Watch The Throne is better than My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Blueprint 3. It is what both of those albums should have been. But that is about all that I can really say about the album. Lyrically, this is the best that I have heard Jay-Z from in a while. I got away from Jay-Z back around The Black Album. The Black Album was his best album to date, and American Gangster was solid, primarily due to Puffy’s production and a renewed energy by Jay-Z himself lyrically. I was very disappointed by The Blueprint 3 album though, as I consider it to be the worst of his career.
Kanye West still shines as a producer, for other artists. I think his work with Katy Perry is perhaps one of his best beats of all time. But he fell off after 808s & Heartbreak, which is about as good as it gets for Kanye. Nothing about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy impressed me, though many hard core fans consider it to be one of his best albums of all time. Watch The Throne is somewhere between 808s & Heartbreak and Late Registration in my honest opinion. What were dark, satanic influences that were associated with Kanye West and Jay-Z previously are no where to be found on this album, this is true hip-hop, no gimmicks ….
It is unfortunate that it took a project like Watch The Throne for fans to see both Kanye West and Jay-Z at the height of their career artistically, again. I would have to give the album 4 stars. There are more than a few tracks on this record that do not deliver up to the hype of this record. The beats are menacing, and quite honestly, remind me of why I love Kanye West as a producer. His lyrics aren’t bad either. Jay-Z goes beyond the arrogant lyrics we have become accustomed to hearing from him since 2001 and borders on megalomania on this album, but that is a great thing for his biggest supporters. The album is an arrogant, “I am God” type of affair, but that fits in with what people have grown to expect from both artists. The best tracks would have to be “Why I Love You” featuring Mr. Hudson, and “Primetime”. “Primetime” in particular is just an ugly, hideous track, reminding us of why we love New York “Boom Bap” hip-hop. This is the type of lyricism every New York artist should be delivering, and the type of beats that should be the norm on the radio now. There is nothing commercial about this album whatsoever, which is what is so great about it, unlike Blueprint 3, that was developed for heavy radio airplay. If you want that gritty, ugly, grimy 90s hip-hop you should get this record; if you want a commercial release go back to Blueprint 3 or 808s and Heartbreak and listen to those records.