Kanye and Jay-Z's brand new album is a self-pat on the back by the two, heavily weighed down with a gold Cartier watch. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Part of rap's appeal has almost always been a sense of escapism, a combination of both admiration and envy for those who have come out of mostly nothing to now live a life that can dream of. But where Watch The Throne bogs itself down is when it starts to feel like a private VIP party that you have to watch with binoculars a mile away behind velvety ropes.
Where it succeeds is when the two descend from their Mt.
Olympus and no track exhibits this more than "New Day" featuring
verses from the two on top of a RZA beat/"connect." A letter to their
unborn sons (sup Tupac), both Kanye and Jigga deliver heartfelt verses which
expound on their own lives, current insecurities and doubts, and focus on
promises that are at the heart of the American dream: a better life for your
children than you had. On top of a dope Nina Simone sample (a former
jamandahalf) the entire track feels stripped down, a removal of all the Louis
Vutton suitcases, Hermes scarves, European boutiques, Maybachs, and gold which
ooze from most of the tracks on the album. It's ironic that the two really show
that the figurative throne really is there when they take away from its
opulence, when they show that they are just two cats from Brooklyn and Chicago
that had a dream and now are living enormous.
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Jay-Z & Kanye West New Day
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