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Ohio’s Blueprint has been putting it down on the underground scene for a good decade now, becoming an integral limb in the Rhymesayers family tree, and without a doubt one of the most consistent artists in his class. It’s been five years since his last LP with RSE, 1988, and with Adventures In Counter-Culture he makes his return to the scene.


Always outspoken, Adventures… finds Blueprint in familiar territory; not a line is wasted, as he uses his music as a platform to speak on whatever’s on his mind or under his skin. From the jump, on “Go Hard or Go Home”, he spits his brand of justified arrogance, laying down a take-it-or-leave-it manifesto over his own moody production. This sentiment continues throughout much of the album, like on the brilliantly penned anti-Clear Channel joint “Radio-Inactive” or the clever double-entendre led “The Clouds”, where he laments “I ain’t about to do the same record, different year / I used to be in that lane, but now I’m steering clear.”


While his sound on this LP sticks to his original, well, blueprint, he does attempt to go outside the box and create something different than what was found on 1988. He literally takes it back to that era, but this time channeling Thomas Dolby rather than KRS-One. The celebrity obsessed “Wanna Be Like You” finds Print straight up singing over an 80′s synth-pop track, while “Fly Away” throws all caution to the wind, sounding like something from the soundtrack to your favorite John Hughes comedy. Print isn’t a bad singer by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems like a lot of the album leans on this new style, as tracks like “Rise & Fall” and “The Other Side” close things out on a bit of a bad note.


Whichever direction Print takes his music next remains to be seen, but in the end, Adventures in Counter-Culture really only satisfies half the time. Five years without an LP from the man was painful, and while the raw, underground hip-hop cuts included here satisfy on every level, the vocal, 80′s-inspired tracks sow confusion. An honest LP if there ever was one, Print’s every word is cherished, but the musical direction is a bit uneven.

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10 Responses to "Blueprint – “Adventures In Counter-Culture” – @@@1/2 (Review)"
  • dnpmonk says:

    All I can say is I ve been waiting for this and now that I heard it and read this review I too give it 3 1/2. Some awesome songs and some def WTF songs too. Im all for expanding musically but not on 75% of an album your fans have been waiting for years to hear!

  • WoW from just the 1st listening of the album i thought it was really good…but after seeing the review and peeping some of the comments i may have to give it another listening too because i wouldve rated it atleast a 4….

  • ItsYaBoyEd says:

    I think he experimented too much on this album. like Dnpmonk said his hardcore fans have been waiting a minute for this to drop and after hearing the album I felt dissapointed that I didn’t get to hear the Blueprint album I was waiting for.

  • TomL says:

    I thought that it was average, nothing too exciting unless you are a hardcore fan

  • sevechild says:

    I’m 100% on board with the review and comments so far. 1988 was one of the better albums to drop in the past decade and he follows it up with this? Like others have said, maybe if we didn’t have to wait 6 years since the previous album dropped I could stomach it. Sure, we’ve had a Soul Position and a Greenhouse Effect album come out since then, but they aren’t quite the same.

    Make more albums if you want to experiment that much musically, Print.

  • Comments (10)

    paul t

    April 16th, 2011 at 8:55 am