How far the self-proclaimed king has fallen. Watch the Throne feels like a different career entirely for Kanye West, whose Vultures work of recent memory is uninteresting and vapid. He used to have a character and charm building towards inspired commentaries on the world around him and the uphill struggle he had to get where he is. This has all come apart at the seams but his collaboration with Jay-Z on Watch the Throne remains an exceptional piece of work. That much cannot be taken away. Two of the greats, Frank Ocean and Beyoncé, offer themselves to early moments before Jay-Z and West push through with a personable and provocative collaboration. Like many of the West projects up to this point the stylishness is not overshadowed by the additional artists, though maybe it should have been. Few can boast the late Otis Redding as a guest slot.
Liberties are taken in getting those samples but West has a keen ear for it still. As much can be heard on No Church In The Wild, an opening track with the gutsy Ocean additions needed to carry it. It sounds almost extravagant, bolder and louder than the rest of the album not just in an instrumental sense but in how it comes together. But those adaptations are not made to later moments like Who Gon Stop Me, a lazy adaptation of the Flux Pavilion classic. Watch the Throne does well to sidestep the predictable spots. Lift Off and the rest of the album has no interest in establishing West or Jay-Z, there is an expectation from both of intimate familiarity with their preceding works. Such is the star power of both men though it does spin away from what made their earlier works so charming. Instead, it becomes an exercise in overconfident exposure. While it is hard to disagree with their outlook on themselves and their work, it is hard to swallow their materialism, their constant braggadocious sense and provocative grandeur are fun but shallow.
But the key balance is in their respect for influences. Yes, their style may prove divisive because of how underwhelmed their message of wealth and sitting atop the pile can feel, but they earned it. Otis is a delightful work of leftover vocal materials from the legend, his voice is used as a beat more than a feature. Sharp and smart work like this, those little details of hearing a beat or unique tempo in the depths of their sound is far more fun than the gluttonous lyrical consistencies. No I.D. was right to a degree. Neither artist is pushing hard enough for a new sound or message. The latter collapses and the former is just good enough to hold Watch the Throne together. Some of it – like the Republican mocking New Day – feels a smidge ironic now. But such is hindsight and even in the lowest ebbs of Watch the Throne, West stands on a poetic high compared to his newer materials.
Pressure on West moulds a phenomenal avenue for his lyrical work and there are spots where Jay-Z takes the reigns, and stands out in his powerful observations too. But those flashes of inspiration are all too reliant on the instrumental opportunities throughout, masking the lacklustre spots of their collaborative efforts with some sleight of hand here or well-mixed pieces there. Spots of shock linger on Welcome to the Jungle but are not followed through with an intensity in its instrumentals. For West and Jay-Z it is a one or the other system and while it makes for some great material, it does not feel fully fleshed out. A bit of a letdown but it was always going to feel this way when the pair were held in such high regard. Nothing particularly bad stands out but their weaker moments are far more frequent because their discussions are of being at the top of their game. Inevitably, the only way to go next is down.
