#trackmasters

[yourboijod]

Jay-Z - The Blueprint (9/11/2001)

[djevilninja]

It was so real, boats and sixes, Special Japanese chefs makin’ home cooked dishes. Plenty trips, invisible sets; You know what you missin’.

Jennifer Lopez feat Nas - I’m Gonna Be Alright (Trackmasters Remix)

[mywifeleftme]

296: Jay-Z // The Blueprint

The Blueprint Jay-Z 2001, Roc-A-Fella

At the time of his “retirement” in 2004, it was basically settled law that Jay-Z was the greatest rapper alive, if not of all time. Even in the moment, the case should’ve felt sketchier. In sales terms, he was very consistent, but he’d never moved the kind of units Eminem or even Nelly did. In terms of acclaim, he’d had perhaps four albums that could be considered classics, none of which had quite reached the level of namedrop ubiquity of an Illmatic, a Ready to Die, a 36 Chambers. He’d dropped a number of albums where the clunkers threatened to overwhelm the bangers, and his 2002 stab at a magisterial double-album landmark (The Blueprint²) had barely moved the needle. Most people didn’t even think he’d won the war of diss-tracks he’d started with Nas. (He did though.) And yet, if you were there at the time, something made it hard not to take him at his word when he said (with ever-increasing frequency) that he was the greatest to ever do it.

Despite his “Takeover” claim of having only been in the game five years, Jay’d been on the fringes of the rap biz since the late ‘80s, a time when every rapper worth his salt wanted to crown himself king. By the late ‘90s, most major label emcees were more concerned with shoring up their street bona fides and stacking up cash than claiming lyrical supremacy, and Hov was happy to play that tune too. He got the hits, money, and connections, but despite his hyper-capitalist hood mogul outlook, he still wanted the prize he’d grown up watching Kane, Rakim, and Kool Moe Dee fight over. Once Biggie died, a lane to that throne opened up, and Jigga bent all of his will toward snatching it.

The Blueprint isn’t Jay’s audition for the title of Best Rapper Alive. It’s his assumption of it. He posits that greatness and success are synonymous, and Success is Jay-Z’s whole brand. The album is his demonstration of what Success means in rap: having the hottest, most timeless beats; your own label, your own clothing line; spitting the slickest braggadocio; being the smartest, most ruthless guy in the room. When he takes down his rivals, he knocks their heights, bank accounts, and degree of apparent washedness, but most of all it’s their lack of savvy he zeroes in on, how he’s made himself an emperor while they’re still wannabe thugs squabbling over pop corners. Even when those shots prompt a contender as fearsome as Nas to fire back with his hottest record in years, the simple truths Jigga lays out remain uncontested: Who has more money? Who has more hits? Who sounds more like a boss?

Jay understood as no other rapper of his time did that being considered the G.O.A.T. is a matter of perception, not statistics. Arguing against his claim to greatness while The Blueprint’s rolling feels like arguing water isn’t wet or Warren Buffett isn’t wealthy. Track by track he makes his case, drawing together threads from golden age rap and the vintage soul that inspired it until the story of hip-hop itself starts to seem like it was always bound to culminate with Jay-Z. (A fiction he’d continue to promulgate over the years.) The portions of the record helmed by Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Bink! are as pure a distillation of what makes rap great as you’ll find, but even the less critically acclaimed tracks (“Jigga That Nigga”; “Hola Hovito”) find him flexing his command over a pop realm where neither Nas nor Mobb Deep ever seemed truly comfortable.

The only time Jay ever seems remotely out of his element, “Renegade,” comes down to battlefield exigencies: scoring an Eminem feature amounted to a huge coup, but by 2001 Marshall was already becoming a creature of habit. He wasn’t going to be coaxed onto Jay’s turf, where he might’ve had to adapt his whiz kid white boy flow to the soulful lushness of The Blueprint’s other productions. In order to get his man, Jay has to make do with one of Eminem’s own thin, battle rap-friendly beats. Hov acquits himself well, but it’s unquestionable that Shady steals the show. Though Eminem’s career-best verses add to the album’s embarrassment of riches, it's revealing of Jay’s mentality that even on an album intended to position himself as the Best, he was still willing to kiss the ring of rap’s real kingpin for the extra 200 or 300,000 in sales Shady’s name guaranteed.

I didn’t expect to write so much about business when it came to covering one of my three or four favourite rap albums of all-time, but both on record and as a public person Hov frequently compels you to: it’s the frame of reference he’s most confident with. You can’t really put the dollars and cents aside with him. Despite that, The Blueprint is a one-of-a-kind document of the man’s genius for rhyme, his ear for great music, and his ambition to make everyone in the world give a damn about Shawn Carter. Its very success is what makes it his masterpiece.

296/365

[movies-1]

MOVIE: GRAN TURISMO

Watch the full movie: https://shorturl.at/deNU1

[criztop3]

My custom warm yellow coaches

[ledepassionne]

Vincent engine in a Trackmaster frame. Super rare !

[thesteamw0rks]

redrew some faces on thomas toys!

it’s late and I. Tired (i promise i will post more!!) special thanks to @paintedbytosia for suggesting the bachmann face!

[nwreric]

What has my life come to?

[masterj]

Made in august 2022, Here's a digital redraw of the "Thomas At Action Canyon" poster from the Trackmaster set based on The Great Discovery.

Took several months since I was still in high school and it was hard to stay motivated but the end result was satisfactory👍

Really wish I had this set💔💀

[bootlegpals]

"Train" by Jinbi Toys

Source

[rosiebaybie]

So, I got this Trackmaster Emily from Amazon today, so I’m going to be using it in my IRL pictures from now on. You may even see some water pics!

[yourboijod]

Trackmasters

[drballinator]

Now that I have two Thomas’, im considering possibly painting one into Timothy 🤔

[garbage---garden]

Trackmaster Murdoch

[roxaclock]

some new projects happening

Frieda, Merlin, Fernando, Big City Engine, The Red Engine

[proteusofthehills]

my blorblos…