The thing with Jay and his fans are that they feel he needs that A-list classic in order to solidify his GOAT status.

And the fact is, he doesn't have that album.

There are two trains of thoughts here;

1. Revisionist history with Reasonable Doubt. I've legit seen that album listed as the greatest hip-hop album of all-time online. But you know like I know, back in 96...RD was run of the mill...great album but I wouldn't blink if someone left it out of a Top 5 or even 10 of 96.

2. People who know that RD isn't on that A-list classic level then praise The Blueprint as his contribution to the list. I've seen that album legit listed in Top 10-Top 25 hip-hop albums of all-time and it simply isn't on that level.

You just named 3 tracks out of 13 that you could do without. On top of those 3, as far as I'm concerned, Takeover-Izzo-Girls is also a combination of novelty/played out status and get the skip button from me. So that's 6 out of 13 songs that have a fair issue with them. Everyone will see those songs different. Some may like more than others. But the point is that there almost half of the album that is not bulletproof. That to me is not an A-List classic that people make it out to be.

And it's all because Jay just doesn't have that album.

Let me conclude with saying that I do like The Blueprint. It has a tie to 9/11 as well which definitely helps its case.