Artist: Kanye West and Jay-Z

Album: Watch the Throne

Record Label: Roc-A-Fella Records

Soundwaves: 4.5/5

Sounds Like: ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ crossed with ‘The Black Album.’

How does a rapper top a critically acclaimed personal opus? What about a Billboard chart-smashing album? Answer: Send rap’s two biggest superstars on a yearlong recording odyssey and watch the explosive collaboration unfold.

In ‘Watch the Throne,’ Kanye West and Jay-Z trump their past triumphs. The rap music monarchs waste no time asserting their dominance over the hip-hop genre in opener ‘No Church in the Wild.’ Accompanied by a tribal drumbeat and jungle-esque keyboard, West and Jay-Z trade off venomous lines with crooner Frank Ocean laying down the track’s inescapable hook.

The album enters a stratosphere of arrogance when all of the album’s collective stars are in line. Beyonce belts out a monster chorus in ‘Lift Off,’ a track fleshed out by West’s laid-back flow juxtaposed with Jay-Z’s no-nonsense rhyming. It ends on an epic scale with a well-timed sampling of a NASA space-shuttle countdown. R&B artist Mr. Hudson, featured on Jay-Z’s summer jam ‘Young Forever,’ takes his turn in the spotlight in ‘Why I Love You.’ Nothing short of sheer poetry, a swelling, bitterly triumphant anthem that highlights the poignancy of rap’s two most notable wordsmiths.

For all of the big-headed egoist moments that appear in ‘Watch the Throne,’ Jay-Z and West never lose sight of their genre’s roots. ‘Otis,’ the album’s most radio-friendly track, is a respectful homage to legendary soul singer Otis Redding and is reminiscent of West’s ‘Gold Digger’ in all of the right ways. ‘Made in America,’ featuring another majestic performance from Frank Ocean, recalls the civil rights movement and the road to fame paved by both rappers.

Although neither West nor Jay-Z steals the lion’s share of the verses, it’s crystal clear where each of the artists donated their share of influence. West’s fingerprints are found on the orchestral arrangements and ambitiously crafted soundscapes that overtake the instrumentation, especially on the almost hymnal accompaniments of ‘H*A*M’ and the neo-funk beats of ‘That’s My B***h.’

Jay-Z, on the other hand, flaunts his strongly worded lyricism, overlaying the religious sounds of ‘H*A*M’ with some of the most gutter-mouthed rhymes.  Though sharp and witty, ‘Illest Motherf**ker Alive’ should make listeners want to wash out the two rappers mouths out with soap, albeit sharp and witty.

‘Watch the Throne’ drops all pretenses of humility, swapped instead for self-indulgent pride and haughty attitude. In ‘Who Gon Stop Me,’ Jay-Z and West stumble back into hip-hop’s most tenured clichés. Sandwiched between two of the more earnest songs on the album, the track disrupts the flow for a four minute interlude of rapid-fire rhymes about fast cars and money.

Kanye and Jay-Z earned the right to their own ego-driven celebration of themselves as rap’s two crown princes of their generation. Their joint effort doesn’t quite stack up against most of the two rappers’ back catalogues, but it sets the bar very high for the rest of the 2011’s crop of rap albums. Featuring some fantastic guest spots, creative beats and poetic lyricism, ‘Watch the Throne’ should keep hip-hop fans salivating for more dynamic duos.

ervanrhe@syr.edu

Published on August 15, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Erik: ervanrhe@syr.edu | @therealvandyman