Album Review: The Throne - "Watch the Throne"

By The Voice
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

In 2009, Jay-Z was in the midst of a comeback and Kanye West was facing a major backlash. The following year, Kanye West made a strong comeback and Jay-Z took a backseat. Fans were begging for new music from Jay-Z.

Less than a month following the release of Kanye West's fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it was announced a collaboration album between Jay-Z and Kanye West would be released.

The album was titled Watch the Throne and it was branded as the first time Jay-Z and Kanye West would share the mic as equals. The album also marked a brief return by Jay-Z to Roc-A-Fella Records, the label he founded with Damon Dash. In early 2011, Jay-Z and Kanye West released "H.A.M.," which is the first single off the new album.

For months, fans waited for new music from the duo. When they began recording the album, they had taken over two hotel rooms in New York City to record. However, their hectic schedules kept them from recording the way they wanted to. Six months would pass before anything besides talk materialized from their collaboration album.

Towards the end of July, Jay-Z and Kanye West released "Otis," a song sampling Otis Redding, and announced their group name as The Throne. Following their group name and the single, The Throne also released other songs for promotional use. Yesterday, the mythic album was released and is a nice fusion of soulful classics with the modern music.

Watch the Throne manages to go from one extreme to another, without seeming rushed and slapped together. Hands down, The Throne (Jay-Z and Kanye West)'s Watch the Throne, is the best album of 2011. Hopefully, more singles will be released from the album as the months pass. It will be a major disappointment if this album suffers, like other major collaboration albums, from lack of promotion.

Hip Hop Vibe's Rating: 9/10