The Throne - Watch the Throne

It's been less than a year since the release of the phenomenal My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy but the anticipation and wait behind this has felt already like a lifetime. For Watch the Throne, West teams up with fellow mega-star Jay-Z and a host of equally massive guests and samples. With guest credits featuring Otis Redding, Nina Simone, James Brown and Beyoncé, as well as up-and-coming Frank Ocean, this is very much an extravagant affair. Gone are the melodramatic self-flagellations seen on MBDTF but one shouldn't be fooled into believing this is a who-you-know piece of slap-dash indulgence: money and egos are discussed at short-hand whilst race, politics and depression take centre stage.

There have been some too who believe this to be a return to classic Kanye/Jay. The single 'Otis' seemed irreverent in its heavy sampling and thriving off of nostalgic throwbacks with its looped horns and organs, and bouncing almost nonsensical tongue-twisters around such as "Sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive". Of course much debt is owed to Otis Redding's classic Try A Little Tenderness which, I agree, "sounds so soulful", but the duo blend into an enthralling summer anthem.


The record begins though with 'No Church in the Wild' and its pointedly darker tune and unrecognisable samples for a tense backdrop to Frank Ocean's chorus: "What’s a mob to a king? What’s a king to a god? What’s a god to a non-believer? Who don’t believe in anything?" There's of course some shock-lyrics when Jay-Z references Jesus and Kanye in the same frame, before Kanye himself creates his own religion: "deception is the only felony/ So never fuck nobody without tellin’ me". Monkeys screech and sirens blare to add to the atmosphere. Of course the most pop potential comes in 'Lift Off' with its sights set high in Beyoncé and you can hear the hip-hop purists in the distance forming a lynch-mob, because whilst this is a fairly obvious attempt at recreating an All of the Lights spectacular it falls slightly short - but is almost a pleasant surprise in being so unexpectedly restrained.

In a bit of a rarity on this record, 'Niggas in Paris' places Jay-Z in lead position and has the arguably better delivery despite Kanye being audacious enough to reference the royal wedding, sampling dialogue from Will Ferrell, and the line "Excuse my French but I’m in France (I’m just sayin)". The synthloop can become irritating at times but otherwise fades into the background. After Otis, 'Gotta Have It' has an impressive 3 different samples all from James Brown - and the pair have some of their strongest and smoothest flows on here but the background rapidly becomes a bit dull. On 'New Day' it's time for Nina Simone to be put through production effects until we have a virtually whole new Feeling Good. The two address their future sons and apologise for the downsides of worldwide fame and "you ain't even alive, paparazzi pursuing ya ". "And I'll never let him ever hit a strip club," Kanye ponders, "I learned the hard way, that ain't the place to get love". It's a poignant and bleak reflection of celebrity.

One of the early leaks from the project, 'That's My Bitch' features Elly Jackson (La Roux) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) repeating their guest spots from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The drums and synth hooks behind this track make it one of the instantaneous hits on offer, but lyrically this is one of those ill-fated swagger-tracks. "I mean Marilyn Monroe she's quite nice but why All the pretty icons always all white?" Carter muses in a slight bit of amnesia relating to pre-civil rights USA. For me the most quickly tiring track, thanks to its instrumental, is 'Welcome to the Jungle' but we can blame Swizz Beatz for that one. "Where the fuck is the press? Where the fuck is the Pres? Either they know or don't care I'm fucking depressed" Jay-Z announces towards the end and it's a little difficult to feel sympathy for him given the current climate. A burst of energy then comes in 'Who Gon' Stop Me?' with the hilarious "that's pig latin, itch-bay!" The internet seems to be a bit pissed off about the Flux Pavillion sample but dubstep is dead to me so I don't give a shit. This is good.

"The paper read "murder - Black-on-black murder" again" the chorus to 'Murder to Excellence' laments, a track which comes in two parts produced by different men. I personally prefer the first half with Swizz Beatz' take on some Romanian folk singing but then that's something I'm always a fan of. Frank Ocean makes his second appearance on 'Made in America', a soulful testament to their success that sees Jay-Z pledging allegiance to his grandmother and Kanye reminiscing about his mother. You'd have to be a bit of a senseless dick to write this off as corny or fake. We reach the end then with 'Why I Love You' and Mr. Hudson with a not-very-subtle Cassius sample that I'd be surprised if it didn't make it as a single. The talents bow out with a quickfire exchange of dialogue (Jay-Z: Got a pistol under my pillow/ Kanye: I've never been a deep sleeper).


Okay so it doesn't need to be said that this isn't the best record that either of them has come up with, but I don't think that was ever their ambition here. What we have though is a fine collection of fun, soulful and heartfelt anthems that stretches them to the limits and offers a number of surprises - and in the pop world and its dabblings with Hip Hop, those surprises are far and few between.

Rating: 8/10
Highlights: Why I Love You, Otis, No Church in the Wild, Who Gon' Stop Me, Murder to Excellence, Made In America
Avoid: Welcome to the Jungle

Artwork Watch: Probably my favourite so far this year - it's bold, it's extravagant, it's exaggerated and something only they could get away with.