-------------- Second Track (Lift Off) -----------------
- Has a nice introduction with horns in the background
- Beyonce on the chorus (obviously)
- "Were gone take it to the moon, we gone take it to the stars..." - Beyonce
- Ye's doing his semi singing rap thing (think Runaway)
- "Showing my tattoo's suck a show off" - Ye
- Ye has first verse, Jay has second
- Kanye is on Autotune at one point...
- Samples a countdown of a NASA space launch at the ending on the song...
- It's a real banger, has good radio potential...
carreralu112 on 6 hours
2) LIFT OFF- really good synths beyonce has a killer hook and kanye and jay both had pretty good verses on it i dont really remember them though... should be a mainstream success... all the ****es in the room when nuts when it was playing hahah
- Had a dance/rave style vibe to the beat
- Sample with the words "I can't Stop"... on constant repeat at the beginning...
- Has a real dubstep influenced sound
- "Who's gona stop me huh? You gone stop me now" - Ye
- Has a line where he talks about his **** in pig latin (haha)
- "Black cards, black cards, black on black on black bras" - Jay
Samples Flux Pavilion - I Can't Stop
Quote from: carreralu112 on 8 hours ago
7) WHO GON STOP ME ... (?)...This is where i got confused two songs were played in a row and i didnt know if it was two songs or just a beat change but i think it might jsut be one super long song... the first part is a cool soul sampke and ye and jay bounce off eachother... then the second part (possibly new song?) is a ridiculous club banger sounds like lex luger but refined and sophisticated and it just gets you so hyped and kanye has distortion when he says "who gon stop me" again and again ... really great jay verse on this song
- Opens up with another Blade of Glory sample "We're gonna dance to one song, and one song only"
- Ottis Redding sample
- Classic soul style Kanye beat...
- Jay and Ye take turns (think Common's Southside)
- "Made Jesus walks I'm never going to hell" - Ye
- "Jay is chillin, Ye is chill, what more can I say" - Jay
Note... this song seemed to be a favorite of everyones... it was really dope!
carreralu112 on 8 hours
4) OTIS REDDING... probably my other favorite song from the album... **** was amazing... soul sample for hook and chopped up the sample for the beat and it just builds up really well and is amazing... kanye has an ill verse and it is top 3 on the album
----------------- First Track ---------------------
- Heavy beat with lots of bass
- Frank Ocean on the hook
- "What's a mob to a god... what's a god to a king... what's a king to a nonbeliever... who don't believe anything"
- Jay has the first verse, Kanye has a second verse
- Frank Ocean has an interlude inbetween Jay's and Kanye's verse..
- GREAT OPENING TRACK
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
1) NO CHURCH IN A WHILE-sick beat with heavy drums... frank ocean sings a hypnotizing melodic hook ... jay-z has a great verse... idk if u guys want me to ruin the subject matter its pretty sick though ... theres a sick bridge with sorta distortiony like effects... sounds like what kanye did with bon iver on monster sort of... there were animal noises in the outro too... probably my favorite song on the album it was ****ing amazing
-------------- Second Track (Lift Off) -----------------
- Has a nice introduction with horns in the background
- Beyonce on the chorus (obviously)
- "Were gone take it to the moon, we gone take it to the stars..." - Beyonce
- Ye's doing his semi singing rap thing (think Runaway)
- "Showing my tattoo's suck a show off" - Ye
- Ye has first verse, Jay has second
- Kanye is on Autotune at one point...
- Samples a countdown of a NASA space launch at the ending on the song...
- It's a real banger, has good radio potential...
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
2) LIFT OFF- really good synths beyonce has a killer hook and kanye and jay both had pretty good verses on it i dont really remember them though... should be a mainstream success... all the ****es in the room when nuts when it was playing hahah
----------------- Third Track ---------------
- Really heavy hitting type beat
- Sounded like it was produced by Swizz Beats or Lex (someone like that)
- Jay has the first verse
- Ye mentions Mate Kate Olson in his verse
- Sample from Blades of Glory movie (supposedly Kanye's a fan) "No one knows what it means, but it's provocative..."
- "You are now watching the Throne, don't let me enter the throne..."
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
3) THAT **** CRAZY... HIT BOY PRODUCED its a ridiculous beat sorta like a better version of drop the world and more swagged out... samples blades of glory in one part quoting will ferrel at the beginning and goes "there is one song we will skate too... and one song only..." then the song starts... pretty dope verses from what i could tell should be a favorite its an absolute banger
- Opens up with another Blade of Glory sample "We're gonna dance to one song, and one song only"
- Ottis Redding sample
- Classic soul style Kanye beat...
- Jay and Ye take turns (think Common's Southside)
- "Made Jesus walks I'm never going to hell" - Ye
- "Jay is chillin, Ye is chill, what more can I say" - Jay
Note... this song seemed to be a favorite of everyones... it was really dope!
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
4) OTIS REDDING... probably my other favorite song from the album... **** was amazing... soul sample for hook and chopped up the sample for the beat and it just builds up really well and is amazing... kanye has an ill verse and it is top 3 on the album
- Electronic Jazz sounding beat
- Female autotuned vocals at the beginning, Ye is ad libbing over them...
- "Fifthteen down the line"
- Song is all about Jay and Ye rapping about their children they'll have in the future...
- There's a sax interlude
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
5) not sure of the name... mentions RZA in it so i think it was produced by him... there is a piano/sample driven beat... the sample is weird at first but it meshes really well ... its sorta a weird vocal effect (the sample) and i dont really know what it was but the beat turned out very well... one of the deeper songs on the album and kanye reflects on his wrongs in life and how he wants his kids to grow up ego free and loved by everyone and jay reflects on teh drug game
------------------------ Sixth Track (Living So Italian) --------------------------
- This was the "Por ti Volare"... rapped over a loop of the vocals and everything
- Heavy hitting drum beats over the sample after about a few seconds into the track
THIS IS WHERE THE FADER **** GOT KICKED OUT AND JAY STARTED THE TRACK ALL OVER AGAIN
- Chorus: "Living So Italian, whole family's here cause it's feeling like a movie"
- "Wrote this song on the crapper" - Ye... thanks for that line Ye...
- EPIC BANGER!!!!!
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
6) LIVING SO ITALIAN... ****ing amazinggggg... samples POR TI VOLARE!!!! no dj pauly d ... its just a really laid back fun song and its super good i really really liked it they just rap over por ti volare basically
- Indian Influenced sample
- EPIC FIRST LINE " LOLOLOLOL White America, Assassinate my character" - Ye
- "Whats up whats up where my money at? Do I need to come where your Daddy at?" - Jay
- Had a dance/rave style vibe to the beat
- Sample with the words "I can't Stop"... on constant repeat at the beginning...
- Has a real dubstep influenced sound
- "Who's gona stop me huh? You gone stop me now" - Ye
- Has a line where he talks about his **** in pig latin (haha)
- "Black cards, black cards, black on black on black bras" - Jay
Samples Flux Pavilion - I Can't Stop
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
7) WHO GON STOP ME ... (?)...This is where i got confused two songs were played in a row and i didnt know if it was two songs or just a beat change but i think it might jsut be one super long song... the first part is a cool soul sampke and ye and jay bounce off eachother... then the second part (possibly new song?) is a ridiculous club banger sounds like lex luger but refined and sophisticated and it just gets you so hyped and kanye has distortion when he says "who gon stop me" again and again ... really great jay verse on this song
- Another middle eastern/Indian style beat
- Ye is singing the chorus "... Black on black murder..."
- "In the murder capital where they murder for capital" - Jay
- At one point Ye compares the death of soldiers in Iraq to those who have died in Chicago
- There's a shift in the sound in the second half... interlude
- "Celebration of black excellence" - Ye
- "Success never smelled so sweet" - Jay
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
8) MURDER TO EXCELLENCE ... sorta an african soul sample i would describe it as and it talks about black on black violence and talks about the murders in chi town and the violence in iraq... the beat switches up part way through i remember ... dont remember what the second part sounds like tho
- A slower style song (compared to the others on the album)
- Frank Ocean is on the hook again
- Bible and Jesus references in the chorus "Sweet Baby Jesus living in America" - Frank
- "*****s hustle everyday for a beat by Ye... what I do? Give em all away to Jay" - Ye WIN WIN WIN
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
9) SWEET BABY JESUS ... drum baseed beat with sorta airy zoned out synths layered over it ... frank ocean sings the hook talking about jesus and what not ... kanye has amazing verses on this song and has some good lines
- "Oh I love you so, but why I love you you'll never know" - sampled chorus
- Jays Verse first
- "I tried to teach *****s how to be kings, when all they wanted was to be soldiers" - Jay
- Ye's verse second
- INCREDIBLY DOPE USE OF THE SAMPLE!!!!!
THIS IS HOW THE CURRENT VERSION OF THE ALBUM ENDS
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
10)WHY I LOVE YOU SO... least favorite song for me... mike dean said it needs work hahahha ... the beat is sick but the hook is kinda annoying ... jay and ye have good verses though its very mediocre to me...
Played random parts of throw away tracks not making the album
- Time of our life baby" - Jay
- "I need a slow motion video right now" - Ye
Then there was the question and answering session:
- "I just wanted to make an album for the sake of making a good album"
- The current version of WTT is the third incarnation of the album
- The album's current tracklist has been stripped down from alot of different tracks...
- Still not sure on a final tracklist
- He's going back and forth on including HAM as a bonus track... he admits that HAM is operatic, but almost too much to the point where the song is screaming in your face... can get irritation after awhile... doesn't really fit the vibe of WTT in it's current state...
- Admits that HAM is AWESOME in concert though
- They documented parts of the recording process, but their not sure if it will be released or not
- I asked a question about working with Frank Ocean and if that connection started before or after Odd Future's rise to fame. He started working with him when he heard Nostalgia Ultra. Initially it was only for his solo album, but he like Frank so much he got him on WTT... he is featured on one of two tracks recorded so far for Jay's upcoming solo album... hopefully out this winter... maybe spring
- "Hopefully my new solo album is out before J. Cole and Jay Electronica" - Jay ... LOOB!!!
- JAY HAS NO URGE TO DO ANY MORE COLLABORATIVE ALBUMS (no more BS albums with someone like Linkin Park or R. Kelly)
- Kanye initially urged Jay not to release "Run this Town" as a single first, and push "New York" because he though it would be a better single... Jay used this as an example to say even if Kanye's a **** he's really humble at the same time... he killed his verse on "Run this Town" and he still didn't want it released as a single...
Oh... he played Illest Mother****er Alive...
Quote:
Originally posted by carreralu112 on 8 hours
BONUS TRACKS/POSSIBLE ALBUM CUTS
11) PRIMETIME ... sick piano beat kinda like a homecoming type thing... jay has an INSANE verse ... thats all i remmeber tho
12) he just played a bit of this one and it was a synth driven beat but thats all i got on it ...
(these titles are not all the actual titles i just took what i could figure out )
there may have been a song or two that i missed because i stopped writing **** down after the first time through cuz i just wanted to take it all in... one song had swizz on it thought i remember he was shouting **** out for a bit but it wasnt that bad
jay said they remade the album 3 times because "it was too crazy and we had to bring it down to a human level"
On July 8, 2011, Jay-Z hosted an intimate listening session for the looming, game changing, genre bending Hip-Hop opus Watch The Throne. Roughly 20 people were invited to the exclusive event, which interestingly enough included the two teenage New Yorkers that purchased the first two copies of the album on Amazon.com's preorder. They were there along with their parents, who were gracious enough to tolerate a long evening for the sake of their kids. Where to begin? There was so much to absorb of the evening so I'll write this similar to the way Watch The Throne was crafted...free-flowing and without rules.
There were some ground rules for the session though. 1) No live tweeting. We could say we were there and that's about it. One journo from The Fader was kicked out with the swiftness for tweeting specifics. 2) No quoting exact lyrics in write ups. Why? Because, although we heard a lot, Watch The Throne is not finished. Lyrics may change. 3) No specific song titles. They aren't set either.
So, here is the song-by-song rundown of Watch The Throne.
Song # 1
In the first song, Beyonce completely blasts off to a beat laced with heavy synths. Kanye bursts onto the track, weaving in and out of autotune and various vocal distortions. Very off beat, but in a good way. Jay-Z follows up flowing to very short or truncated verses. Clearly, Beyonce is the ancho to a song that ebbs and flows until it blasts off in a spaceship counting down. (This was actually the second song, but the first seemed to be a partial record that got hacked off.)
Song # 2
Bouncy is the first word that comes to mind with Song # 3. The track almost sounds like a traditional southern Hip-Hop record. Jay's flowing much faster, sort of in the vein of "Big Pimpin'." Jay's rapping double time and then yields to 'Ye, who raps at a slower pace. The song concludes with the crash of a slowed down menacing beat, reminscent of 80s instrumentalists Art of Noise.
By now, Jay is bouncing to the beats that he's manning the session from the Mac Book. He stops most of the songs abruptly even.
Song # 3
The fourth song begins with a long, bluesy Otis Redding sample...which gets chopped up lovely. Jay and 'Ye go back and forth, almost bar for bar. Straight spittin.... I personally felt is was similar to the way Biggie and Jay spit over "Brooklyn's Finest," but my homey Aqua completely disagreed. Nevertheless, they went in.
Song # 4
Or is that song 4? Anyway, the next song was wrought with melancholy if you only went according to the track. Upon further examination, Jay-Z and Kanye trade lyrics about raising their future kids. To attempt to regurgitate the content wouldn't do the song justice. The song is a very honest and vulnerable look at something the pair long for, but not commonly addressed.
Song # 5
Song # 6 had the whole room bobbing their head in unison to a slow, dragging epic track. Feels European, the United Kingdom to be specific.
Song # 6
This one was a joint where Kanye and Jay rap over a singer's voice trading bars every 2-4 lines.
Song # 7
This song was my absolute favorite. The beat went super hard with Kanye and Jay asking aggressively, "Who gon' stop me, huh?" This song was rooted in a bassline that was deeply monophonic. At the end, the pair throw the listeners for a loop and jump off the path. Suddenly, the beat changes, random instruments come in and out of this living, breathing song.
Song # 8
Song 8 feels very African in nature. Kanye comes in singing for a couple bars and then Jay starts rapping. Interestingly enough, they are rapping about Black on Black violence. Black Panther Fred Hampton gets a mention. An unlikely positive song.
Song # 9
Sounds like Frank Ocean is the new golden boy...maybe? Malcolm X, Betty Shabazz, Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott get nods on song 9. This inspirational song references Jesus and centers on making it as a success in America. Kanye used a particularly clever metaphor. He raps about making his beats and selling them to Jay at the early part of his career. But they says he now "gets high on his own supply," the dope being his own music.
Song # 10
Number 10 offers the operatic synths laced with a rock sample talking about love. The track goes hard. The beats elevates and suddenly...the album is over. The ending is more abrupt than anything I've ever heard.
Epilogue:
Jay gets asked if this version of the album was the regular or the deluxe version. The Brooklyn don doesn't speak on it. He simply cues up two more songs that knock. Jay then says, "Does that answer your question?" Room explodes into spontaneous laughter. Jay also let the room hear a song with Swizz Beatz that he admitted might not make the album. He also indicated that "H.A.M.," the first song he and Kanye released may not make the album either.
Overall, Watch The Throne is one of the most interesting pieces of Hip-Hop I've heard in a long time. Many people asked is it "classic" or is it "dope as expected." I believe, to properly enjoy the album, they are going to need to shed expectations and erase what they know. I already can see there will be a segment of the population that simple will not "get" this album.
But, that is the beauty of Watch The Throne. Everybody won't love it and others will swear by it. It will be the topic of debates and hate. Through it all, its very cool to see Hip-Hop artist evolving creatively. Fearlessly.
NEW YORK — Jay-Z and Kanye West's forthcoming album may be called Watch the Throne, but soon enough fans will be listening, not just looking, and it will have been worth the wait. On Thursday night, MTV News was among the shortlist of media outlets invited to get an early listen to the power duo's collaborative project.
The listening session was held in the Mercer Hotel, where the New York Post previously reported that parts of the album were recorded. Though it was originally set to begin at 8 p.m., Jay-Z walked into the hotel lobby closer to 9 (word is he was at a Yankees game hoping to see Derek Jeter get his 3,000th hit). The group of journalists followed the rapper up to a suite that had been transformed into a recording studio. Seated in the rear of the room, wearing a Yankees snap-back hat and crisp, white shell-toe Adidas, Hova balanced a MacBook Pro in his lap. After asking those in attendance to introduce themselves, he got right into playing selections from the album, loudly.
Standout tracks included a pair of songs that feature Odd Future crooner Frank Ocean. Jay-Z relayed that he reached out to Ocean after hearing his Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape and wanted him to contribute to his next solo album. After their initial work went well — Ocean appears on one of two songs Jay-Z revealed he has recorded for the solo LP — Hova invited the crooner to get down on Watch the Throne too. The only other guest on the album is Beyoncé, who appears on the resounding "Lift Off," which sounds like it was tailor-made to be performed in large stadiums.
On another particularly interesting song, Jay-Z and Kanye deliver verses directed to their hypothetical unborn sons. (Note: Jay-Z's press representative asked that lyrics from songs not be quoted.) The Brooklyn MC recalled that Yeezy first recited his verse to him at New York's Museum of Modern Art. "I told him I wasn't going to get on it," Jay-Z told MTV News of the song, adding that he thought Kanye's verse, running down his myriad past mistakes, is one of his best ever. "The honesty of it, it's just really cool."
Throughout the album, Yeezy holds his own when rapping alongside Jay-Z, a lyricist of the highest caliber. Other standout tracks that feature the duo trading rap bars include a song whose beat features a chopped up Otis Redding vocal sample that many requested be played again. Another song called "Living So Italian" also got a favorable response from the room.
Jay-Z played over a dozen songs and said that he hoped to finalize the track list by this weekend. He also admitted that the album is actually on its third iteration. Initially, he and Kanye were looking to make a grandiose project with elaborate songs, but they felt that doing so would take away from its enjoyment, so they chose to pare it down sonically.
"It's just so big and so much, you don't want that sh-- screaming in your house," Jay-Z said, referring to their early single, "H.A.M." "If we don't make records that we like and represent the culture, we would be over."
The room didn't start thinning out until near midnight, and as the session winded down, Jay-Z started playing additional tracks, including a song whose lyrics seems to hint that it was produced by No ID. Nodding his head along to the knocking grooves, he also played a song that features Swizz Beatz that he said probably won't make the final cut.
While pre-order receipts of Watch the Throne indicate that it will be shipped on "2011-08-02," Jay-Z and his representatives did not provide a solid release date for the highly anticipated album beyond saying fans would hear it "soon." Keep watching.
For the uninitiated, in hip-hop there is a troubling but not uncommon practice called the listening event. Journalists, associates, record label employees, hangers-on, and others gather in a hall or a studio, and mingle while an artist's new album is played. It is often difficult to hear, making reviews near impossible, and ultimately an ineffective tool for promotion. It's more like a poorly-catered mixer for muckety-mucks given a chance to speak ill of this project or that. I have attended somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 of these events in my life. They are terrible. But of course, Jay-Z doesn't do terrible.
So in honor of Watch the Throne, he and Kanye West's first shared-billing collaborative album, Jay did what he always does, which is turn a formality into intimacy and dispense with the trappings. In a cramped room on the second floor of the Mercer Hotel, a dozen or so reporters and editors, along with Jay's publicist, manager, trainer (!), and assistant, and two album pre-order contest winners—imagine Willy Wonka's golden ticket, only it looks like this—huddled up. Jay was decked in standard casual gear: crisp black denim, a white tee, white shell toes, and a suddenly au courant Yankees snapback—the event actually kicked off an hour late because the guest of honor was at Yankee Stadium hoping to catch Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit. (Alas, The Captain sits at 2,998, foiling a perfect night.) Without much fanfare, Jay-Z pressed play on the black MacBook in his lap and the album began. Some highlights:
-"No Church," the first track of 11 played, one of the few referred to by name, and Jay's favorite at the moment, is a dramatic, dynamic treatise on sin and hypocrisy. Jay explicitly reflects on Socrates question, "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" Deep! Odd Future affiliate Frank Ocean sings the massive, gospel-tinged, Christian-baiting chorus.
-"Lift Off." The second song played; Jay said he has misgivings about releasing a single for the album, but since they likely will, this would be it. Also, his wife Beyoncé appears on the (literally) space shuttle-launching chorus. So that's nice.
-"Otis," one of the most purely soulful songs the two have ever made together, features a pounding sample of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" up front. A clear standout and the first one I wanted to hear again.
-During the hilarious, audacious "Italian Living," which features a sample of "Ave Maria," of all things, a journalist was booted from the hotel room for breaking the evening's one rule: No live-tweeting. Idiot. The tracks were unfinished and lyrics subject to change, but one memorable #hashtag rap couplet from Kanye on the same song: "I'm about to say something crazy / John Galliano."
We could go on. There's a devastating song rapped to Kanye and Jay's unborn sons and another called "Black on Black" about intra-racial violence. There's a thwacking dubstep sample and another appearance by the tapped-for-greatness Frank Ocean. When the cycle concluded, Jay opened the floor to a conversation, as he has during recent events of this kind, asking only that reporters put down their notepads and close their iPhones (Some of us didn't). What ensued was a kind of half-professional, half-freewheeling chat. The journalists that knew Jay better were freer in their discourse, while the novices asked earnest, interview-y questions. Jay-Z, who has a lot of experience being the calmest, cleverest person in the room, had fun jabbing at everyone—at one point I interrupted one of his responses before he'd finished and he playfully chided me, letting off his trademark cackle-chuckle. These are the times when you don't mind being mocked.
During the conversation, Jay addressed his and many fans' disappointment with the first single, "H.A.M.," which was not played and may not make the final cut. He mentioned that this iteration of the album was the third, after two scrapped rounds of songwriting and recording, blaming ambition and expectation for the false starts. He also said that the sessions were often bizarre and star-packed, at one point recalling one night that featured the celebrated Givenchy designer Riccardo Tischi (who also crafted Watch The Throne's gold-embossed cover), British women's wear star (and Kanye obsession) Phoebe Philo, and Russell Crowe. Sounds like a fun room.
The recording of this album also inspired a new Jay-Z solo album, for which he has already completed two songs and is honing four more concepts—one of the contest winners actually nabbed the night's biggest scoop, which is that Ocean will also appear on the first single from that forthcoming album. Jay also said that Kanye begged him not to release "Run This Town," the first single from 2009's smash The Blueprint 3, because it didn't go over well at a Heavy Hitters barbeque. He lost that battle, obviously. Near the conversation's end, Jay gently criticized President Obama when asked about his performance: "Numbers don't lie. Unemployment is pretty high. It's ****ed up, but he's trying not to be the angry black man."
Throughout, he maintained his typical prom-king-with-a-sense-of-humor veneer. Few artists are as at ease in this sort of environment as Jay-Z. Whether Watch the Throne lives up to whatever impossible expectations hang over it—and in some ways, it does—it would be tough to walk out of this scene feeling better about Shawn Corey Carter. He's a crafty one, that guy.
Both Swizz Beatz & Pharell made tracks but its not sure if its gonna make the final track list. Here is the timeline from the Editor of chief of Complex Magazine:
NEW TWEET: Kanye and Jay both outrap each other on certain songs.
NEW TWEET: There's a great one with a soul sample where Jay and Ye subtly address the legacy of RocAFella, and the implications of their partnership.
Timeline from the guy who was tweeting on behalf of @MTVRapFix:
I don't want to gas it, but yeah. it sounds like Jay-Z & Ye joined forces, not a half Kanye songs, half Jay-Z songs album.
it really is a great "album" as a whole. will probably even sound better when in proper sequence.