Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne Review

Posted by Bill Wannop on 08.10.2011

Jay-Z & Kanye West have teamed to release their collaborative album. After all the hype do the two men really lay claim to the throne or is their kingdom in ruins?

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Jay-Z and Kanye West initially conceived this album over a year ago when it was originally announced as a five song EP. However once recording commenced, ‘Ye and Hov decided to change the sound, direction and length of the album making it a full length release. The album has since gone through many delays mainly due to both Jay-Z and Kanye West being perfectionists as well as Jay’s insistence on doing all the recording together in person. The album has finally seen the light of day with first its digital release followed shortly by the physical release in the next week. After all the hype do the two men really hail claim to the throne?

Tracklisting
1. "No Church in the Wild" (featuring Frank Ocean)
2. "Lift Off" (featuring Beyoncé)
3. "Niggas in Paris"
4. "Otis" (featuring Otis Redding)
5. "Gotta Have It"
6. "New Day"
7. "That’s My Bitch" (featuring Elly Jackson & Justin Vernon)
8. "Welcome to the Jungle" (featuring Swizz Beatz)
9. "Who Gon Stop Me"
10. "Murder to Excellence"
11. "Made in America" (featuring Frank Ocean)
12. "Why I Love You" (featuring Mr Hudson)
Deluxe Version
13. "Illest Motherfucker Alive"
14. "H•A•M"
15. "Primetime"
16. "The Joy" (featuring Curtis Mayfield)

After hearing the latest single of “Otis”, the album starts out with the very contrasting sound of “No Church In The Wild” as Frank Ocean introduces us to the album singing the hook, banging drums. Jay-Z then takes the reigns and really flexes his muscles early rapping, ‘I’m wonderin’ if a thug’s prayers reach/Is Pious pious cause God loves pious?/Socrates asks, “Whose bias do y’all seek?”/All for Plato, screech/I’m out here ballin’, I know ya’ll hear my sneaks/Jesus was a carpenter, Yeezy, laid beats/Hova flow the Holy Ghost/get the hell up out your seats/Preach’.



Kanye is no slouch on the mic either as is displayed by the latest single “Otis”. Kanye really focuses on his rhymes and is success in not being left in the dust by Jay, as was a real concern coming into the project. Kanye raps, ‘made “Jesus Walks” I’m never going to hell/Couture level flow, it’s never going on sale/Luxury rap, the Hermes of verses/Sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive/I get it custom, you a customer/You ain’t ‘customed to going through Customs, you ain’t been nowhere, huh?/And all the ladies in the house, got ‘em showing off/I’m done, I hit ya up mana-naaaa!’

As the album moves along, we get instances of great chemistry between the Jay and Kanye on tracks like “Gotta Have It”, “That’s My Bitch”, ”Why I Love You” and “Made In America” with the latter track giving Jay and Kanye the canvas to remember back to their early beginnings. These track hit on the cylinders in terms of production, concept and verses. When everything comes together, the two men are truly in the kings of their craft, however many times they just don’t seem to mesh.

“Lift Off’ features Beyonce, who somewhat steals the track, providing us with a nice chorus, however Kanye and Jay-Z fail to deliver on their end with their verses, leaving the track feeling more like a Beyonce solo track. “In Paris” has both rappers talking about how hard they ‘ball’ but the beat is somewhat annoying and the choppy flow that results just seems odd. The biggest problem with the album seems to be the production. It seems as though Kanye is trying so hard to keep up with Jay on the verses and somewhat let the production aspects of the album fall to the wayside. Most of the best beats on the album were supplied by Mr. West (“No Church In the West”, “Otis”, “That’s My Bitch”) while other producers fail to hold up to what is happening on the mic. The RZA produced “New Day” just seems to be lacking that punch or character that most RZA tracks have, even though both Jay and Kanye are able to deliver sold, emotional verses. The Swizz Beats produced “Welcome To The Jungle” seems to fall short of the mark of true a headbanger and really forces Jay-Z to carry the track with his lyrics.

The album had a lot of live up to and at the end of the day it failed to deliver on the hype. It is not a bad album by any means, but it does not reach the heights that recent solo albums from both Jay-Z and Kanye West have. What was surprising is that the letdown was not from the lyrics provided by Kanye, but by the production, and maybe what would have been better would have been for Jay-Z to be the only one providing the vocals while Kanye West provided all the production.

The 411: While it was almost impossible to live up to the hype, Jay-Z & Kanye West put forth a solid album. While the album doesn't measure up to recent solo albums by both men, and despite some missteps, when everything comes together, the two men are truly the kings of their craft.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]