“I’m talkin’ ’bout music, I ain’t talkin’ ’bout rap,” spits Jay-Z in the opening moments of The Blueprint 3’s leadoff track, “What We Talkin’ About,” and if you didn’t know any better, you’d be inclined to believe him: it’s a chilly, synth-frosted hip-hop/new new wave summit, boasting production from Kanye West, several snaky minutes’ worth of chest-beating from the man with his name above the title, and vocals on the hook from Empire of the Sun’s Luke Steele. Before it’s over, Jay-Z has done everything from take credit for being “a small part of the reason the President is black” to peeling off guffaw-worthy lines like “Grown men want me to sit ‘em on my lap / But I don’t have a beard, and Santa Claus ain’t black / I repeat, you can’t sit on my lap / I don’t have a beard / Now get off my sack.” Long on wit and short on big, dumb hooks, “What We Talkin’ About” is an auspicious beginning, one that suggests Jay-Z’s recent, much-ballyhooed appearance at a Grizzly Bear concert was just the beginning of a brave new world of eyebrow-raising hip-hop collaborations that actually work.

In the end, it doesn’t really turn out that way, but to its extreme credit, the first half of The Blueprint 3 actually makes you think Jay-Z’s going to pull it off. (more…)