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Aug 12, 2011Perhaps the most extraordinary achievement of this funny, hard-hitting, thrilling album is that it actually sounds like a coherent and purposeful piece of work, a statement of what hip hop can mean, and where it can go.
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Aug 26, 2011Predictably, Jay's power is more interesting than Ye's, which was funnier and sicker on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Think the patron's proximity made the protegee nervous? Think the patron figured it would? I do.
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Aug 9, 2011The album has the flash to dazzle and the substance to last.
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Aug 9, 2011The truth is that while far from perfect, this is a more complex and well executed album than the vast majority of anything we'll get this year. Or put more simply, who's really challenging Kanye West and Jay-Z for hip-hop's throne. Seriously. Who?
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Aug 19, 2011Watch the Throne is as much of a celebration of the A-list prominence of its two marquee stars as it is an exegesis of all of that fame's attendant complications.
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Aug 11, 2011On Watch the Throne, they push each other and have fun doing it, and the result is a stadium-sized event-rap spectacle that still sounds like two insanely talented guys' idiosyncratic vision. That's worth celebrating.
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Aug 25, 2011Its tone is largely exuberant, even when its content seems dour; its ancillary themes seem surprisingly relatable and humanizing, even though its thesis stresses how uniquely untouchable and alone they are at the top.
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MagnetNov 11, 2011They turn out to be pretty good influences on one another. Jay sounds generally reinvigorated: good-humored, full of nimble, intricate wit and atypically emotionally revealing, and if Kanye's rhymes occasionally remain as clumsy and crass as his personal life choices, he drops far fewer boners than usual. [#81, p. 56]
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Q MagazineSep 21, 2011Hip hop heavy weights stop squabbling for long enough to justify their star billing. [Oct 2011, p.116]
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Aug 15, 2011Collectively, the project is incredibly ambitious, yet dexterous; West and his band of producers skillfully lay down a musical foundation that makes it easy to dance to and not be worn down by the, at times, didactic messages.
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Aug 15, 2011It's better than West's last, impressive album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. With fantastically varied production, Watch the Throne marches hungrily forward, belying its genesis in a series of swanky hotel rooms.
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Aug 12, 2011Haters are gonna hate given the artists in question – but to be disappointed with Watch the Throne is to be disappointed with the rap game in 2011.
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Aug 12, 2011Watch the Throne succeeds in both and in giving us both sides of both artists-the braggadocio and the social consciousness-in nearly equal measure. Which means it should be considered a success without question by all who come across it. I'd hope so, anyway.
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Aug 11, 2011Watch the Throne is one of the more interesting, envelope-pushing mainstream rap albums in recent memory.
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Aug 11, 2011If Watch the Throne's musical direction seems like West's work, it's worth noting that Jay-Z has the better lyrics.
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Aug 11, 2011The best tracks are the most pointed, because they go beyond technical style and really delve into each rapper's head.
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Aug 10, 2011Instead of a monolithic mandate delivered from on high, Watch the Throne delivers something more splintered and haphazard, a legitimate engagement with what it means to be new, in the now. It's a small record by big men with nothing to lose but bigness itself.
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Aug 9, 2011Today's Hip Hop scene has a rotating cast of notable stars, yet Watch The Throne simply wouldn't have felt the same had it been two different rappers converging for something this monumental.
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Aug 9, 2011They still sound like two solo rappers. But there's an undeniable synergy that they embraced for this project.
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Aug 11, 2011Much like his public persona, Kanye West's presence is hard to ignore on Watch the Throne. Every track is, without a doubt, his and his alone.
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Aug 12, 2011For all its shortcomings, Watch the Throne is still damn good.
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Aug 9, 2011The two kings prove much more nimble and disciplined, displaying a confidence that suggests they're not going anywhere.
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Aug 19, 2011An audacious spectacle of vacuous pomposity as well as one of tremendous lyrical depth, Watch the Throne is a densely packed amalgamation of what Jay-Z has termed "ignorant shit" and "thought-provoking shit," with creative productions that are both top of the line and supremely baffling.
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Aug 18, 2011At heart, Watch the Throne is a Kanye West production. It's more of a holding pattern than the seismic leap of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but WTT covers a ton of territory with aplomb; Kanye's hallmark versatility and tasteful maximalism as a producer are again in full view.
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Aug 12, 2011While Watch the Throne is ultimately a minor entry in their canons, it's still a terrific snapshot of the friendship that has ended up defining mainstream rap.
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Aug 11, 2011Why is it so easy to cling onto certain bodies of work and wish for each subsequent effort to bear resemblance? Well, the easy answer is because both of these men are very good at telling specific types of stories.
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Aug 11, 2011On a record this ambitious, this sonically bold, it's a shame two of music's greatest storytellers don't extend their gaze beyond their own luxe lives.
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Aug 11, 2011We're left with a mess of an album that sounds too good to hate.
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Aug 9, 2011It's certainly an enjoyable listen, with a few great songs – and at least it actually happened – but with the combined power, money and talent that Carter and West continually brag about, you can't help but feel that Watch the Throne could and should have been better.
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Aug 9, 2011In the end, Watch the Throne is a very noble attempt at cohesion, but its inconsistency ultimately stalls the project, resulting in an uneven recording that buckles under the weight of its own pressure.
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Sep 12, 2011That Jay and 'Ye have the courtesy to stop rapping about their money and start attacking real issues--black-on-black crime in "Murder to Excellence," raising children on "New Day"--is icing on a very expensive cake.
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Aug 9, 2011They sound like they're on the same page only during fleeting moments, and when those slip by, listening inevitably is more frustrating than fulfilling.
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Aug 12, 2011Jay dawns that ever-frustrating mush-mouth flow throughout the LP's duration, and only sounds awake when his bars are bookended by Kanye.
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Aug 12, 2011When two legends unite, you expect pure, unfiltered brilliance. Watch The Throne has moments of that. On the whole, this album is a half-hearted victory lap.
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Aug 19, 2011Watch the Throne is far too good to condemn them thus, but not good enough to erase the possibility.
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Aug 15, 2011Watch the Throne feels all too fractured from the tension of two rappers (and two egos) at the top of their game, trying to get along.
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Aug 12, 2011Nothing can be accomplished if someone doesn't stand up and act as the new gold standard. Kanye West and Jay-Z have proven themselves to be, at the very least, kings of just that notion.
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Aug 15, 2011In place of politics, or any kind of point, all this album offers is a parade of premium brands, from Grey Goose to Louboutin. The overriding sensation is akin to reading one of those luxury-shopping magazines you get on planes while a mediocre hip-hop station plays over the headphones.
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Aug 11, 2011The music itself isn't really the issue. It's the conceit, the fact that even though Kanye and Jay-Z truthfully are nailing what pop can sound like, they use their royal stature not to communicate fresh ideas but pander to their subjects because they f*cking can.
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Aug 11, 2011Hype and arrogance created Watch the Throne and stifled the creative revelation it could have been. It would be nice if that could serve as a kind of lesson for the hip hop world, but somehow that seems unlikely.
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Aug 8, 2011In many ways, West and Jay-Z are saying something similar on their new album. But their approach is not to shine a spotlight on their community. Instead, they urge listeners to "watch the throne," and gaze in awe on their good fortune.
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Aug 11, 2011Watch the Throne is more notable for its general lack of impact. Neither as compulsively neurotic as Eminem, as languidly characterful as Snoop Dogg, nor as furiously articulate as Nas, the raps here represent a pretty mediocre, cardboard kind of throne, truth be told.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 625 out of 766
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Mixed: 71 out of 766
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Negative: 70 out of 766
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Aug 16, 2011
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Aug 12, 2011
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Aug 12, 2011