Watch The Throne Album Review

In the past decade, two of hip-hop’s finest artists, Kanye West and Jay-Z, dominated airwaves, music charts and headlines with their musical style, lyricism and swagger. Between the two artists, they have 16 solo albums, 13 of them reaching the top spot on the Billboard 200, the chart for top albums in America. Kanye West was originally a producer for Jay-Z before embarking on a solo career, and the two have collaborated on each other’s albums and singles. After West announced a 5-track EP between both artists at the beginning of 2011, in August of 2011, the pair released one of the most anticipated albums of the year, a full-length collaboration album called “Watch The Throne”. Unlike other hip-hop albums, “Watch The Throne” was not released on the internet before its actual release date, becoming one of the few albums to do so in the digital music era. While the original album release featured 12 tracks, the deluxe edition features four extra tracks, extending the ride the listeners are put through by Jay-Z and Kanye. The original version, however, will be used for this assignment.

    The album begins with a thumping beat and a guitar being played in the background (a sample from Phil Manzanera’s “K-Scope”) on the opening song “No Church in the Wild” featuring the up-and-coming talent, Frank Ocean, making for a dark and edgy start to the album. From then on until the halfway point of the album, both Kanye and Jay-Z boast about their riches, material desires, their greatness and the women they gain from their success (in Jay-Z’s case, it’s Beyonce, for Kanye West, it’s almost any great-looking girl in his path, including the Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen twins and princess Kate Middleton at the same time). Both Kanye and Jay have been known to boast about their success in their past material, but the theme gets repetitive when you go through the album from top to bottom. It is best that their bravado is consumed in small doses. However, the major intent of the album is not for Jay-Z and Kanye to display all their flaws and fears; you’ll have to wait until the sixth track of the album (New Day, featuring samples of Nina Simone’s rendition of “Feeling Good”) to have both superstars come down to Earth and tend to issues other than themselves. Even when the duo briefly return to their material lives and women on “That’s My B*tch”, Jay-Z makes a social comment on society’s appeal and glorification of Caucasian women over Latin and African-American women. For the rest of album, the album’s subject matter covers how their souls are tortured by media, (mostly Kanye’s) search for love, invincibility, commentary on African-Americans of the present (going so far as comparing the current state of African-Americans to the Holocaust of the early 20th century) and past (referring to activists such as Martin and Coretta Scott King, Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz as kings and queens), the duo’s own path from rags to riches and betrayal. Another theme which can be heard throughout the album is the “throne”. Both Kanye and Jay-Z will mention the “throne” on certain songs, often referring to their high standing in the rap community, the album itself or specifically on the track “Why I Love You” featuring Mr. Hudson, the demise of Jay-Z’s record label, Roc-A-Fella records. The “throne” could also be interpreted as propaganda, most notably near the end “N*ggas in Paris”, where Kanye tells the listener that “they are now watching the throne”

    Watch The Throne features quality production from producers including Kanye West himself, his mentor No I.D, Mike Dean, Hit-Boy, Pharrell, 88-Keys, S1, Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest and Swizz Beats alongside many others. Listening to the beats on the album produced half the enjoyment of the album featuring sampled material from artists including Otis Redding (going so far as to include him as a featured artist on the track ‘Otis’), James Brown, Nina Simone, electronic producer Flux Pavilion and, perhaps the oddest one of all, excerpts of the film ‘Blades of Glory’ featuring dialogue from Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The album also enlists the help of artists such as Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Mr. Hudson, Justin Vernon from indie rock band Bon Iver, Elly Jackson from electro group La Roux, Charlie Wilson and Kid Cudi for vocals.

The biggest debate over the album was which of the two rappers outperformed the others. I'm on the side that says Jay-Z outperformed Kanye. Kanye did put out fantastic and fashion-conscious lyrics, but Jay-Z slightly one-upped his counterpart with his timeless flow especially in tracks like "Who Gon' Stop Me" and the "wonderfully titled" "N***** in Paris".

    In conclusion, the most anticipated rap collaboration of the year did not fail to disappoint its listeners, giving them quality production and clever, confident yet conscious lyrics over society’s riches and its imperfections. The album features material that have not only found success on music charts, but have been proven to be enjoyable and at times controversial among fans and the media. Watch The Throne will forever be known as a success for the careers of Jay-Z and Kanye West, who are on another level over any other counterpart in the current hip-hop world. One can only wonder what the two will do following this album, for they both have shown that they still have great rhymes to flow and great beats to make and experiment. One thing is for sure, both will remain in the spotlight and atop their gold-plated throne of excellence.