Hip-hop collaboration albums are a rare fruit. Fans are always pining for that Nas and DJ Premier album, or the mythical Dr. Dre and Rakim partnership. And oftentimes when collaborations do happen, it doesn’t sound like an actual union of two styles and moreso just two separate guys in the studio. Watch the Throne, the hotly-anticipated collaboration album between Jay-Z and Kanye West somehow manages to never really mesh two very strong personalities together into some Voltron made of Hermes and Yankees caps, but fortunately they have strong enough chemistry and incredible production that it works out.
The savior of the album, and what will stand out after repeated listens are the beats. Despite not being the biggest Kanye as a vocalist fan, there’s no denying his ability to churn out perfect beats, especially on his own work. The album starts with loud, thudding drums and high synths and doesn’t let up. And a Kanye/Hova collaboration is obviously going to recruit some of the best producers out there. The RZA kills it on “New Day” with eerie synths over a James Blake voiceover. Even if the song is not particularly good, it succeeds at establishing a mood.
The album beings with an hook by guest vocalist Frank Ocean “What’s king to a God, what’s God to a non-believer, who don’t believe in anything” and the first bars by Jay-Z set a perilous tone “Lies on the lips of a priest, Thanksgiving disguised as a feast.” From there, we’re
celebrating with Miss Beyonce on “Lift Off”, a celebratory track that really misses the mark. “Ni**** in Paris” for some reason samples clips from the Will Ferrell ice skating movie Blades of Glory, but Jay and Kanye go HARD on this one. Other notable standouts include the dub-steppy “Who Gon Stop Me”, one of the few US dubstep beats that don’t make me want to run into a wall. Also, notable for Jay-Z rapping about the MOMA and Kanye being Kanye and comparing the plight of African-Americans to the Holocaust.
My personal favorite of the album, and most ambitious track is “Murder to Excellence.” It’s essentially two songs, the Swizz Beatz produced “Murder” and “Excellence” produced by Symbolyc One. “Murder” is a fairly dark, contemplative piece about the trials and tribulations of inter-racial, inner-city violence. “Excellence” is a nice complement to the first part of the song. Rapping about making it is nothing new for Kanye and Jay-Z but how many songs out there give you comparisons of the body count in Chicago and Iraq in the same breath as shout-outs to Obama and Will Smith? The album ends with “Made in America”, a meditation on the American dream “I pledge allegiance to my Grandma, For that banana pudding our piece of Americana. Our apple pie was supplied through Arm & Hammer.”
The album is not without its problems. For people expecting something new thematically from the duo, don’t. We’ve heard Yeezy and Hova rap about this subject matter so much it’s sometimes a wonder how they don’t get bored by it. The traditional extremism that hip-hop and these rappers are famous for can get grating, especially at a time when our country is going to shit. Also, no album that allows Swizz Beatz to babble over a beat can be perfect.
However, it’s an incredible testament to their skills as rappers and producers that two incredibly successful men with Thor-like egos were able to record what is without a doubt the best album of 2011 to date. There isn’t a lot of give and take between the two men, but each song has its own unique structure and offers unique responsibilities.
