MUSIC REVIEW: JAY-Z & KANYE WEST - 'WATCH THE THRONE'

Hip-Hop Heavyweights Combine Forces to Achieve Classic Sovereignty

By: Andrew Shaw

August 8, 2011

(Roc-A-Fella / Roc Nation / Def Jam) Anticipation doesn't often get as high as it has been for the release of Watch the Throne. Once intended as a diminutive five-track EP, the project then expanded to massive scale, and again had to be reduced in stature -- a design to retain control of quality. What we have here, in the Deluxe Edition, is 16 tracks of shine, spirituality, and some grand Hip-Hop posturing. Jay-Z and Kanye West started work and speculation on this project months, if not years ago, but with work in earnest only really beginning in October of 2010. The first single -- “H.A.M.,” being released in January of 2011 -- proved that speculation was becoming real and that the hype was most likely justified.

When second single “Otis” dropped three weeks ahead of album release, excitement became almost too much for some fans. Here were Jay-Z and Kanye swapping rhymes over sampled Otis Reading. Where “H.A.M.” was abrasive, swagger and confrontation here was a soulful, playful expression of balance. Tenderness and a kind of heartfelt male-bonding occurs. Rumors of difficulties between the two Hip-Hop heavyweights during the recording process may have been grounded in reality, but perhaps that reality was one in which excellence was being hammered out. The track is expertly produced yet not as overtly polished as much of what West touches. This track is not alone in the collection in retaining a vinyl kind of earthiness reminiscent of the Soul to which it's paying homage.

Working across a number of locations -- including Australia, England, France, Abu Dabi, Los Angeles, and New York -- the two men never mailed it in. Throughout the entire lengthy process, they were always in the same room, and they always worked together. Continuity, passion, focus, and control were genuinely shared, and it shows. Neither man shows the other's weakness. Instead, each man's talents enhance the other man's abilities. This is not a contrast of light and darkl; this is a sharpening of mutual vision, a turning up of volume and concerns.

There are, of course, a handful of guest spots and samples on the album. Amongst others (Frank Ocean, Otis Reading, Curtis Mayfield, Mr Hudson), Beyoncé turns up with lead vocal on the second track, “Lift Off.” By contrast to the rest of the album, instrumental feeling is more glitzy, more 'dance' than 'stomp,' and it arrives in an unusual place in running order. That is, until you catch the lyric: “We're going to take it to the moon / take it to the stars / How many people you know can take it this far?” The sense of heroic exploration, of leaving orbit and going where no other man has gone before, suddenly makes all the sense in the galaxy. This is no small undertaking for either man, or anyone else involved in the making of the collection.

As a direct assault on the dance-floor, club bangers can't help but fall in immediate lust for the dirty moves of “Niggas in Paris.” Timpani drum all distorted, bass-line all happy knuckles, and a high synth with nightmarishly good hook throws a grimy temptation over discussions of champagne and studded jewelery. West displays rare flow with tongue-in-someone-else's-cheek: “Come and meet me in the bathroom stall / show me why you deserve to have it all.” This may be risqué behavior, but it's been earned. Wealth doesn't come easy in this society, and it's almost impossible for some men to acquire, so when it arrives, it will be celebrated in any damn way they wish. Just so you know that there's a twist of humor and self-deprecating awareness dropped into the track, bringing a deep, deep grin and nod of how it's going down, an enthused, whispering Will Ferrell sample drops right in after the line: “Got my Niggas in Paris, and they're going Guerillas.” From Blades of Glory: “No one knows what it means, but it's provocative. It get's the people goin'.” It may be naughty, it may be indulgent, it may be adult, but it's all good humored, if you can earn it.

If “Niggas in Paris” is where West shines brightest, “Gotta Have It” is a Jay-Z highlight. The man rides a stream of consciousness that he's trained acutely. He disarms, charms, and demeans with a repo-man's sensibility. “Where my money at? / You gonna make me come down to your house where your mommy at?” He hits at the place beneath the solar-plexus, he knows where it hurts, because he's been hit this way too. No one can need this much, unless they're painfully aware of what happens when confrontation doesn't happen and they don't take what is owed to them. Again, there is an awareness of personal behaviors. These may not be actions to be proud of, but they're reactions to societal demands, situational pressures, and a kind of luck within pecking order.

It's rare that albums live up to hype. Hype can actually pull the rug out from beneath reality because few things are sweeter than anticipation or hope. When substance arrives, it rarely lives up to the dream. Here, though, with Watch the Throne, we don't have a side project that's been assembled to shift units, exploiting the fan bases of two artists. We don't have a product of the hype-machine. Here are two men who obviously share a deep appreciation and respect for the other's work. Two contrasting yet similar  sensibilities share one confidence. There are too many nuanced hooks to extract for illustration, and there are too many subjects to condense and reflect with pulled rhymes. Economics, war, race, sex, partying, gang-crime, music, drugs, nationalism, faith, fashion, gender roles, and heroes are all tackled, and they're not just name-checked. They're deconstructed, analyzed, and expressed in terms that are perfectly personal and simultaneously universal. Pretty much all of the rhymes are stand-out or weighed down with double-meanings, sucker-punches, and sharp jabs to the center of things.

There were some folk who criticized the acclaim that West was awarded as a result of 2010's My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy. It was noted that the collection was good, but it was also questioned as to what was receiving acclaim: ability or ego. There were some who, when hearing of this project, joked that the Twisted Fantasy would pervert the Blueprint for success; too much super-ego in the room, perhaps?

If you're a fan of either man, relax -- it's business as usual but with added elements of smoking chemistry. If you're new to proceedings or one of the skeptics, come at this album and listen without prejudice, either for or against West and Jay-Z. If you can ignore all rumors and reputation, if you can lend an ear as if you've never heard anything about either man outside music, then you can't fail to acknowledge the accomplishment of combined force. Of course, there will still be the critics who will continue to weigh in with derision and silly pecking. (Who can guess at those motives?) Those people are idiot children standing on the shore showing a middle finger to a passing aircraft carrier. They have no effect, no argument, and no influence on the course of the massive vessel or all of its combined methods of attack.

Listen loud -- very loud --and try to deny the realness. Watch the Throne.

Standout Tracks: "No Church in the Wild," "Niggas in Paris," "Gotta Have It," "Otis"

For Fans Of: Mr Hudson, Beyoncé, RZA