West Side/East Side feud between rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, but what about the one of that between Jay Z and Queen’s own Nas. Prior to the release of The Blueprint, Jay Z had performed the first verse of his track “Takeover” during Hot 97’s concert, Summer Jam. This specific track was one of the tracks to be included in The Blueprint and it was a rap aimed directly at Nas and Mobb Deep. This performance had triggered the feud and had fans excited for the full release of the track.

Aside from hype from feuds, one of the surprising aspects of the success with an album such as The Blueprint had much to do with its release date. Amid the sadness of the falling of the World Trade Center, Shawn Carter’s The Blueprint had dropped the very same day along with other albums by Mariah Carey, Bob Dylan, Nickleback, P.O.D., Ben Folds, The Coup, Dream Theater, and Slayer. Among these albums, The Blueprint had the most commercial success. Experts and professors had their share in determining what made this album so successful; part of the reason may have been the audience (As stated by Craig Johnson in CNN’s “Jay Z’s music on 9/11” article, 2011). Hip-hop during the 90s and early 2000s was a genre that was not just considered music, but a culture for youth. While enjoyed by various age groups, hip-hop was mostly popular among teens and people in their early twenties.

As a man from New York, Jay Z understood the importance of the World Trade Center in New York, and felt the impact as well. Jay Z had mentioned the tragic event numerous times post September 11, in lyrics from “9/11 Freestyle” and the first track of his seventh album, The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse. In efforts to help organizations, Jay Z had donated a dollar from every ticket sold during his Blueprint Lounge Tour, a clear indication that he is well aware of the situation that had unfolded and that he was there for his fellow New Yorkers (Tardio, MTV, 2015).

The Blueprint was very impactful in Jay Z’s career, as it continues to be one of the most successful albums of his career, but its value in content left an indentation as to who the real Shawn Carter is. Its content of soulful samples make it an incredible album. The Blueprint described indeed, Carter’s blueprint of his early life, but also laid out his future plans in changing the rap game. It was the foundation to the albums that followed, particularly The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, in 2002, and then The Blueprint 3 in 2009. Shawn Carter had gone on to do the unexpected as he had stated in The Blueprint and has established his name in hip-hop history, becoming one of the most powerful and wealthiest rappers of all time (As stated in Forbes, 2016).