I never called it a classic. It's an album I enjoy. I consider it with the other two mentioned to be in Jay's best work. The Blueprint isn't boring at all. It has enough variety to keep me consistently coming back to it. As for The Black album it spawned some of the best tracks in hip-hop in the 2010's. Everyone knows Encore, 99 Problems and Dirt off my Shoulder.
The fact that these two albums are just as relevant today and are still played in heavy rotation, one need only check the worldwide Last.FM stats indicates that they are far from 'boring'
As for Lupe ghostwriting, that's a reference made by Lupe's former producer which probably had nothing to do with Jigga. I've never seen it confirmed, so to me it's still just another internet rumour. I could start one that Jay-Z ghostwrote for Notorious BIG. Could anyone disprove it?
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