Watch The Throne does have quite a few things going for it. When it's good, it's pretty damn good. Album opener "No Church In The Wild" caught my attention from the start (unfortunately, no song on here is even close to as good as this.) Jay-Z and Kanye trade off solid verses with a catchy chorus from OFWGKTA's resident R&B singer Frank Ocean. The biggest plus on this record though is Kanye West's production. He is able to provide the album with a stellar array of beats. There are quite a few memorable beats on here and he is definitely not afraid to go outside of the box unlike most mainstream rap. It was also good to hear Jay-Z not rapping like shit on this record. After his disastrous last effort The Blueprint 3, I was pretty sure Jay-Z rapping ability was DOA. Although nowhere near top form, Jay-Z definitely brings some of his flow and creativity back here. Even Kanye West, who is one of the most inconsistent rappers of all time, shows moments where he actually raps well.
The problem with Watch The Throne is the amount of filler. There are plenty of tracks on here where you can tell Jay-Z and Kanye West's huge ego's got in the way. The subject matter of their tracks is pretty much bragging about how rich and how good they are at rapping. Sure they have plenty of money, but their lyrics aren't nearly clever enough to warrant such self-praise. The best rappers around don't tend to brag every chance they get and that's most of what Watch The Throne is. The perfect examples of this are on the awful "Niggas In Paris" and "That My Bitch". These tracks are just complete shit and left me with a really bad taste in my mouth. Some of the good tracks even have annoying sections that drag them down. Album standout "No Church In The Wild" has an obnoxious auto-tune section in the middle and "Who Gon Stop Me" has a highly grating sample in it. Stupid sections like these are far too frequent throughout the album and definitely play a part in dragging the quality down.
Watch The Throne is a lot better than anticipated, but it's a heavily flawed record. There are moments that are quite good, and there are moments that are abysmal. I will admit I really didn't even expect this album to be at this level, so kudos to Jay-Z and Kanye West for that. If this album had more consistency (lyrically and musically) and was made with a less cocky vibe, this could have been a damn fine record. Watch The Throne has it's moments, but at the end of the day it's just a middling, wildly uneven album.
2.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.No Church In The Wild (ft. Frank Ocean)
2.Otis (ft. Otis Redding)
3.Gotta Have It
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