Watch the Throne..

Watch the Throne is the new joint album by Jay Z and Kanye West, and, do you know what, it's actually a bit of alright.

Album Artwork

When two people of such stature in the music world come together they often provide us with a number one single, a good song or two with some interesting verses and a cool chorus. But rarely have two musicians come together to produce a joint album as such. If anyone in the rap industry were to do this, and pull it off successfully, these two are probably the only that could.

The record could be viewed as a competition between the two hip-hop big hitters, and pound for pound they match up, it's Ali Vs Ali here. 

First song on the record, No Church in the Wild, features Frank Ocean, and I like it. Jay Z's verse is great, typical Jigga-man dropping some great lyrics as usual. Kanye follows suit with some more superb lyrics, of the two he's probably the better, but Jay Z will be back. Ocean sings the chorus and it's interesting. It's not a massive sing-a-long that you might expect after recent trends on hip-hop and grime songs,; it's more intricate and you actually want to listen to the lyrics.

Jay Z

Second track Lift Off sees Beyonce add a catchy chorus that is sure to claim the song chart success, and, really, there's nothing wrong with that, it doesn't risk the credibility of the song so it's OK. West raps, 'lLift off / Lift off / Taking my coat off / Showin’ my tattoos / I’m such a show off' , highlighting to us his vanity, because we've never noticed, how could we? It's not like he steals stages from people and makes them cry. Jay Z comes through strong, 'Lift off / Rappers hear watch the throne / They gon be pissed off', showing that they mean business.

Ni**as in Paris comes next with the most interesting beat of the album so far. Strangely it feels somewhat oriental, maybe they don\t know where Paris is? It wouldn't be a true rap song without references to some famosu faces, Jay Z, 'Psycho, I’m liable to be go Michael, / Take your pick / Jackson, Tyson, Jordan,', got to get all the good ones in there. The songs cool, I doubt that it'll be a single, or be recognized much past the album.

Then they take it Old-Skool with rumored first single Otis. The modern take on the classic tune is quality. Nothing else to be said. Great sounds, great lyrics. Jay Z. 'I invented swag', bold, but probably true. West comes into his own, finally I feel his seamless flow coming back, the two giants are here, 'Jay is chillin’, ‘Ye is chillin’, what more can I say? / We killin’ ‘em'. They actually are.


Gotta Have It sees a relationship between the two develop, they flow easily together, taking a few lines each, rather than, my bit, your bit, chorus etc. It;s nice to see them interacting so well together, it shows their quality coming through.

New Day sees West showing some emotion. 'I never let my son have an ego', he even says, 'dont be like your daddy that would never budge'. Is west really trying to atone for his negative actions, really? Either way it makes the song better. He still has a dig though, 'I mean I might even make ‘em be Republican / So everybody know he love white people', dudes bitter, racism is so last year. Jay Z i similar, but he's got a good reputation, but he should apologize for Wonderwall at Glasto. Ruining a classic isn't acceptable

Who says misogyny's dead. Kanye doesn't in That's My Bitch, 'paid for them ti**ies, get your own', gutted to be you Kanye, your a famous rapper and your still paying for it. Owned. Jay Z joins in. Bit harsh guys. Racism and Sexism. sounds like a Tory wet dream.

Kanye West

Welcome to The Jungle. Well Pro Green's English jungle sounds a lot more frightening, and a lot better, to be honest. Kanye, 'asked her where she wanna be when she 25. / She turned around and looked at me and said “alive”', the harshness of American life demonstrated here, so much for the land of hope and all that American Dream nonsense.

Is that Dubstep? Who Gon Stop Me sounds like some weird American Dubstep. According to Kanye
'This is something like the Holocaust / Millions of our people lost', I don't actually know what he's on about, I mean, I am pretty sure that nothing like the Holocaust has happened, well, since the Holocaust. Maybe he should've stayed in college.

Murder To Excellence, contrasts beautifully musically to Who Gon Stop Me, dubstep to acoustic guitar riff's. Is this Chase and Status? The Americans learning from their better English cousins. This song is brilliant. Easily the best so far. Unfortunately it paints a damning picture of American Culture, but the music is amazing. West reluctantly raps, 'and I’m from the murder capital/Where they murder for capital/ Heard about at least 3 killings this afternoon', sad but apparently true. Jay Z croons about the hardships of black people in modern society, 'Only spot a few blacks the higher I go', it's a great message but is it still relevant in this society.

Frank Ocean's back on Made In America. The American Dream that has seemed so distant and fake in the previous songs is all of a sudden amazing, they made it in America, so it is amazing. Well, it's not is it. I like the song musically, but the whole idea and lyrics are just worthless, everything bad in our country is a resultant of something America has done. Sorry, but America is just a bit rubbish.

Mr Hudson guests on the last track, which samples a song I know, but I don't know where from... Musically this piece is great. An absolute hit, chilled but powerful. Possibly one of Jay Z's best lyrical outings, 'The circle got smaller / The castle got bigger / The walls got taller / And truth be told after all that said / Ni**as still got love for you', his evocative lyrics are as string as ever, the song just suits him so well. The ending sees the return of that seamless flow between the two of them, it's brilliant.

It seems fitting that when the album finished my iTunes plays She's A Genius by Jet. Genius is the only word to describe these guys and this album.

Two of hip-hop's biggest stars have crafted a beautiful beast of an album that's sure to get critical acclaim and chart success.