After months and months of anticipation, Kanye West and Jay-Z unleashed Watch the Throne on the masses on August 8th. I was traveling during this time so I waited to download the album for a few days, but I checked out the reaction from my Twitter timeline. Judging from their enthusiastic proclamations (someone said it was the best rap album of the past 5 years and the word classic was thrown around a lot), one would think this was the greatest album since sliced bread. While there are certainly some memorable songs, this album is a disappointment if only because of the talent involved.
This album isn’t terrible mind you, as there are many things to like. These men are two of rap music’s more gifted lyricists and they shine often (like on tracks such as Illest Motherfucker Alive or New Day). The production values are top notch and the samples are used perfectly. The songs are quite enjoyable and its fun to see two MCs come together on one album. There are issues however. Why they felt the need to add completely different beats to the end of songs still escapes me. Why not just keep the same beat and end the song? This really hampered a song like HAM, which should have been a banger but that slow operatic portion at the end really dampens the song. Same for the screaming on Otis, we could have done without it Kanye. Also, this album seems to try and appease too many fan bases, without creating a signature sound. Take the new collabo with Eminem and Royce da 5’9″, that album forced a single voice from two artists, something WTT fails to do.
As far as this being the best rap album of the decade…truthfully this wouldn’t even make the top 20 of the last TEN YEARS. So if we could please let that go and instead focus on enjoying what’s a perfectly fine, if overhyped album.
Verdict: A well meaning collaboration between two of raps finest that fails to live up to the hype.
Grade: B-/C+
Songs to Download: No Church in the Wild (ft. Frank Ocean) and New Day