It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Charles Dickens can have his two cities. The way the comment boards have been buzzing around the Hip-Hop blogosphere, the only two things of note at the moment are Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 and Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II, both of which leaked in the past two days. What the buildup, the leak and the early reception has proven, if anything, is that nobody knows how the fuck to handle this internet business. A brief look at the two albums:
The Blueprint 3- Jay-Z, one of the richest and most successful artists of all-time returns at 40 to continue his Blueprint series. At this point, a Jay-Z release is a global event. The man basically strong armed his way toward releasing the record on his terms. Sheerly because of his profile, expectation and demand (more on this later) were elevated.
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II- It’s tough to label Raekwon’s career as “disappointing,” because the original Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is easily a top-10 Hip-Hop release of all-time (arguably better than ANY Jay-Z album). That said, Raekwon has failed to match the excitement and scope on his projects since his debut. Then, a few years back, Raekwon started speaking on Pt. II, essentially promising on multiple occasions that it was close to release. Once again, that was years ago. As time passed and no album came out, fans gradually stopped believing and grumbles of the album being shelved echoed throughout the comment boards.
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