Considering the state of the world, the themes on Watch the Throne are absolutely absurd… even the title. But i think how out of touch this album is has a lot to do with its charm. Somehow this is the only album this year i find myself going back to. I’m sure it helps that this album came out in the summer, because if it had come out in February I might be saying Lupe Fiasco’s Friend of the People mixtape is album of the year. Its actually better but since I have only had it for a week I don’t think its fair to call it album of the year…but its really fucking good.
I love how ripe with conflict and contradiction hip hop artists are. Lupe while railing against Corporate excesses always seems to sneak in a line about some designer clothes I’ve never heard of, but I gotta respect him; he is literally the only major label rap artist that says anything worthwhile, and he practices what he preaches. Ask the folks who slept in the tents he donated to Occupy Denver! Jay Z and Kanye did not donate tents to Occupy Denver but have built an image around similar sorts of contradictions; “Armani Suit but I”m Homeless / Support the troops put gold rims on their hummers and land rovers.” Ok, they never actually said this, but they can use the line if they want.
Watch The Throne was essentially a Greenthink album made by Jay-Z & Kanye. Even though Kanye’s rap parts were pretty sub par, his influence on the song writing/beat selection is what really makes this such a great album. This recprd has some of Jay Z’s finest moments as of late, particularly “Niggaz in Paris” & “Why I Love you.” I loved the free wheeling experimental spirit of this record and the beats they chose, it just sounded like two egomaniacs having a blast, and laughing all the way to the bank.
Friend of the People on the other hand was given away for free, released on Thanksgiving Day. and what would anyone rather listen to when they are slicing up a tofurkey than howard zinn samples over club beats? I love how Lupe lays out these issues in an artistic, yet poppy way. one moment that stands out is when he calls iphones “a revolutionary new way to be alone.” I would love to see him do an album produced entirely by Kanye (ghost produced by flying lotus on a few tracks), this could literally be the best album of the decade.
To me a good “album” in the hip hop world has 3 songs, and these albums definitely had more than that. 3-4 stars(each).
