I’m strongly anticipating the album release of, “Watch The Throne” which is a collaboration album with Kanye West and Jay-Z. Anyone who knows me or has been following this blog knows how much I admire Mr. West. I am so going to his concert. This is a must. It will be an early birthday present to myself. Anyway, I found a synopsis of the album from the perspective of one of my favorite blogs, Concreteloop.com. Here is what they had to say:
TRACK BY TRACK NOTES/ OVERALL VIBE OF ‘WATCH THE THRONE’
Here are some of the notes and vibes I got from the songs. It was really dark in there so I wasn’t able to take that many notes, but this still gives you an idea of how dope the tracks were (to me at least).
1. “No Church in the Wild” (featuring Frank Ocean)
4/5 – Frank Ocean comes in on the song asking “What’s a king to a god? What’s a god to a king? What’s a god to a nonbeliever?” Kanye & Jay gives us 808s & Heartbreaks vibes on the track and it is actually a good starting point.
2. “Lift Off” (featuring Beyoncé)
4/5 – It was originally announced that Bruno Mars was going to be on the track, but I didn’t hear him. Only Beyonce was heard belting out “We gonna take it to the moon/ We gonna take it to the stars/ How many people you know take it this far?” Pretty dope track.
3. “Niggas in Paris” Â
5/5!!!!!! Best beat on the album. Everyone was getting out of their seats and jamming. It gave me a down south vibe. They were straight stunting on the song and both Kanye & Jay killed their verses. I wanted them to replay it.
4. “Otis” (featuring Otis Redding)
3/5 Since this song is already out, you can listen here. However, while this was playing I noticed that Beyonce & Jay-Z were really feeling it. They were smiling all over the place.
5. “Gotta Have It”
5/5 – This Nepturnes produced beat was also another crazy one. Kanye plays on the internet culture because I heard a couple of LOLs mentions on the track. Jay-Z goes in on the high price of being famous.
6. “New Day” Â
5/5 This song samples Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good.” You can hear her voice “Birds flyin’ high, you know how I feel” and Kanye and Jay-Z get personal. Both speak to about or to their unborn children and it was actually thought provoking. Kanye even puts in a jab to Amber Rose saying, “Strip club, I learned the hard way that wasn’t where to find love.”
7. “That’s My Bitch” Â
4/5 The guy next to me said this song leaked because he heard it before but it was new to me. The visual effects during this time were planets exploding and then it eventually turned into the moon. Pretty dope. Didn’t write any lyric notes down.
8. “Welcome to the Jungle”
4/5 Swizz Beatz is very evident on this song. Guitars and a Jay-Z mention of Axel Rose (i’m guessing that was smart because of the song title). Definite banger though.
9. “Who’s Gon Stop Me” Â
3/5 All I remember is Kanye saying something about the Holocaust in the chorus and even though it was dark inside the planetarium, everyone started writing hard on their paper. I was like ut oh, this is gonna turn into something if he isn’t careful. The song was aiight, but I think people are going to make a big heap about his ‘Holocaust’ mentioning.
10. “Murder to Excellence” Â
4/5 Another deep song on the album. Kanye speaks about the murder count in Chicago comparing it to the deaths of soldiers in Iraq. Jay-Z sheds light on the black on black crime / murder in an inspirational way.
11. “Made in America” (featuring Frank Ocean)
5/5 Frank Ocean’s chorus on this song was pretty dope. He sang “Sweet brother Martin, sweet queen Coretta, sweet brother Malcolm, sweet queen Betty… sweet brother Joseph, sweet Mary, sweet baby Jesus. Made in America.” Kanye payed homage to his mother, and Jay-Z pledged allegiance to his grandma. Another inspirational song on both Jay and Kanye’s end. All I can remember is the Frank Ocean chorus right now. It’s stuck in my head.
12. “Why I Love You” (featuring Mr Hudson)
3/5 This song kind of reminded me of off the “Graduation’ album. Kanye were just speaking his growth in the industry making beats and songs for people. He also compared him using his beats as ‘getting high off his own supply’. Jay-Z speaks being successful and his ups and downs with loyalty. Solid effort but not the best on the album.
Overall, the album was entertaining, educational, inspirational and the beats went hard. You can tell the older the two get, the more reflective they are becoming as evident in many of the songs on the upcoming release. Not to mention, they even had little dope interludes in between each song (reminiscent of Frank Ocean’s infamous mixtape) and the hip-hop heads will dig some of the mixing and samples as well. I’m excited to hear it in full again.
Ugh! They were actually invited to an exclusive listening session. Lucky them! But the reviews seem worth the buy. I’d like to judge for myself but it’s cool to have a little insight.
Did I ever mention that I'm a fan of Solange Knowles? Well, I am. Solange was there along side a few other celebs such as her sister Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, Jada Pinkett Smith, etc. BTW, Diana Ross came to my job yesterday and I was super excited. I literally had a legend in my presence and what a beauty! Too cool! Enjoy lovers…XoXXoXXo
