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Music News: Jay-Z & Kanye West - 'Watch the Throne'
Member Since: 1/8/2011
Posts: 27,650
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Billboard's Review
Jay-Z held a private listening session for "Watch the Throne," his highly anticipated collaborative album with Kanye West, last night (July 7) in New York City.
The listening was held in a suite on the second floor of the Mercer Hotel, in SoHo, and lasted for roughly three hours, with Jay-Z playing eleven songs from an Apple laptop for a select group of music journalists and two teenage fans who had won access to the session for being the first two customers to pre-order the album through Jay-Z's lifestyle site, Life and Times, which began accepting pre-orders on Monday, July 4. Kanye West did not attend.
Following the eleventh song, Jay-Z invited those in the room to have an informal conversation that lasted for about an hour.
"We can have a conversation," he said. "I don't want to do an interview. Put your pads away - we can talk all night."
Kanye West and Jay-Z Offer 'Watch the Throne' Pre-Order
He then played snippets of at least three other songs, including one featuring producer Swizz Beatz, that may or may not be included on the album. Other songs that have been rumored to be on the album, including the single "H*A*M," which was released in January, and "That's My B*tch," which appeared online late last year, were not played. Frank Ocean, the Def Jam singer and Odd Future affiliate, appeared on two of the initial eleven songs played, while Jay-Z's wife, Beyonce, appeared on one.
Beyonce Walks Down the Aisle in 'Best Thing I Never Had': Watch
Jay-Z suggested that a video for the song featuring Beyonce, tentatively titled "Lift Off," could appear, but that he was reluctant to follow a traditional, single driven release for "Watch The Throne." Jay-Z would not confirm a release date for "Watch The Throne," saying only that the album would come "soon," and no information was given regarding how the album would be released or through what label or combination of labels.
Jay-Z also said that he already had two songs completed for his next solo album and four additional concepts in mind. Frank Ocean appears on one of the songs already completed, and Jay-Z said he hoped to capitalize on the burst of inspiration provided by the "Watch the Throne" and continue recording for his next solo project. He would not speculate as to when that project might arrive.
First announced late last summer via Kanye West's Twitter feed, the "Watch The Throne" project has been the subject of much rumor and speculation. While celebrating in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve, Kanye suggested that the album would arrive in January, but instead January brought the single, "H*A*M," and no album. The album was then said to be arriving in March, and then in June, it was announced that the album would arrive on July 4.
Although Monday brought no sign of the album, fans could begin pre-ordering the project through the Life and Times site, which redirected to an Island Def Jam page where the deluxe version was made available for $16.99, standard CD for $13.99, a deluxe digital version for $14.99, and standard digital album for $11.99. MTV's RapFixLive reported that customer receipts listed the ship date as 2011-08-02. Last night, Jay-Z said that he did not know how the July 4 release date rumor had originated.
Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music Inks Deal with Island Def Jam
Jay-Z arrived at the Mercer Hotel shortly before 9 p.m., after coming directly from Yankees Stadium where he had been watching the New York Yankees play the Tampa Bay Rays and hoping to see Yankee captain, Derek Jeter, get his 3,000th hit. Jay-Z was wearing a white tee, a New York adjust-to-fit hat turned to the back, jeans, and his signature white on white Air Force Ones. Guests were escorted to suite 208, where seating was limited and some in attendance were forced to stand. The room featured an entire studio set up, including a mixing board and mics.
Jay-Z sat at the head of the room and played songs from a Mac laptop. Guests were served champagne from the house that Jay-Z owns, Ace of Spades, and offered cheese and crackers. Before playing songs, Jay-Z asked those in the room to introduce themselves and then asked if those standing in the entryway wanted to come in, joking, "Sit on the floor, we can make it like camp."
"I think we should just play some music," he said, by way of introduction, and then he played eleven songs back to back without breaking to offer any details on specific songs.
Jay-Z & Kanye West: 2011 Album Preview
Although many guests at last night's listening session had been given the impression that they would be able to live-tweet the event and their reaction to the album, those in attendance were told not to use Twitter during the session and to avoid quoting direct lyrics in their reviews, as songs and presumably verses could still change. Guests were encouraged to take notes, however, and were offered RocNation notepads and pens. The session was briefly interrupted when one media rep was removed from the room shortly after the session began for live tweeting his reaction to the songs being played.
The songs were dramatic and boastful, with Jay-Z often taking the lead lyrically, and the collection showcased the differences between the two artists - Jay-Z, the technical marksman, and Kanye, the emotive chest beater. Jay-Z said the two began recording the album last year in England and had recorded in Australia while Jay-Z was on tour, as well as in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles, often in hotel rooms. At least one of the songs played was recorded at New York's Tribeca Grand.
Following the eleventh song - a dramatic record about loyalty featuring several sonic shifts, closing in a barrage of strings that spike to an abrupt end - Jay-Z said "that's how the album ends," and then he opened the floor.
During the informal conversation, Jay-Z said that the album had gone through three iterations and that he and Kanye had scaled back from their original direction, which was even more dramatic and calculated than the songs played last night. "H*A*M" was reflective of that direction, he said, and he said that he had been reluctant to release that record. In retrospect, he said, the first song released from "Watch the Throne" should have been a three-minute song built on Kanye and him simply trading verses, no hook.
Jay-Z also talked about the difficulties of the collaborative process, and said that he wasn't in a hurry to do another collaborative album because of the intense arguments that erupt during the process. Still, he said that he respected Kanye's passion and hinted that more than one Watch The Throne sequel could come in the future. He also said that Kanye had originally argued against Jay-Z releasing the "Blueprint 3" single "Run This Town," when he became convinced that the song wasn't a hit after watching the reaction to the record at a barbecue hosted by the DJ Enuff led DJ collective, the Heavy Hitters.
Jay-Z and Kanye West have 15 No. 1 albums between them, and Jay-Z recently passed Elvis Presley as the artist with the second most No. 1 albums of all time, 11, second only to the Beatles, who have 19.
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Member Since: 7/3/2010
Posts: 5,788
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Words cannot even explain how hyped I am at the moment. Kanye is going to **** UP those samples, and some of these songs sound literally insane omg
N_C_B Noah Callahan-Bever
RT @sean_fennessey: Re: #WTT - If what we heard goes relatively unchanged, it's Jay's best full-length since The Black Album."
Yesssssssssss
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Member Since: 1/8/2011
Posts: 27,650
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BET REVIEW
http://www.bet.com/news/music/2011/0...g-session.html
A king's throne is not for the taking. In hip hop though, many have laid claim to it. Saying you’re "the best" is always the easiest way to get attention. Still, few have actually been acknowledged as throne-worthy MCs. Jay-Z is on that short list.
At a swanky downtown hotel in NYC, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter played tracks from his upcoming Watch the Throne project, a collaborative album with Kanye West that has had most rap fans salivating at the mouth since it was announced. For the rapper’s rapper and the producer-rapper, two individuals considered to be at the top of their craft, a project as such generates the highest of expectations. Because of such anticipation, few details have been released, until now.
In a room full of journalists, two pre-order contest winners, RocNation employees, and champagne, Jay-Z is extremely comfortable. Being used to the routine, he knows how to turn around an awkward situation, like when a journalist is removed from the room for tweeting too many details (“let’s not act like we all didn’t see that just happen,” he jokes). And he certainly isn’t fazed by questions about the perceived difficulties of working with Kanye (Jay says Kanye’s motive always comes from a good place). But, with a career that spans 15 years and 11 albums, Jay can afford to be relaxed.
For this listening session, there is no introduction. Jay immediately gets into the music, which has everyone’s full attention. The first track, seemingly titled “Non-Believer” (there are no “official” song titles yet), is a hard-hitting up-tempo joint featuring Frank Ocean singing on the chorus. The sound is all too reminiscent of “Novacaine,” but with stellar verses from Jay-Z and Kanye, it gets the job done. Next up is “Lift Off” (also a working title), a song with Beyoncé belting her heart out on the chorus. The music utilizes a space shuttle “lift off” background to help bring home the theme that Jay and Kanye are musically on another planet. But Hov and Yeezy are at their best when they revisit the old, soulful sound that made The Blueprint a classic album—Jay later acknowledges Pete Rock and CL Smooth, as well as RZA and Wu-Tang Clan, as early influencers on the sound. Over an Otis Redding sample (“it sounds so soulful, don’t you agree?”), Kanye and his “big brother” lay self-serving bars over a head-nodding loop. The room full of listeners are hypnotized by this track.
Jay acknowledges one particular song as “Kanye’s best verse.” Both rappers deliver introspective lyrics which they direct at their hypothetical “sons.” Kanye admits his faults and reveals his regrets, rapping about how he would never let his son make the same mistakes he’s made. He even ends with a line about letting his mom move to Los Angeles, a move he has mentioned in a previous interview that he feels played a role in her death.
For Jay-Z, Watch the Throne is showing his growth. Not so much musically but, moreso, personally. See, Jay has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to rap. That’s no secret. But now he is so established in his career, his new lyrics seem to be about his bigger purpose. There are moments on WTT when Jay makes more references to Jesus than he ever has before, and there was a line or two, or three, about being “Black,” which has never been a secret, but Blackness has never been played up by him on such a socio-political level (see the tentatively titled “No Church”). Maybe Kanye is helping him bring out a deeper sense of religion.
Or maybe he just has a better understanding of who he is now. At the end of the night, Hov explains how a fan tapped him recently to tell him that Jay had gotten him “through his life.” He mentions another time when a UPS driver pulled up beside him and told him to make sure he got home safely because he was an “inspiration.” Jay says that both episodes had him feeling a way.
This is not to say that everything he rhymes is golden. One more mention of anything European being superior might be enough to start a second American revolution (“has the [musical] throne been relocated to England?”) But, with his current international appeal, Mr. Carter is showing off his influences and lifestyle, which has changed a lot since the black hoody days. Some of the album was even recorded in "the land down under", Australia.
But if there’s one thing that both Jay-Z and Kanye can’t escape, even with all their worldly experiences, it’s the ability to motivate people with their music. Neither rapper has ever really conformed to a “popular” sound. Hip hop has never really been about following trends. It’s been about leading them. And a true leader is not someone who sits on a throne, but rather, one who stands for something. It's someone who inspires and motivates people. All in all, Jay-Z is showing no signs of allowing the throne to be hijacked away from him. But he doesn’t have to sit on it to do so. Instead, he’ll just watch it, and make sure that hip hop isn’t led in the wrong direction.
(Photo: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for VEVO)
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Member Since: 1/8/2011
Posts: 27,650
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AOL REVIEW
http://www.theboombox.com/2011/07/08...hrone-preview/
The lobby of the Mercer Hotel was crowded with industry types on Thursday night (July 7): various members of the press, music journalists, bloggers, magazine reps and then two teen boys, who sat with their parents conspicuously.
The miniature mob, at the behest of a publicist, crowded into an elevator -- thick with the smell of marijuana smoke -- in two tightly packed shifts. Everyone in attendance was there to listen to Jay-Z's most recent collaboration with Kanye West -- the hotly anticipated and oft pushed-back dual album 'Watch the Throne.'
The previously mentioned teenagers were the first two to pre-order the album, thus receiving an invite to the exclusive listening party. The boys as well as the crowd filed into Hova's hotel room in neat single file to find him sitting alone on a chair and, in the most literal sense of the phrase, "straight chillin'."
The Brooklyn MC -- without West due to his attendance at Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture -- had a makeshift studio set-up in the room, also pervaded by the smell of pot. The Mercer Hotel is the most recent in a list of recording destinations that includes L.A., Paris, Bath (England), Australia and assorted other locations in New York City. The industry whisper in the small elevator was that Jigga and West recorded in a hotel room because, after every studio session, tracks were "mysteriously" leaked.
Jay switched on some afro-pop for mood music as alternate people around the room took turns yelling, "Swag!" He quieted the room and singled out the second teenager to pre-order the album. "Yo, this is the first time No. 2 won anything," Jay-Z mused. He then invited the stragglers in the doorway to come sit on the floor campfire style, as people introduced themselves in a clockwise fashion, all while the rapper popped a cork on a bottle.
The only way to describe the music heard is maximalist, everything all the time. We're talking finger tapping and NASA samples here. Remember that Swizz Beatz track, 'On to the Next One' from 'The Blueprint 3'? Well, that is essentially the jumping off point for this new batch of tracks. The hard, unrelenting wall of sound that was 'H.A.M.' serves as a rough blueprint for 'Watch the Throne,' though Jay-Z is quick to qualify the song as the technical peak of his and Kanye's combined musical experience, yet dismissing it with the sober wisdom of "You definitely don't want to go 'H.A.M.' in the house." Nonetheless, it seems both artists have hit their baroque period.
'H.A.M.,' the only official release from the 'Watch the Throne' sessions, has served as something as a yardstick by which they have measured the rest of the album. According to Jay, they started out huge, in the hard-as-a-motherf----- vein. They have since then continued to dial-down the intensity and are on the third incarnation of this much-delayed album. The philosophical posed by 'H.A.M.' and dealt with by the rest of the album is this: "Can something be artistically brilliant and yet unenjoyable?"
The songs that hit the hardest on 'Watch the Throne' are those that are comparatively of medium to soft intensity -- meaning they are still pretty intense. He channels the '70s soul of Otis Redding, on a song tentatively entitled 'Otis,' a la 'The Blueprint,' to great effect. Beyonce and Frank Ocean, among others, make appearances on the 15-plus tracks Jay-Z played during the night.
Lyrically, the album is incredibly rich, including a song where Kanye goes down the laundry list of his less-than-savory qualities that he urges his unborn son to steer clear of. Musically, the true standout track samples the famously transcendent 'Ave Maria' over speedy quarter note triplets to astounding effect.
All the while, Jay-Z sat in his chair vibing to his tracks. Say what you will about the album title, Jay-Z isn't watching the throne, he's sitting in it comfortably.
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Member Since: 1/8/2011
Posts: 27,650
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@N_C_B
Noah Callahan-Bever
I can't say if it'll be the album of the year, but it's def a contender for best-album-of-the-year-that-I've-heard.
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Member Since: 1/8/2011
Posts: 27,650
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@N_C_B
Noah Callahan-Bever
@LegendaryRD Lift Off is a All Of The Lights type record... They could both be layered in there, but hard to tell, specifically...
@N_C_B
Noah Callahan-Bever
"Lift Off" is neither the single, to my knowledge, nor is it the best song. Party people, stop sweating that particular record.
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Member Since: 5/7/2009
Posts: 53,753
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Quote:
Originally posted by iamvladd
@N_C_B
Noah Callahan-Bever
I can't say if it'll be the album of the year, but it's def a contender for best-album-of-the-year-that-I've-heard.
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it better
![](http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnzq5vB7bX1qc1896o1_500.gif)
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Member Since: 1/8/2011
Posts: 27,650
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@N_C_B
Noah Callahan-Bever
"Lift Off" was never intended to be a single. From when they did it to now. That was an internet rumor. It was the intro, and now maybe #2.
i wonder if it'll still get release now ![no party](images/smilies/images/smilies/noparty.gif)
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Member Since: 9/6/2006
Posts: 15,696
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NOOOOOO!!!!!!! I want Lift Off to be the lead single!!!!!!! ![weeps](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ATRLSmilies/52b0f867.gif)
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Member Since: 9/7/2010
Posts: 28,471
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Wtf? ![psyduck](images/smilies/images/smilies/psyduck.gif) ![psyduck](images/smilies/images/smilies/psyduck.gif)
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Member Since: 6/3/2011
Posts: 14,194
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Quote:
Originally posted by iamvladd
@N_C_B
Noah Callahan-Bever
"Lift Off" was never intended to be a single. From when they did it to now. That was an internet rumor. It was the intro, and now maybe #2.
i wonder if it'll still get release now ![no party](images/smilies/images/smilies/noparty.gif)
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Mess... ![shake no](images/smilies/images/smilies/shakeno.gif)
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Member Since: 1/8/2011
Posts: 27,650
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Rolling Stone Review
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...-york-20110708
Last night, Jay-Z invited a handful of reporters to a hotel in Soho to hear Watch the Throne, his highly anticipated full-length collaboration with Kanye West. Arriving minutes before 9 P.M. – just as soon as he could tear himself away from watching the Yankees game to see if Derek Jeter made his 3000th hit – he led the group upstairs from the lobby to a small suite, where we crowded onto couches and accepted flutes of his favorite aperitif, Armand de Brignac champagne. Lucky teenaged fans named James and Derek, two of the first people to pre-order Watch the Throne earlier this week, were also in attendance; West was not.
Exuding casual cool in jeans, a white t-shirt and a backward Yankees cap, Jay-Z hunched over a black MacBook connected to massive speakers. What we were about to hear was a work in progress, he explained. Most of the songs don't have confirmed titles, and all lyrics and track sequencing are still subject to change substantially before the album's release date (another detail that has yet to be finalized). "This is the first single," he announced as he cued up a cascade of circular guitar riffs and polyrhythmic percussion. Just kidding! That wasn't anything from Watch the Throne, just a random MP3 of Malian duo Amadou et Mariam's 2005 jam "Coulibaly."
Kanye and Jay-Z Unleash 'H.A.M.' on Facebook
The joke worked because of the secrecy surrounding Watch the Throne. Security on this project has been so tight that none of the journalists in the room had previously heard any of the 11 tracks Jay-Z went on to play. The only taste anyone had gotten was "H.A.M.," the bombastic single released in January – which wasn't included in last night's playlist, and which Jay-Z said might not even make the final album ("We're going back and forth"). So what does this epic meeting of the minds sound like? Read on for first-listen impressions of all 11 tracks.
1. The first track we heard, tentatively titled "No Church," is Jay-Z's current favorite of the bunch. It's easy to see why. An apocalyptic rumble of a beat backdrops a diabolically earwormy hook (courtesy of Odd Future crooner Frank Ocean) about religion and power. Jay-Z unspools brainy couplets about great thinkers like Socrates, Plato, Jesus, Kanye and himself; Kanye raps about drugs and sex, among other topics.
2. If "Liftoff" isn't a chart hit within the next year, I'll be surprised. Jay-Z and Kanye get downright triumphal over synthesized fanfare à la West's "All of the Lights," and Beyoncé's anthemic hook is the type of thing that makes radio programmers go weak in the knees. Huge.
3. No one boasts like Jay-Z and Kanye West. Here they talk delightful trash over a fearsome beat that grows from icy synthesizer plinks and minimalist snare attack to a fuzzed-out industrial breakdown. Midway through is a bit of sampled dialogue from 2007's goofy comedy Blades of Glory (Kanye's idea): "No one knows what it means," says Will Ferrell, "but it's provocative."
Kanye and Jay-Z's Album Up for Pre-Orders
4. Probably the best song we heard last night, bearing the working title "Otis," spins gold from a chopped-up sample of Otis Redding's classic "Try a Little Tenderness." It's a nice callback to the soul-laced beats Kanye used to give Jay-Z back in 2000 and 2001. ("That's our zone," Jay said later. "That's what we do better than anyone else.") Their rhymes are tricky, showoffy stuff, with the two old friends trading lines like a 21st-century Run-DMC. Every head in the room was nodding by the end of this track.
5. Watch the Throne isn't all braggadocio. This slower, introspective number finds Jay-Z and West both addressing their hypothetical future children. They don't hold back, and the self-doubt and soul-searching in their verses is genuinely moving. I can't recall ever hearing Jay-Z open up quite like this before, not even on "This Can't Be Life." Kanye's verse is pretty special, too – after the playback, Jay-Z said he thinks it's one of Ye's top three performances ever.
6. Back to stunting! A sample of Andrea Bocelli's schmaltzy "Con Te Partirò" gets sped down and mangled into an improbably heavy groove as Jay-Z and Kanye tout their international lifestyle in slick verses. The phrase they chant during the chorus, and presumably the working title for this one, is "Living So Italian." Very catchy. "It was actually fun for us," Jay later explained of this track. "We were laughing."
7. Diced-up vocal snippets and gut-punching bass back aggressive rhymes from Kanye and Jay-Z. One of them references YC's recent hit "Racks on Racks," a nod to the contemporary rap trends this album both embraces and outpaces.
8. A sample of English dubstep producer Flux Pavilion's single "I Can't Stop" comes crashing into an enormous wall of Dirty South synths, and the beat keeps evolving from there. Kanye's opening verse includes a smidgen of Pig Latin, while Jay-Z mythologizes his street-corner-to-corner-office backstory for the ten thousandth time. It's still a damned compelling arc after all these years.
9. Another contemplative interlude, with West thinking about black-on-black crime rates over looped "la la la" harmonies.
10. Frank Ocean's second appearance on the album is another keeper. Hip-hop heads will be singing his honey-voiced, religiously-themed hook all fall. Jay-Z and Kanye keep the thoughtful mood going with verses that revisit their respective rises to fame.
11. More European trend-spotting: A sledgehammer beat built around French house duo Cassius' 2010 single "I Love You So" rolls out while Kanye and Jay-Z indulge in some sullen thoughts regarding unnamed turncoats and ingrates. Slashing violin parts come in on the bridge before the song ends abruptly.
The album was over, but the party wasn't. Most of the writers hung around for another hour and a half while Jay-Z held court, pouring more bubbly and chatting informally about the recording process. One reason for the lengthy wait for Watch the Throne, he explained, is that he and Kanye insisted on collaborating in person. "If we were gonna do it, we were gonna do it together," he said. "No mailing it in." They got started in Bath, England last November and kept going in Australia, Paris, New York and Los Angeles whenever their schedules allowed. As for when the rest of the world will get to hear the finished product, "I'll just say soon," he added. "Not far away. Soon."
When the vibe in the room felt sufficiently loose, Jay-Z leaned back over his laptop and brought out a couple of outtakes that were as strong as anything that's currently slated to make the album. Clearly he and West have no shortage of creative juice going right now. In fact, Jay-Z is already looking forward to his next project – an embryonic solo LP for which he's completed recording two songs, one featuring Frank Ocean. (Alas, he wouldn't play those tunes for us.) Right now, he added toward the end of the night, "I'm really inspired."
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Member Since: 5/7/2009
Posts: 53,753
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lift off needs to be lead
and released before the grammy deadline ![Fonso](images/smilies/suspicious.gif)
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Member Since: 9/7/2010
Posts: 28,471
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kisuke
lift off needs to be lead
and released before the grammy deadline ![Fonso](images/smilies/suspicious.gif)
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Next week or there will be some serious problems ![](http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9853/drage.gif)
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Member Since: 12/21/2010
Posts: 51,088
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Entertainment Weekly's Preview of "Watch The Throne"
Leave it to hip-hop’s smoothest star to break up the tension in a crowded room.
“Why don’t you sit on the floor,” Jay-Z, clad in a Yankees cap, white v-neck tee, and matching shell-toe Adidas, asked the few people lingering around the entrance to his Mercer Hotel suite in Manhattan’s Soho last night. “We can make it like camp.” The revered rhymer invited friends and a select few journalists for an early listen of Watch the Throne, his long-awaited full-length collaboration with Kanye West (who was notably absent from the evening).
The room—one of many Jay and ‘Ye had transformed into a full-blown recording studio at the luxury New York inn since the beginning of the year—is still decked out with equipment: an MPC drum machine here, keyboards and microphones there. The duo is still buffing and polishing Throne, so we were asked not to quote any lyrics, since they might change before the release date. (Still to be determined, but Jay promises “soon.”)
Simply put: Throne proves to be a masterpiece. No exaggeration. Though it was mostly crafted here in New York, songs were also written in Paris, Australia, and Bath, England. The influences of the international locales are evident, but its the true grit of New York’s hip-hop spirit that truly shines through.And though the title suggests pomposity and majesty, Throne is lyrically well-balanced and accessible. There are opulent raps dripping with swag for sure, but also plenty that smack of militancy, worry, and grief.
Speaking of grief, Jay diffused any notions of conflict between he and Kanye, offering up instead an anecdote that made West seem downright generous. Back in 2009, Jay told West that “Run This Town” would be the first single off of Blueprint 3. West, who produced the track and offered some verse for it, opposed: He said he’d just attended a barbecue where “Town” played, but didn’t get a big response.Jay’s “Empire State of Mind” would be a better look, Kanye insisted.
Jay ended going with “Town” first, followed by his now-ubiquitous New York anthem. They both were smashes. But Jay said that the story exemplified West’s drive to win—even if it means sacrificing his own ego. “He’s difficult to work with for specific, well-intentioned reasons,” Jay said.
Below is a track-by-track description of Throne’s cuts. Mind you, all titles given (and some weren’t) are subject to change.
“No Church” – Features Odd Future R&B wonder Frank Ocean contrasting deities to mortals. Kanye and Jay rap of struggling, then conquering, over the roars of vicious animals.
“Lift Off” – This is likely the first single and features Jay’s better half—yep, Beyoncé—who uses her radiant outdoor voice to sing about rising to cosmic heights in life, spilling over tumbling drums and jabbing synths.
“That S— Crack” – A swaggering effort on which Jay compares his skills to Michael Jordan in his iconic Bulls finale and Kanye claims that his version on the royal wedding would include a certain pair of famous twins.
“Otis” – Brilliantly samples Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” to produce the most tag-teamy of the album’s cuts. Jay and ‘Ye jump in and out of the ring, with Jay asserting he created the blueprint (get it?) from which rappers now follow, and Kanye references Audio Two’s “Top Billin’.” They’re chillin’.
[Untitled] – A sullen cut that sounds like it’s probably produced by RZA. The guys both apologize to their unborn kids for the lives they’ll inherit: Jay is sorry his kid will have paparazzi lenses on him from birth, while Kanye promises that his son will be the exact opposite of him, meaning perfectly behaved—and possibly Republican.
“Living So Italian” – Sampling Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s “Time To Say Goodbye,” Jay, displaying more of his American Gangster visage, coolly drops mafia slang. This is regal rap at its finest.
“Who Gon’ Stop Me?” – Jay pats himself on the back being a self-made millionaire even though he doesn’t have a reputable pedigree, giving the finger to those who thought he’d never make it.
“For Paper We Murder” – The duo attack societal ills like black-on-black crime, wars, and deadbeat dads.
“Sweet Baby Jesus” or “Made It in America” – An uplifting cut, supported by hard drums—and the second with Frank Ocean.
“I Love You So” – Likely the album’s final track. The pair find their kingdoms crumbling around them. Jay raps of having his heart stomped on and, over menacing strings, explains why he’s so guarded. The throne is in danger! Perfect cliffhanger and springboard to Watch the Throne 2, which Jay said is a possibility.
Oh, and remember “H.A.M.,” the single they dropped in January? Jay said they’re not even sure it will make the album. Performing it in concert is amazing, he says, but hearing it at home is an unpleasant experience. “I don’t want to hear all those voices screaming at me in the house,” he joked.
Are you excited for Jay and Kanye’s collaboration? Do you think it’s poised to be the album of the year?
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Member Since: 5/7/2009
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Quote:
Originally posted by m-m-m-monster
[ Do you think it’s poised to be the album of the year?
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it better ![](http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9853/drage.gif)
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Member Since: 12/21/2010
Posts: 51,088
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kisuke
it better ![](http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9853/drage.gif)
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No doubt about it. I feel bad for "Born This Way" and "4" now. ![:(](http://www.atrl.net/forums/images/smilies/images/smilies/frown.gif)
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Member Since: 7/19/2009
Posts: 16,809
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They better release Lift Off!
![](http://i51.tinypic.com/sqs4ts.jpg)
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Member Since: 12/1/2010
Posts: 1,336
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Is 'Lift Off' stil played on Ryan Seacrest on Monday? I'm here for that.
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Member Since: 7/3/2010
Posts: 5,788
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jeff1317: "We gon take it to the moon, take it to the stars. We're bout to take this whole thing to Mars" Jay-Z, Kanye & Beyonce - #LiftOff next week
It still will be a single? Ugh this is all so confusing. I think Noah is wrong, even though he has connections with Jay, Jay also said yesterday they would make a video for it, so it must be a single. And I heard this jeff guy is pretty legit right?
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