The Blueprint is the sixth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released on September 11, 2001 by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. Its release was brought forward by a week to combat piracy. Recording sessions for the album took place in 2001 at Manhattan Center Studios and Baseline Studios in New York. In contrast to the radio-friendly sound of Jay-Z's previous albums, The Blueprint features soul-based samples and production, provided mainly by Kanye West, Just Blaze and Bink, as well as Timbaland, Trackmasters and Eminem, who is the only guest on the album.