Hip Hop’s royalty deliver a classic album
The cover sleeve of Watch The Throne is glaring embossed gold and immediately announces that what you have in your hand is the work of hip hop royalty. Music icons JAY-Z and Kanye West have joined their talents to form the group The Throne and have released the most hyped / anticipated hip hop album of 2011.
Watch The Throne took over a year to make. The duo recorded in London and Bath in the UK, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Paris, and New York City and features production from The RZA, Swizz Beatz and The Neptunes. No expense is spared on the samples used throughout, Otis Redding’s ‘Try A Little Tenderness.’ Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ and Incredible Bongo Band’s ‘Apache’.
No Church in the Wild kicks things off in style with a prog rock riff from Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera made funky recalling Stevie Wonder at his best before Odd Future’s Frank Ocean leads the vocals with the rappers trading verses with Jay-Z referencing Plato and Socrates and Kanye recalling, “Coke on her black skin / made a stripe like a zebra”.
Beyoncé lends her vocals to ‘Lift Off’ probably the most chart friendly track here. Current single Otis brilliantly weaves Otis Redding’s ‘Try A Little Tenderness.’ The production is classic Kanye West soul, with the two MCs trading couplets over a sample manipulated so Redding becomes the tracks driving rhythm.
With no hint of irony, ‘New Day’ puts Nina Simone’s voice singing Feeling Good through an auto-tuner lending the track an eerie mood. Kanye and Jay are at their most emotional as they describe how they would want their sons to be brought up learning from the mistakes they have made.
Throughout Watch The Throne the sound is epic, big, stadium friendly hip hop. On ‘Made in America, Jay raps, “Built a republic that still stands, I’m tryna lead a nation to leave to my little man’s”. ‘Murder To Excellence’ decries the wastefulness and pointlessness of black on black crime, Kanye warns, “It’s time for us to stop and redefine black power / 41 souls murdered in fifty hours / I feel the pain in my city wherever I go / 314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago”
Jay-z And Kanye West share the throne of rap royalty, the central premise of Watch The Throne represents the duo as they celebrate the fruits of their successes while remaining rooted in hip-hop culture and so doing hopefully inspire others to join their ranks. Led by Kanye West’s progressive production brimming with confidence following on from the critically acclaimed ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ from 2010, Jay-Z is in inspired form and the duo have delivered a hip hop classic.
Watch The Throne is out now on Def Jam / Roc-A-Fella / Roc Nation
