Jay-Z confirmed that the graphic that hit the Internet on Monday (August 3) — a gaggle of white instruments piled together in a corner with three red horizontal lines over them — is the artwork for Blueprint 3. “It’s the album cover,” Jay told us Tuesday in Brooklyn, on the set of his Roc-A-Wear commercial.

Jay said he chose to highlight the instruments on his cover because he felt they have been overlooked.

“These things are like the forgotten pieces in hip-hop,” Hov explained. “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. It’s still about music. It’s not about radio, it’s not about making gimmicks, it’s 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] 3, 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.”

Jay is up for two VMAs. “I feel fantastic,” he said after hearing the news of the nominations.

Hov’s Blueprint 3 will be released on September 11.