Watch the Throne Review

     One of my first thoughts as I played through the album was how jealous I am that this isn’t what my friends and I get to ride out to our senior year of High School. Granted, back in the fall of ’03 we had Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (classics), but back then – and now – I would’ve traded those albums for this Kanye x Jay shit in a heartbeat. Here are the reasons why:


| you a soulful dude |
  
     “Otis” quickly became the most coveted beat in rap this summer, and for what reason? Because when you stick to the script the people love it! The track is an extremely simple soul sample that sounds like the ’04 Kanye. Insert “The Joy” produced by Pete Rock.

| on to the next one |

     The Throne is on some real 2011 shit. I read a post from a salty blogger the other day who said Jay was soft because he changed with the generation. He concluded his rant but saying “at least Nas kept it real”. Nas also kept it simple and irrelevant (sorry). I think Jay is heavily influenced by the hipster/avant-garde culture which has invaded music as a whole and blurred the fashion lines between Rock and Rap. The look and content of his blog is proof. Like he said ten years ago, “I smarten up, open the market up”. By keeping his ear to the street, not the corner – the avenue, Jay has reconstructed his image in a way that not many other rappers can.

| sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive |

     Kanye is one talented, inspired, progressive ass dude. Back on “Big Brother” he spit, “On that Diamonds Remix I swore I’d spaz / then my big brother came through and kicked my ass…”. The same can’t be said for this album – ‘Ye brought his A-Game, for real. He goes toe-to-toe with Jay on every track; and the best thing is – it isn’t a competition! (Ha, we all know it definitely is though) The imagery and delivery from both artists on “Murder to Excellence” is remarkable. Kanye spits “I feel the pain in my city wherever I go / 314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago”. If you don’t feel the raw reality he’s expressing then don’t worry about the lyrics, just respect the production.

| i am art with the flow |
    
     I love an album that you can play front to back, no shuffling. As individual artists, Kanye and Jay-Z have the proved that they know how to make cinematic albums; where the songs flow successively like movie scenes. This time they did it together. Also the cd booklet, or digital insert (itunes swag), is weird but fresh.  Instead of pictures of them posing with money, guns, women, or all three, they opted for gothic religious art and  kaleidoscope-like images created by Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci.

     So, at the end of the day what is the message we as fans are to receive from “The Throne”? First, Jay-Z and Kanye are two men with lots of money and talent. Second, All Black Everything isn’t just a fashion statement; it’s a culture statement “I love us”. Really though, the overall statement is that these two dudes can decide to drop a duet album with virtually no promotion preceding the release and fuck the whole game up. Guest verses? No thank you, we got this. The Roc is back in the building and it’s still get down or lay down.

Watch the throne.