To be honest, I was shocked that this even saw the light of day. Yeezy and Jay began talking about this project last August (2010) after Kanye began his G.O.O.D. Friday series with "Power Remix ft. Jay-Z". Initially, this was supposed to just be a compilation of Kanye and Jay-Z's sessions over the years, including the "Power Remix". As expected though, that wasn't enough for 'Ye (remember, this dude is the voice of a generation..), so he and Jay decided to turn it into an EP that would be released shortly after 'Ye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy hit shelves. But no, that wasn't enough either, so the two upped the ante shortly after their EP announcement and claimed that they would work on a full LP collaboration that would come out around February.
For one, Jay-Z has always been one of my favorite artists and I have never had much to complain about when it comes to Kanye. After hearing Yeezy's MBDTF, I gained even more respect for his musical abilities, which further increased my anxiety to hear his collaboration with Hov (after all, I did give this dude my "Album of the Year" title for 2010). There was little reason to also expect that whatever they came out with would be actually terrible, especially if you go through their previous work together (I'm referring to 'Ye producing and Jay spitting, previous to Watch the Throne; I believe their "Power Remix" was the first track the two had even recorded together with both taking mic duties).
The anticipation fell somewhat, however, after the two released their first single "H.A.M. (Hard as a Motherfucka)" at the beginning of the new year. I got a few laughs from Hova saying that he "swims with Great Whites" and "plays chicken with a mac truck", but otherwise, the beat was wayy too extravagant and the song just wasn't that good. A theory then began to develop in my mind. Would Kanye and Jay-Z actually take this collabo seriously? Or was this just a way for them to boast how powerful the two of them are in music today? My feelings leaned toward the latter and, while I was still excited to hear what the two had to offer, I was also hesitant to get my hopes up too high. I also laughed when I heard that the pair would find a way to prevent their album from leaking (after all, Hova's Blueprint 3 was viral almost a month before its release). No matter how bad or good the album would be, I thought that if they could even accomplish this goal, their album deserved to be listened to (well really, it pretty much deserved a listen just because of respect to who the two guys are).
For weeks before the release of the album, I tried everything I could to see if I could prove Hova and Yeezy wrong (noone had been able to this before, so why should I expect any different?). I went to every single filesharing site I could find, but every attempt proved futile (I even gave my number and information to some site, yes I was an idiot, because I was so desperate to let myself know that I was right). So on August 8th, at midnight, I was one of the hundreds of thousands who waited eagerly hit that "buy" button on iTunes so I could get my copy of Watch the Throne.
Was it worth the wait? The answer lies below in my review.
1. No Church in the Wild ft. Frank Ocean (Prod. by 88 Keys)
I expected this album to open with something epic and it certainly does. The key here is to separate the word "epic" and "good". Yes, something may sound like it should be blasted on stadium speakers, but that doesn't inherently make it good. I've always felt Frank Ocean is a tad overrated and he does nothing to refute that belief with his performance here. "What's a God to a non-believer who don't believe anything" and "Will we make it out alive, no church in the wild" gives me the idea that Kanye and Jay are trying to make a comparison to the "wild" being the streets and that there is no haven there. If that's what it is, it's a clever metaphor, but again, it's only speculation. Jay builds on the epic momentum of this with lines like "blood stained doors" and "Socrates asks who's biased, we all seek". I also got a laugh with the "Jesus was a carpenter, Yeezy laid beats" (how fucking full of yourself can you really get...at least at was Jay who says this, not Yeezy himself). After some auto-tune bullshit, Kanye makes his first appearance and, while I liked a few of his punchlines, there's no depth to it. It's an interesting song, I'll give it that, but don't try and get confused that this song is "the greatest thing since Illmatic" as some idiot was proclaiming the day after they released this. (Seriously, I'm not kidding. Google it.)
2. Lift Off ft. Beyonce (Prod. by Kanye West)
Another grandiose beat, which I actually enjoyed, but man, I can't really say it any other way: this song is fucking terrible. "Show off my tattoos, I'm such a show off", are you fucking kidding me 'Ye? What's worse is that's pretty much his entire verse right there, since it only lasts about 20 seconds. I hoped that Jay would be able to pick up at least some of the pieces here, but no, he's just about as bad as his predecessor. Even Beyonce doesn't sound up to par here (and I thought that was impossible before hearing this track). It makes sense that they'd release this as a single because the mainstream would gobble this shit up. I was worried after hearing H.A.M.; I was terrified after hearing this.
3. Ni**as in Paris (Prod. by Hit Boy)
Before the beat even drops, I had a feeling I was going to like this one. The clip "We're gonna skate to one song, and one song only" from Blades of Glory assured me that this was going to be ridiculous, no matter how good or bad the track would end up being. Once the beat does actually drop though, I was thrilled. A beat that has had numerous remixes made to it, and for good reason, after this came out is one of the best that you'll find on Watch the Throne. It's a song more of celebrating how far Jay and 'Ye have made it (which we've heard before), but only these two could make the track sound genuine and somehow make it work. I had to love the line "If you escaped what I've escaped, you'd be in Paris getting fucked up too!" because it is honest. Kanye's verse lacks a little compared to Hova (although he does suffer from "realness" according to his doctor), but the back and forth between the two is refreshing and it's something I had hoped I hear a lot of on Watch the Throne. After another Blades of Glory excerpt (which was great), the song takes a major turn (which becomes a common theme on this album) into a beat that's a combination of "H.A.M." and 808's. If there was ever a declaration of how Yeezy and Jay consider themselves the greatest right now, this is it. And you know what, for this track at least, I have a hard time disagreeing.
4. Otis ft. Otis Redding (Prod. by Kanye West)
The second single of the album is one that brings mixed feelings. Truthfully, I wasn't crazy about the entire song when it came out a month before the release of Watch the Throne and I'm still not really feeling it. It has it's moments ("I'm about to call the paparazzi on myself," for one), but for the most part, this song is just another excuse for the two to brag (and I'm starting to get a little annoyed at this point). Thank God they gave credit to Redding as a feature here because Yeezy's beat is basically just an Otis Redding song. Nothing about this song has, as Darrell from Storage Wars says, the "WOW" factor, and with the expectations this album had, it means that it's a fail in my book.
5. Gotta Have It (Prod. by The Neptunes)
I've always been a Neptunes fan, and this song won't change that, but it's not quite what I had hoped from them. Still, I will admit, this beat still sounds decent and its been nearly four months, so that deserves some praise. It's another back and forth between Jay and 'Ye, mostly about nonsense, so yes, that means it's worth listening to. This song also sounds terrific when you have a good system to play it on. So no, this won't break any new ground and it's not fantastic, but I can deal. It's entertaining, that's for sure.
6. New Day (Prod. by RZA)
RZA? Jay-Z? It happened?! Yep, after years and years of Hov completely ignoring the Clan (to which his rival Nas has taken full advantage of, although I honestly don't think Jay could ever have stayed on the level they were 15 years ago), Jay finally sucks it up and employs RZA to make a beat for him and 'Ye. Unfortunately, this is not anything what I had hoped for. Some say RZA did a good job here and maybe I shouldn't have gotten excited that I'd be hearing the grittiness of Cuban Linx, but man, I just can't get into it. This song bucks the trend that the album has for the first five tracks though, which is the beat is > than the lyrical content. Yeezy, who gets very personal on this, and Jay both talk as if they're speaking to they're future son/daughter (which Jay actually will be seeing shortly) and I really did like the overall theme. Kanye also I think outperforms his mentor here, especially with his first couple lines:
"And I’ll never let my son have an ego/He’ll be nice to everyone, wherever we go/I mean, I might even make ‘em be Republican/So everybody know he love white people/And I’ll never let ‘em leave his college girlfriend/And get caught up with the groupies in the whirlwind/And I’ll never let ‘em ever hit the telethon/I mean even if people dyin’ and the world ends/See, I just want ‘im to have an easy life, not like Yeezy."
So while I'm not crazy about the song, I appreciate the thought behind it. It's also the first song on the entire album that actually has some depth to it, which shows me that, at least partially, Yeezy and Jay did give a shit on what they put on this.
7. That's My Bitch (Prod. by Q-Tip)
This one leaked a year ago and was actually supposed to originally be on Kanye's MBDTF. The version leaked sounds nearly identical to this one (with this one sounding a little crisper). Were the two being lazy? Maybe, but I don't really care because I still love what I'm hearing. The drums used by Q-Tip to accompany his beat are flat out awesome and he really hits a home run with the beat overall (on a side note, I heard somewhere that Q-Tip was as responsible for Tribe's beats as Shaheed-Muhammad was, which is no surprise to me. The guy is super talented on the mic and the boards). 'Ye and Jay both do a good job on their respective verses (really liked the "I mean Marilyn Monroe, she's quite nice, but why all the pretty icons always all white?" line Jay drops) and this is deff. one of my favorites on the album. What's funny is that I think this song fits better on here than on MBDTF, and I have a feeling 'Ye may have realized this too.
8. Welcome to the Jungle (Prod. Swizz Beatz)
As soon as I saw they employed this idiot to produce, I knew this song was in trouble. And, not to my surprise, Swizz does what he always does, which is suck ass. I always think (actually I pretty much know at this point) that Swizz is a wannabe rapper (like DJ Khaled) so he has to intrude on EVERYTHING he produces. Fuck Swizz Beatz and this song. (And no, Jay and Kanye don't have anything worth mentioning here, either)
9. Who Gon Stop Me (Prod. by Shama "Sak Pase" Joseph)
I had to laugh as soon as I heard the "I Can't Stop" sample on my first listen because it was the walk-up song for one of the batters I covered in an internship earlier this summer. I heard it so much that I began to really, really hate it, so it came as a surprise to me that I actually liked it the way it was done on this. The first half of the song doesn't have much going it for it (even with Kanye's "pig latin" line), but at the 1:56 mark, this song just gets batshit crazy. Again, this is a beat that only Kanye could get away with, but it's not 'Ye who shines. Leave that to Hova, who just destroys any beliefs that 'Ye might be as good as him. In fact, Jay pretty much just gives any doubter a big middle finger with his lines on this. If there was ever a time where Jay does go "H.A.M.", it's here. (and he did this "all without a diploma")
10. Murder to Excellence (Prod. by Swizz Beatz & S1)
You know that scene in Harold and Kumar where they meet H.W. and he says "You just blew my fuckin' mind". That pretty much sums up the feeling I had when I saw that Swizz, the same guy who I gave my own dirty bird to just two tracks ago, produced the first section of this. The beat is actually a perfect complement to the subject that 'Ye and Hova discuss, which is the problem of black on black crime. Kanye, for the second time on this album, does a fantastic job with his verse with lines like "No shop class but half the school got a tool/And I could die any day type attitude" and "I feel the pain in my city wherever I go/314 soldiers died in Iraq/509 died in Chicago". Jay does his part, as expected, and this song is very good until it turns it up to another level at the 2:41 mark. The song does exactly as the title states, with the first portion discussing black "Murder" and then celebrating the "Excellence" blacks have been able to achieve. The first portion is more serious, obviously, with the second more light-hearted and I ended up really enjoying the beat S1 lays down for that second half. Both 'Ye and Hova give good efforts for the "Excellence" part and I'm tempted to say that this is the best song on this whole album.
11. Made it in America ft. Frank Ocean (Prod. by Shama "Sak Pase" Joseph)
Again, here is where the majority of fans (the mainstream ones) will claim this is "inspirational". Me? I think it's corny as hell. I really could have gone without the "Sweet baby Jesus" and Frank Ocean doesn't do anything that special. Wasn't crazy about either verse Jay and Kanye drop and this subject has been beaten to death by the two from previous work. The beat's alright, but when you compare this to "The Star Spangled Banner", you better have something incredible. This is far, far from that.
12. Why I Love You ft. Mr. Hudson (Prod. by Mike Dean)
Mr. Hudson teams up with Hova again after their immense success with "Forever Young" (one of the very rare singles I actually really liked). This one though, doesn't match up to the former. Hudson is a good fit for the hook, but there's just not much here and it the track just reeks of mediocrity. Again, it's deff. not horrible by any means, but there's nothing spectacular, meaning it's pretty forgettable. It leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth if this was the last song of the album (but we all know everyone got the deluxe version anyways).
13. Illest Motherf**ker Alive (Prod. by Southside)
There's a lot of theories into why there is a three minute break of silence before this song begins. I've heard that it's iTunes fault for the gap and that it was non-intentional. I've heard that this is a sort of "intermission" between the studio version and the deluxe. What I think the true answer is though, is that Kanye just inserted the silence because he knew he could get away with it and noone would give a shit. He's that arrogant. And while there may be some that criticize 'Ye for doing this (if this really is the case), I just laughed. What other artist would actually have the balls to just put three minutes of silence and know the audience won't skip it? Once the actual beat drops, it proves to be just as ridiculous as the fact there was three minutes of nothing before it. I still laugh every time I hear Kanye spit "Russel Brand, Russel Crowe, 0000, a whole lot of O's!", "bulletproof condom when I'm in these hoes/got staples on my dick/why, fucking centerfolds," and "got a nigga in Miami wearing winter clothes." What really makes this song for me is as soon as Kanye finishes his verse and the hook comes in, sounding as if I'm about to enter the gates of heaven with the opera background (my one friend actually thought this exact thought when he first heard this. I don't think I've ever seen the kid that blown away in my life before it). So yes, this song is absolutely ludicrous and it's not that good (it's pretty bad actually), but I don't really care because of how damn entertaining it is. Again, another case of how only these two could do this and I would accept it.
14. H.A.M. (Prod. by Lex Luger)
I already gave my opinion of this in the opening, but again I'll state that it's really nothing special. Lex Luger goes wayy overboard on the beat and I'm wondering if I'm listening to a WWII film by the end of it. There is one good thing that comes out this, which is a couple of remixes I've heard of it since (most notably Machine Gun Kelly) and, utilized correctly, you could go beserk over this beat (which MGK basically does).
15. Primetime (Prod. No I.D.)
This sounded fresh when I first heard it and it still sounds great on my headphones today. It also gets me extremely anxious for No I.D.'s upcoming project with Common (which already has sounded extremely promising, see "Blue Skys"). The piano keys work well on this and the beat is arguably the best on the entire album. Although Kanye and Jay aren't rapping about anything meaningful here, they can't sound bad when you have this kind of production behind you. It also is another track that will sound terrific when you've got a good subwoofer or sound system to accompany it. Overall though, very solid.
16. The Joy ft. Curtis Mayfield (Prod. by Pete Rock)
Yeezy and Jay are involved in a pending lawsuit with Mayfield for the beat in this one (and I'm honestly surprised Redding didn't file something against them too), but otherwise, Rock makes this sounds extremely smooth. Again, not much lyrically as far as introspect, so it leaves "Murder to Excellence" and "New Day" as the only tracks where Hova and Yeezy really attack something meaningful. Still, that's not to say their verses are bad in any way. 'Ye sounds good and so does Jay, which is really enough for me at the end of the day. I don't know why I don't listen to this track as much as the others, but it is a good one and this is a much better closer than "Why I Love You".
Closing Statement: Critics were going crazy over this album as soon as it was released and so was I for a time. The fact this album didn't actually leak is a modern miracle and I believe this is a huge reason for why there was so much praise for it early on. Now that it's been a few months though, the hype surrounding this has deff. cooled down (at least in my book) and critics should see that this is not the second coming of hip hop and it's far from being the best album this year. There are some tracks that are OK and some that are real disappointments, such as "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Lift Off". There also is not much here intelligent wise. Kanye and Jay-Z do nothing to prove to me or anyone else that they are far and away the best in the game right now and there have certainly been much better collaboration efforts by other rappers in the past (uhh, just listen to any OutKast album really). Yet, at the end of the day, I still have no regrets for spending my $15 for this album because it does what music is supposed to do, which is entertain. There is also some tracks on here which I still will have bumping a year from now ("Nig**s in Paris" and "That's My Bitch" to name a few) and "Murder to Excellence" is one of the best songs I've heard all year. So while it's not everything I hoped it would be, it is still the most entertaining album I think I've listened to in 2011, and that deserves applause.
The Verdict: Considering that 99% of music lovers will already have this, it's probably useless that I recommend you get it. However, it is worth the money and I will eagerly wait to hear if the two decided to do another project together. And hey, you could settle for much worse (Waka Waka and Gucci's Ferrari Boys).
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