"These things are like the forgotten pieces in hip-hop," Hov said in an interview. "It's still about music. It's not about radio, making gimmicks -- it's still about making music. Those things are piled in the corner. These are the forgotten things about music...The three stripes that everybody is asking about is made from the original [number] three. The first three they made on the wall was someone carving. If you look at [the number] three, all they did was connect lines. The whole thing about this album, how I approached it, is that I wanted to make a new classic to start that all over again -- to go back to making classic albums like the ones we grew up listening to." (MTV)

Jay's album cover made headlines after landing online Monday (August 3) afternoon via www.jay-z.com.

Jay-Z posted the above image ? a cornucopia of white-painted instruments ? on his official Website today, which implies he?ll be using the graphic as the cover of his eagerly anticipated The Blueprint 3. The cover echoes BP3?s aesthetic, Jay?s reliance on live instruments ? he brought a 10-piece band with him for his All Points West performance ? as opposed to studio trickery, which Jigga officially declared ?D.O.A? with his first BP3 single. (Rolling Stone)

The rapper will also face competition from his former record label, Def Jam, which has plans to re-release the project's first two titles.

After 12 years on the label, Jay bought out his contract and decided to distribute Blueprint 3 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!)

Hov's new album has been confirmed to land in stores next month.

"Yeah, pretty much [it's done]," Jay revealed in an interview with DJ Drama earlier this month. "You know I still tweak it. 'PSA' was the last record I made on The Black Album and 'Give It To Me' was the last record I made on Dynasty. So, I'm always open to recording new records. It's pretty much done, it could go out the door right now. September 11th, the first date, it's the anniversary of the original one, of course it's a tragedy as well so we're going to be doing a lot of great things with charities and everything." (Hot 107.9)

Check out Jay-Z's interview below: