BLUEPRINT 3 COVER

It's one of the rapper's more inventive covers, eschewing an image of himself for a piece of conceptual art that features a bunch of instruments (including keyboards, saxophones and French horns) with an overlay of three red bars. Those bars appear again in the top corner of the cover, suggesting that it is going to be some sort of logo for the album. (MTV)

In addition to the highly-anticipated album release, Def Jam Records will reportedly drop his The Blueprint and The Blueprint 2 LPs on the same day.

After 12 years on the label, Jay bought out his contract and decided to distribute BP3 through Atlantic Records. In an apparent effort to capitalize on the rapper's buzz and push his overall catalog scans with the label, Def Jam has decided to package Jay's Blueprint and Blueprint 2 in one unit called The Blueprint Collection. According to reports, the collection will be offered for sale at a discounted price and will include a collector's item poster. Def Jam has plans to keep their hand in Jay-Z's Blueprint pocket by repackaging the first two albums in the series for release on the same day as his Blueprint 3. (Yo Raps!)