Released online as financial markets took a historic plunge, the full-length collaboration between Jay-Z and Kanye West revels in self-described "luxury rap." Two of hip-hop's biggest stars tell us in rhyme form that even in this economy, they can afford fine art, haute couture, even top-tier German home appliances.
If you can forgive these self-satisfied rap titans
their name-checking of Mark Rothko, Dries Van Noten and Miele, though,
"Watch The Throne" has more on its mind. Celebration of the high life
is undercut by regrets, loneliness, and snatches of mournful social commentary.
Like West's acclaimed solo effort last year, the album title reveals itself as
both boastful and paranoid, proud and furtive. Watch us on top, they seem to
say, but know that we don't always like what we see from here — both looking
outward and in.
"Murder to Excellence" encapsulates the
theme in a two-parter that shifts beats halfway through. West begins by quoting
an old Jay-Z line — "I'm from the murder capital, where they murder for
capital" — to decry black-on-black violence in his hometown of Chicago.
Jay-Z then describes ascending to "the new black elite" with Will
Smith and Oprah Winfrey. "Only spot a few blacks the higher I go ... that
ain't enough. We gon' need a million more," he raps.
Isolation infuses the Swizz Beats-produced
"Welcome to the Jungle," where West drinks away his struggles:
"Just when I thought I had everything, I lost it all. So que sera. Get a
case of Syrah, let it chase the pain." Jay-Z places himself in the shoes
of fellow musicians at their lowest points, linking Eminem, Michael Jackson,
Pimp C, 2Pac and more through coded couplets that reward repeat listening.
Even more dour is the RZA-produced "New
Day," with odes to sons the two may eventually father. Over a plinking
piano and Nina Simone sample, West flagellates himself for mistakes, from his
choice in women to post-Katrina telethon appearance, noting: "I'll never
let my son have an ego." Jay-Z is even more direct: "Sorry Junior, I
already ruined ya, 'cause you ain't even alive, paparazzi pursuing ya."
Oh, poor millionaire rappers. Go cry into your
Armand de Brignac Champagne at your yacht parties, you may find yourself
responding. But this type of intimacy and honesty doesn't come easy — or often
enough — in commercial hip-hop. West's feverish, sometimes needy soul-baring
has jolted the oft-aloof Jay-Z to attention, just as his sped-up soul samples
did the first time they worked together, on 2001's classic "The
Blueprint."
"Throne" is sometimes guilty of failing
to let its lyrics breathe, as West and other producers drown out the duo's
rhymes with distracting vocal samples or ever-escalating arrhythmic electro
beats. "Who Gon Stop Me" is an ambitious but ultimately failed
rap-dubstep mashup. The playful wordplay of "Gotta Have It" gets lost
in the Neptunes' multiple James Brown samples. Beyonce showcase "Lift
Off" wants to be a successor to West's regal, star-studded "All of
the Lights" but feels incomplete, like it was ripped from an engineer's
hands to beat a deadline.
Moments of determined calm hit their target more
effectively. Frank Ocean, part of the buzzy Los Angeles collective Odd Future,
croons a soulful, effortless chorus on the gorgeous memoir "Made In
America," an album highlight. He's joined by The-Dream on the provocative
album opener "No Church In the Wild," filled with striking images and
poetry.
The 23-year-old Ocean's presence signifies the
"Throne's" attempt to blend old with new. Despite all the nods to
hip-hop history — "Apache" and "Top Billin" samples, quotes
from Outkast and Wu-Tang — the 34-year-old West and 41-year-old Jay-Z have
crafted a bleeding-edge nontraditional hip-hop album. Over the course of 12
songs (plus four bonus tracks in the deluxe edition) West has pushed his
"big brother," one of hip-hop's few true legends, into riskier
territory, sonically and lyrically, than he's gone in many years.
Not including Jay-Z's R. Kelly collaborations — and
really, the less said the better — these hard-working rhyme partners have
touched on their genre's familiar aspirational themes repeatedly over the
course of a combined 16 solo albums. On top, done counting their Basquiats and
all-black Maybachs, they're left to assess: What else is there?
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/ Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam Recordings / Roc Nation)
