Rap superstar Jay-Z has brought forward the U.S. release of his highly-anticipated disc the Blueprint 3 after the whole album leaked online almost two weeks before it was due to hit record stores.

A handful of tracks from the CD, which was originally set for release on September 11, made their way to the Internet last month, but the whole album was available illegally by the end of August.

Jay-Z brushed off the leak, insisting fans should "enjoy" the "preview", but now he's decided to bump up the release date by four days to try and combat downloads.

Fans will now be able to buy The Blueprint 3 on Tuesday.