Kanye West and Jay-Z collaborated far before even West broke through hip-hop as a rapper. West would produce a few of Jay-Z’s records, and even helped create instrumentals for the first Blueprint.

XXL celebrates 50 years of hip-hop with this moment: Sept. 8, 2009: The Blueprint 3 was the last album in Jay-Z's Blueprint trilogy, which started with the classic The Blueprint in 2001, and then ...

The first step of Jay Z’s grand 12-year plan was, by his own definition, an unmitigated failure. It was 2003, and the king of hip-hop was planning to retire from rapping amid a flurry of cross ...

UPDATE: Just as quietly as they appeared, Jay’s albums have now disappeared from the service. A source close to the matter indicates the Blueprint projects were never supposed to be offered on Apple ...

It may be hard for some fans to recognize or recall, but the rise of Shawn Carter aka Jay Z to rap alpha dog status wasn't immediate or a foregone conclusion. Those who are dismissive of Jay's ...

Hip Hop icon Jay-Z made history this week when debuted at the top of the Billboard Top 200 charts this week. It was the rapper's 11th top album, pushing him past Elvis Presley as the solo act with the ...

After 11 studio albums, 13 years, dozens of hits and untold millions of records sold, there's not much left to debate about Jay-Z. He has either outlasted, outsold or outsmarted all the competition.

You love to have the argument, again and again: what’s the best Jay-Z album, Reasonable Doubt or The Blueprint? Both are absolute classics in every sense of the word—but only one can reign supreme.

Jay-Z is looking to lead a new era of Hip-Hop across the globe. AllHipHop.com watches S. Carter plot his latest blueprint. The story could end right here, right now, and it would be quite celebratory.