What happens when the two most creative and innovative guys in the hip-hop industry collaborate together for an entire album? Automatic success, that’s what. This review is almost unnecessary, but we’ll do it anyways just for fun.
What Kanye West and Jay Z have done with WATCH THE THRONE is they’ve combined classic hip hop with a modern, progressive-electronic sound. Take for example, the haunting “No Church in the Wild”, a song that repeats menacing drums under a synthesized sound, building up to a Panic! at the Disco-style horn tune that plays out the last few seconds.
The rest of the album is like that, unique sounds that resonate to something that changes throughout. The main thing about the album is that you can hear the hard work and hear that went into it, perfect example being the song “Otis”, a vinyl sounding homage to Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness”. There’s also the unique “Made In America”, which starts off as an experimental electronic beat, but evolves into this beautiful, soulful track which continues until the haunting, horror film style violin sound that makes a brief appearance right before the end.
While WATCH THE THRONE is a prime example hip-hop success, there are some things they could have done to push the boundaries even further. For instance, they could have explored a jazz sound a bit more, maybe bringing in The Roots drummer, Questlove, to see what his sound would bring to the table. Or, if they really wanted to push the progressive ideology even further, they could duel up with prog-rock band like The Mars Volta, again, just to see what would happen.
Boys, there’s no need to watch the throne. No one’s going to attempt taking it from you. – 5/5