The Blueprint 3

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Albums
	The Blueprint 3
	Singles
	DOA (Death of Auto-Tune)
	Run This Town
	Empire State of Mind
	On to the next one
	Young Forever

chronology
The Blueprint 3
Jay-Z's studio album
Publication ; (s)	2009
Label (s)	Roc Nation , Atlantic Records
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Hip hop
Title (number)	15th
running time	60:44
production	Jay-Z ( Executive Producer ) ; Kanye West (Executive Producer) ; No ID; Timbaland; Jerome Harmon; Al Shux; Janet Sewell-Ulepic; The Inkredibles; The Neptunes; Swizz Beatz; Kenoe;
June 5, 2009	DOA (Death of Auto-Tune)
July 24, 2009	Run This Town
October 20, 2009	Empire State of Mind
December 15, 2009	On to the next one
May 11, 2010	Young Forever

The Blueprint 3 ( English for The Blueprint 3 ) is the eleventh studio album of American rapper Jay-Z . It was released on September 8, 2009 on the Roc Nation and Atlantic Records labels .

Production and samples

Jay-Z himself and Kanye West served as executive producers in the production of the album . The latter produced the beats for What We Talkin 'About , Thank You , Run This Town , A Star is Born and Already Home in collaboration with No ID. In A Star is Born also Kenoe participated. The instrumentals for Hate and Young Forever were also created by Kanye West, while No ID produced the beat for DOA (Death of Auto-Tune) . The hit single Empire State of Mind was produced by the British Al Shux in collaboration with Janet Sewell-Ulepic. Producer Timbaland worked on Off That , Venus vs. Mars and Reminder with Jerome Harmon. There is also a beat from The Inkredibles ( Real as It Gets ), Swizz Beatz ( On to the Next One ) and The Neptunes ( So Ambitious ).

Ten of the 15 tracks contain samples of songs by other artists. What We Talkin 'About samples the song Spirit by Frederic Mercier and Thank You has elements of the track Ele E Ela by Marcos Valle. With DOA (Death of Auto-Tune) the tracks Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by the band Steam and In the Space by Janko Nilovic and Dave Sucky are sampled. Run This Town contains a sample of the song Someday in Athens from Alatas Athenasios while Empire State of Mind the title Love on a Two-Way Street by The Moments and The Brealthrough of Isaac Hayes is sampling. The song On to the Next One samples DANCE by the French band Justice and A Star Is Born contains elements of the track Touch Me by the Mother Freedom Band. Further samples are included in the songs Already Home ( Mad Mad Ivy by Gladstone Anderson and the Mudies All-Stars), So Ambitious ( Memory Lane by Minnie Riperton ) and Young Forever ( Forever Young by Alphaville ).

Cover design

The album cover is mostly black and white. It shows a wide variety of musical instruments (including keyboard , accordion , guitar , drums ) as well as microphones and loudspeakers in one pile. In the foreground there are three horizontal red bars. At the top left is the lettering Jay-Z and at the top right the title The Blueprint 3 in black.

Guest Posts

Professional reviews
Reviews
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Other artists besides Jay-Z can be heard on eleven of the 15 songs on the album. Singer Luke Steele has a guest appearance in What We Talkin 'About . Rapper and producer Kanye West supports Jay-Z on Run This Town and Hate . The singer Rihanna is also involved in the first song . Alicia Keys sings the refrain of the track Empire State of Mind and the rapper Young Jeezy appears on Real as It Gets . The track On to the Next One contains a guest contribution by Swizz Beatz and the song Off That features rapper Drake . In addition, artists J. Cole ( A Star Is Born ), Kid Cudi ( Already Home ), Pharrell Williams ( So Ambitious ) and the band Mr Hudson ( Young Forever ) each have a guest contribution.

Track list

#	title	Guest Posts	producer	length
1	What We Talkin 'About	Luke Steele	Kanye West and No ID	4:04
2	Thank you		Kanye West and No ID	4:10
3	DOA (Death of Auto-Tune)		No ID	4:15
4th	Run This Town	Rihanna and Kanye West	Kanye West and No ID	4:27
5	Empire State of Mind	Alicia Keys	Al Shux and Janet Sewell-Ulepic	4:36
6th	Real as It Gets	Young Jeezy	The Inkredibles	4:12
7th	On to the next one	Swizz Beatz	Swizz Beatz	4:17
8th	Off that	Drake	Timbaland and Jerome Harmon	4:06
9	A star is born	J. Cole	Kanye West, Kenoe and No ID	3:48
10	Venus vs. Mars		Timbaland and Jerome Harmon	3:10
11	Already Home	Kid Cudi	Kanye West and No ID	4:29
12	Hate	Kanye West	Kanye West	2:38
13	Reminder		Timbaland and Jerome Harmon	4:18
14th	So ambitious	Pharrell Williams	The Neptunes	4:12
15th	Young Forever	Mr. Hudson	Kanye West	4:13

Chart successes and singles

The Blueprint 3 reached number 22 in the German album charts and stayed in the top 100 for six weeks. In the USA, the album entered the top position and was able to stay in the charts for 55 weeks, including two weeks at number 1.

The songs DOA (Death of Auto-Tune) , Run This Town , Empire State of Mind , On to the Next One and Young Forever were released as singles.

Sales figures and awards

For more than one million copies sold, The Blueprint 3 was certified platinum in the United States . The album also went platinum in the UK for over 300,000 copies. Worldwide sales amount to more than three million.

The Grammy Awards 2011 was The Blueprint 3 in the category Best Rap Album nominated, but lost Recovery by Eminem .