In 2001, Jay-Z teamed up with Kanye West and Just Blaze to create one of the past decade’s most influential, evocative hip-hop soundscapes. The Blueprint proved to be as aptly titled as any hip-hop LP ever has been, and over the following three years, all three artists experienced great success on the strength of that album’s ubiquity. By 2004, Jay-Z had tired of life as the king of the castle, and Kanye was increasingly bored playing second, even third, fiddle to his labelmates. Amidst apexing drama between Roc-A-Fella’s State Property and Dipset factions, Jay declined to reign supreme over the rap world any longer, loudly passing his scepter to Kanye, widely considered the least likely of choices for the role.
Yet, as is a king’s wont, Jay made a decision he felt was for the best of the Roc, and, if the previous seven years have taught us anything, it was his best business move since eschewing major label money in favor of starting his own label in 1996. Kanye quickly developed a signature sound, and then another, and then another. By the time they reconvened to work on Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 in 2009, the tables had very obviously turned. Kanye was now in Jay-Z‘s ear more as a peer than a hitmaker, and the respect ran deeper than musical aptitude. The two began to view each other as two sides of the same coin; Jay with his collected, Robert De Niro-like demeanor and Ye, the bombastic Al Pacino out for the blood of all who dared doubt him.