Kevin Mazur/WireImage.comJay-Z is drawing up a curious date for his latest Blueprint.
The Jigga Man's Blueprint³ will drop on Sept. 11, eight years to the day when the first Blueprint hit stores—and fell off the media radar in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
News of the release, which will be distributed by Roc Nation via Atlantic Records, leaked out via a Twitter posting by Sam Crespo, the label's VP of rap promotions, before it was taken down. The official announcement is expected to come Sunday at the Summer Jam concert in Giants Stadium sponsored by New York's Hot 97.
Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) has been hinting about the new material for some time, telling MTV News back in February that he was planning to head into the studio with Kanye West, who's producing and guest rapping.
"Kanye's in the process of making a new batch of music that's going to be phenomenal, and at the end of the day, when it's ready for the people, we'll serve it up," said Jay-Z. "If I don't have any time constraints...then I'll be Axl Rose out here. It'll be 12 years later and we'll be talking about my Chinese Democracy or something."
The Blueprint³ will be a follow-up to The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse, which debuted at No. 1 and sold 4 million copies. And despite being overshadowed by the events of 9/11, the original Blueprint did wind up topping the charts and selling 2 million copies.
The 39-year-old star announced last year that he was leaving longtime label Def Jam and forming Roc Nation in partnership with Live Nation.
Jay-Z is slated to kick off a U.S. tour with Ciara in Las Vegas on July 3.