Will Jay-Z and 'Blueprint 3' Save Rap?

I have previously talked about quite a few different rappers who have deviated against the flow of the current state of mediocrity the rap genre is in, but none are as influential or as passionate about this as Jay-Z. The Brooklyn-based rapper is really one of the last great legends of music that still, to this day, makes music better than most young artists.

Jay-Z has played a vital role in getting rap to be accepted by the mainstream in the '90s and according to the scathing "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" track he dropped a few weeks ago, the Jigga is none too happy about the present sing-song trends of a genre he helped reach its full potential. Many artists have used Auto-Tune extensively to make their songs more melodious such as Akon, T-Pain, Lil' Wayne, and many many MANY more. The overuse of the digital voice amplifier has put more emphasis on the chorus of songs and little to none on the true heart and soul of the genre--the verses.

So Jay-Z has taken matters into his own hands and with his upcoming Blueprint 3 album, he plans to voice his hatred of the misuse of the effect and to "save hip hop". The result? The aforementioned single "D.O.A." mixes powerful old school production with sharp lyricism and a hilarious chorus where Jay attempts to sing "La-Da-Da-Da/Hey Hey Hey/Goodbye!" without using Auto-Tune. The song is basically one gigantic diss at all of the posers who use the effect and talk about pointless things (I'm looking at you, DJ Khaled).

Just today Jay-Z released a new single that shows plenty of promise to become much more popular than "D.O.A.". Featuring Rihanna on the chorus and a killer verse by Kanye West, "Run This Town" is an absolutely amazing song that no doubt proves that Hov is not just a cranky old man upset with the way the world is changing--he is the one making the world change and he loves every second of it.

So on September 11th, 2009 (the 8-year anniversary of Jay's most critically acclaimed album The Blueprint as well as the 9/11 terror attacks), will he have done it? Will Jay-Z have saved rap from the bowels of ringtone hell, or will the genre remain stagnant and indifferent? All that we know for sure is that Jay-Z is sending a powerful message here and it is one the industry can no longer ignore.