Watch The Throne
| Jay-Z & Kanye West
Watch The Throne
Watch the Throne is a collaborative studio album by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, released on August 8, 2011 by Roc-A-Fella Records, Roc Nation, and Def Jam Recordings. Before the album, Jay-Z and West had collaborated on various singles, and with the latter as a producer on the former's work. As longtime friends, they originally sought out to record a five-song EP together, but the project eventually evolved into a full-length album. The project features guest appearances from Frank Ocean, The-Dream, Beyonc and Mr Hudson, as well as posthumous vocals by Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield. It also features vocal contributions from Kid Cudi, Seal, Justin Vernon, Elly Jackson, Connie Mitchell, Charlie Wilson and Pete Rock, among others. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Maybe you've heard of this one? This meeting of two long-reigning titans is the kind of stadium-sized event-rap spectacle we don't get often enough.
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Rollingstone
The songs are packed with samples of some of the most hallowed figures in African-American music – James Brown, Otis Redding, Nina Simone – and it’s clear that Jay and Kanye consider those greats their peers. This is an album that takes aim at the history books.
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Complex
With Watch the Throne came a collaboration between two legends who brought out the best in each other: West produced the lion’s share of his big brother’s classic The Blueprint, and JAY-Z propelled West with his co-sign and some of the best verses from his first two albums.
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The Guardian
Jay-Z gets all the best lines, but it's Kanye who seems to be in creative charge here, says Alexis Petridis
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Genius
All in all, I love this album and think it might be a classic.
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Consequence of Sound
Watch the Throne turns out to be a success, even if it isn’t the landscape-altering LP the world had hoped for like a new bike from Santa Claus.
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The Quietus
Hype and arrogance created Watch the Throne and stifled the creative revelation it could have been. It would be nice if that could serve as a kind of lesson for the hip hop world, but somehow that seems unlikely.
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Huffington Post
Why Honesty Makes Kanye West And Jay-Z’s Album A Must Listen
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The Telegraph
Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne is a hard-hitting, thrilling album.
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Digital Spy
the biggest surprise here is that in spite of their inflated egos, Watch The Throne is a solid team effort.
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NME
Watch The Throne’ is a very noble attempt at cohesion, but its inconsistency ultimately stalls the project, resulting in an uneven recording that buckles under the weight of its own pressure.
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Slant
Watch the Throne is ultimately a minor entry in their canons, it’s still a terrific snapshot of the friendship that has ended up defining mainstream rap.
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BBC
Watch the Throne is a very noble attempt at cohesion, but its inconsistency ultimately stalls the project, resulting in an uneven recording that buckles under the weight of its own pressure.
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Birth Movies Death
They needed to reach for something higher then the top album spot and that reach extended into something with brains, heart and soul. And thankfully for us that Holy Grail of an album is finally here and it tastes so fucking good.
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Hip Hop DX
Truth be told, each emcee has produced better solo material, but that doesn’t take away from the quality found on Watch The Throne, nor does it change the fact that crowns rest assuredly on their heads. 4/5
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Plugged In
the hip-hop world must've figured the collaboration—resulting in a supergroup sometimes called The Throne—could border on the divine. But Watch the Throne is far from an immaculate confection. The results are, frankly, all too human.
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Pretty Much Amazing
Welcome to a shot at legacy. A stab at doing something different and, in doing so, rekindling the hunger that can so often be sated by success. Welcome to Watch the Throne.
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Spin
Are they fantasizing about being widely hated because they find it preferable to being widely ignored? Watch the Throne is far too good to condemn them thus, but not good enough to erase the possibility.
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The Washington Post
It might be a summer blockbuster designed to make us bow before two rap demigods, but after just a few spins, “Watch the Throne” asks us to question our own desires — spiritual and material.
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The New Zealand Herald
Watch the Throne comes across as if these guys are almost TOO earnest in their pursuit of their art - and songs like the thuggish Gotta Have It and the forlorn Made In America end up a little dull as a result, compared to That's My Bitch and the powerful rap refrains of Murder To Excellence. Still, along with their many cohorts they remain among the best music makers around.
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Drowned In Sound
this is an excellent record which cherry-picks from the catalogues of its pivotal architects and encompasses constituents from across the genre spectrum to scintillating effect.
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Radio Now
Watch the Throne,” the two kings prove much more nimble and disciplined, displaying a confidence that suggests they’re not going anywhere.
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Focus Hip Hop
I actually think this album is great. I’m surprised by how much I love this. It has some of the best production I’ve ever heard. B+ out of A-D
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The Sky Box Suite
Musically, the production is what made this such a note-worthy album.
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All Music
An audacious spectacle of vacuous pomposity as well as one of tremendous lyrical depth, Watch the Throne is a densely packed amalgamation of what Jay-Z has termed “ignorant shit” and “thought-provoking shit,” with creative productions that are both top of the line and supremely baffling.
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Sputnik
An excellent, albeit over-hyped collaboration between two of hip-hop's most powerful figures.
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Sunday Express
It’s not an easy album to get into but that’s because it’s complex and intelligent.
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The Los Angeles Times
The result is a cocksure, fiery, smart, if problematic, collaboration that showcases the pair's distinct lyrical skills, their way around a metaphor and an ability to execute both a grand narrative and the details that turn it into truth
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Tiny Mix Tapes
Evaluating their artistic output is almost definitional; Watch the Throne is good because Jay-Z and Kanye West do not — could not — make bad rap music.
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Times Live
Watch the Throne starts off on a good note and ends on a good one. Everything else in between is just as sweet and sometimes better. Definitely worth the hype.
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The Know
It’s an unhinged, no-holds- barred moment, two showmen enjoying the view at the top of their game.
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Pop Crush
All in all, 'Watch the Throne' is a near-masterpiece. It's not a hip-hop classic, but it's certainly one of the strongest rap efforts of 2011.
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Common Sense Media
Rap kingpins cut excellent but super-mature CD.
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Viberant
Jay Z and Kanye West are what you would describe as rap moguls, they’re influence and legacy will last for generations and this album was somewhat of a victory lap of that very fact.
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Now
These two have a history of bringing out the best in each other, and Watch The Throne is no exception
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Herald Sun
WHEN this A-list hip-hop collaboration morphed from an EP into an album it was already being hailed hip-hop's Thriller. Luckily Watch the Throne delivers.
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Daily Emerald
Overall, I don’t think we will carry much from this CD into our memories (or our iPods, for that matter). This was one of the biggest releases of the year, and yet only a few songs here really show me just how amazing these two artists are.
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Uproxx
its mostly a supergroup opportunity short of spectacular, shine just shy of gold.
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What Culture
The subject matter tends to stay on the money and the girls however when they do move away from that area the results are strong.
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G Style
“Watch The Throne” or watch your pockets; nevertheless it’s not a bad listen. All in all I think you should refrain from throwin’ stones at the “Throne.”
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Guest of a Guest
It is like they knew people would think it was automatically great, therefore they chose not to go as hard as they would on their own solo projects. It is similar to getting a 2-for-1 deal, paying for the deal and getting the quality of 1.
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Entertainment Weekly
They sound like they’re on the same page only during fleeting moments, and when those slip by, listening inevitably is more frustrating than fulfilling.
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Passion of the Weiss
The album lacks a sense of wide-eyed revelry—it’s more concerned with documenting their legacies than furthering them.
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The Baltimore Sun
A king’s throne is often described as a lonely place, and this is the sound of coming to terms with that enviable but cold reality. Here, loneliness sounds pretty good.
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The Young Folks
Chicago and Brooklyn, be proud of your two boys because this album will be a standard when it comes to collaboration records in future years.
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Blerds Online
Watch The Throne is a polarizing album that touches on a lot of issues. It's not just partying. As Jay Z stated it's a celebration of black excellence. A look at where they came from and where they are now.
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Under The Radar
Watch The Throne is undoubtedly one of the albums of the year and is an absolute must for serious music fans.
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NET
the beats and originality of sound are the things that grab our attention on ‘Watch The Throne’. The chemistry between both rappers is exceptional and even though the lyricism scores low, the theme of the album stays intact from start to the end, Kanye and Jay Z don’t go out of context.
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Entertainment IE
When Watch The Throne works, it is spectacular. There are some moments on it that do justice to the genius that both of these men posses. But because neither West nor Jay are really given sufficient time to lay their roots into the album it rarely hits the heights of either of their best solo material.
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The Microscopic Giant
The Throne is not a-press-play-and-leave-it-alone album, but the skips become jams when you forget what they sound like.
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Rukus Magazine
Watch the Throne is a very good album crafted by two of the best lyricist in the game today. Jay-Z is obviously the better wordsmith but Kanye is no slouch and brings a creativity to his rhymes that make them all his own. It is safe to say that while Watch the Throne may not be an instant classic, it should definitely fall no further than the hall of very good.
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Faronheit
“Watch the Throne” may not be the new gold standard of hip hop records, but do you think either one of these guys would be okay with accepting silver?
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Rex and the Bass
there is no way it could ever live up to these high expectations. But, it is still a strong album that all Jay-Z and Kanye West followers can get behind, and even if you are not a fan it is still worth your time.
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Donovan X. Ramsey
Watch the Throne is a thesis on what success means for Black men in America. What Kanye and Jay have to say extremely valuable, as is how they say it
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Just My Thoughts
This was a very good album. I think it shined more lyrically than it did production-wise but with that said, neither are at their best.
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D1esel6
There’s a good balance of fun tracks, with the more socially conscious and introspective ones. And they both, for the most part, give us their best and more than maintain their place on their thrones.
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Le Noir Auteur
A well meaning collaboration between two of raps finest that fails to live up to the hype.
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Mic Cheque
What’s also great about WTT is the balance between substance and entertainment. Outside of the fun tracks there’s “Murder to Excellence”, an anthemic two-part ode to black pride. Its message hits hard and is a standout track on the album in terms of content.
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Idolator
So yeah, it’s obvious people are watching The Throne — but are people liking it?
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Crass Talk
Watch the Throne, the hotly-anticipated collaboration album between Jay-Z and Kanye West somehow manages to never really mesh two very strong personalities together into some Voltron made of Hermes and Yankees caps, but fortunately they have strong enough chemistry and incredible production that it works out.
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Ihiphop
Overall, WTT sounds much better on paper than it does in reality which is in large part due to the duo’s lack of lyrical cohesion. The album may have sounded ambitious and exciting in theory, but it doesn’t set a collaborative album precedence or challenge the listener to find an album that surpasses it.
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The Couch Sessions
This album sounds like a game of HORSE going on in the backyard and Jay can’t keep up with Ye…at all.
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Raps And Hustles
The album might got some filler n a couple joints thats jus beyond wack…but its still a pretty tight project son.
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The Stanford Daily
To label “Throne,” which showcases the heights that hip-hop can reach, as anything but a success would be erroneous.
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Dubcnn
“Watch The Throne” was a big deal even before the music was heard, but now that it’s out – and it’s hot – we can say with confidence that it was worth the hype.
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Contact Music
For an album that promised to be explosive, that feels a little safe for two artists at the top of their game.
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Media Anarchist
In any case it appears that the dynamic duo had fun creating this fiasco that should of been left in a vault rather than a pop-up store. Sorry fellas but your crowns fell way off.
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Chicago Tribune
When two of the biggest names in hip-hop – Jay-Z and Kanye West -- collaborate on an album, is there any way it can live up to the hype? Likely not, and that’s the burden “Watch the Throne” (Roc-A-Fella Records/Roc Nation/Def Jam Recordings) faces.
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The A.V. Club
The album has the flash to dazzle and the substance to last.
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The Needle Drop
Kanye and Jay-Z relying on their star power isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. I've loved a lot of music these guys have put out in the past, but my love stops there.
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Paste
When two legends unite, you expect pure, unfiltered brilliance. Watch The Throne has moments of that. On the whole, this album is a half-hearted victory lap.
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NPR Music
throughout this album the two stars present themselves as the solution to an international history of ills. It's unbelievably self-aggrandizing — and disturbing. When will they look beyond each other's eyes?
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Time
A Gold-Plated Luxury Vehicle, with a Message
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WBEZ91.5 Chicago
The lyrical missteps and musical distractions are way too aggravating and too numerous to carry the day throughout these 16 overly long tracks (if we count the bonus cuts).
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Soul In Stereo
For those of you expecting The Reasonable Doubt of a College Dropout, I’m sorry to break the news – Watch The Throne is not at all a classic. But don’t let that revelation dissuade you from experiencing one of the year’s best rap releases.
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The Week
This "stellar" album is nicely balanced between "hard beats with raw raps" and "risk-free commercial tracks
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