As the clock struck midnight on August 8th, I found myself rushing to iTunes to purchase the most glorious album since My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I am speaking of Watch the Throne, of course. Two of the most talented hip hop artist of our generation are compiled into a single album to produce the most powerful music my ears have ever heard.
These artists are Kanye West and Jay-Z. They both produce mind blowing music separately; so when the two collaborate, there aren’t even words to describe the epicness.
A few weeks prior to the album’s release, the track “Otis” was put onto to iTunes for a trial run allowing audiences a taste of what the album was going to be like. As expected, this song was absolutely phenomenal. The song features Otis Redding. I mean, who does that? Who could possibly be that clever to incorporate the god of all jazz on a hip hop track, and have the song still be perfect? Kanye and Jay-Z are.
Then, the album was released, which means songs like “Otis”, were magnified times 12. Talk about too much to handle! The first song on the album, “No Church in the Wild”, opens up with Frank Ocean, followed by Jay-Z and Kanye. Frank Ocean was an amazing addition to this song, considering each song on the album has a small splash of originality. The singing with the rapping gives the song the perfect balance of elegance and edge.
Frank Ocean is actually featured on the album twice, which I find great because I’m a big fan of his. Putting the same person on your album twice is a big risk for an artist because it may seem like you’re repeating yourself, but Kanye and Jay-Z pull it off, as always.
My absolute favorite song on the album, though, is “New Day”. This was the track that I obsessively put on repeat for weeks. This song is a partial cover of the legendary song “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone, but given a hint of modern day hip hop. It talks about the hard times Kanye is having with his son, and Jay-Z is having with his unborn child (not to mention, I’m super excited to see how talented a kid born from either of my two favorite artists is going to be), and how they want their children to pursue a better life than they had.
As for the album as a whole, it was not only a great composition of beats and rhythms, but the lyrics that Kanye and Jay-Z incorporated into each and every track were personal and real. The two went from talking about their kids, to family life, to ambitions and what is considered to be rare in hip hop culture: religion.
Watch the Throne was yet another success in Kanye and Jay-Z’s career, giving themselves another spot on my iTunes hit list. The two artists, whether separate or conjoined, will continue to produce the greatest music since The Beatles. And like the name of the album, it will continue to hold the throne of the hip hop industry.
