Kanye West/Jay-Z "Watch the Throne" discussions

[dannyhatch]

So what do you guys think? It seems like already it's financially a huge success. By restricting advance copies to actual listening parties and releasing it on iTunes first they avoided the inevitable album leak and I read somewhere that this thing has already sold a million units in preorders alone, but musically I'm a little puzzled by it. I'm not so big into rap, with my familiarity with the genre restricted to Kanye and M.I.A., so I'm not really familiar with Jay-Z. That said, it's very catchy and smart stuff but from "the two biggest stars in hip-hop" it seems kind of low-key. So I just wondered what you folks thought.

[Rufio]

I'm waiting for it to come out on CD but I've heard two singles, HAM which was the first single and not surprisingly didn't make it into the main cd (it was horrible) and Otis, which I thought was an awesome track.

[fluxquanta]

Originally Posted by Rufio

HAM which was the first single and not surprisingly didn't make it into the main cd (it was horrible)

Sounds like you're just mad that you're not hard as a motherfucker.

(Yeah, that song was pretty generic)

Edit: I'm also listening to the album now...and while I like it so far (only on the third track), hearing Jay-Z processed so much kind of bothers me. His natural "flow" is what draws me to his music, and I'm not feeling it here.

[Leentron3030]

I haven't heard this album yet. I'm happy I got tickets to see them live though.

[Junkenstein]

so far a few tracks are really GREAT, extra catchy and in some cases with multiple beats.

It's less boo0mbastic than i'd expected and a more restrained record that ncould possibly work well on repeated listen.

For now my favourite tracks are: Thats My Bitch, Otis, Who Gonna Stop Me, Murder To Excellence

[FletchLives]

All I know is that there are some very in depth Illuminati conspiracies surrounding this album. A lot of very blatant ties, so blatant that it could just be a ploy, or distraction.

[Rufio]

Originally Posted by Leentron3030

I haven't heard this album yet. I'm happy I got tickets to see them live though.

I bought tickets the second the presale opened, I hadn't even heard the album yet, I just knew seeing those two perform would be fucking awesome

[Leentron3030]

Originally Posted by Rufio

I bought tickets the second the presale opened, I hadn't even heard the album yet, I just knew seeing those two perform would be fucking awesome

so did I!!! I finally heard the album though, it's pretty good. I'm still going just because I want to see Jay and Ye perform some classics.

[Bucho]

I heard a really good breakdown of the strengths and weaknesses of it on this podcast. Because two white boys dissecting hip hop is where it's at homie.

SModcast | w/ Jesse Thorn & Special Guests

[dannyhatch]

So it's been out for about a month now, and having given it time to sink in...I really don't like it. I don't know much about Jay-Z but I love the shit out of Kanye's music because of how it eschews rap stereotypes and seems genuinely emotional. This is all flash and no substance. It's about having money and bitches (with a few exceptions of course..."No Church in the Wild" and "Murder to Excellence" at least try to make statements) and I just can't connect to it. It seems like a lot of people are really enjoying it, though, so that's good.