"Black
excellence, opulence, decadence...Only spot a few blacks the higher I
go, what’s up to Will? Shout out to O, that ain’t enough.. we gonna need
a million more"
When Watch The Throne dropped people called it a great album, but they laid into Jay Z and Kanye West. Calling them arrogant, egotistical and ignorant to the world. I'd like to argue that the album isn't that. It's the opposite. Sure it's a celebration of riches but not just that. It's a celebration of black excellence. A celebration of doing what people told them couldn't be done. An encouragement for other blacks to join them in the elite. To simply put it in the words of Jay Z "It's a celebration bitches."
The production the album is ridiculous. Kanye West does most of it but he's joined by an expert cast of producers as well. Guest production on the album comes from people like The Neptunes, Q Tip, No I.D., Swizz Beats and even Lex Luger. There's a ton of samples mixed so well that on the first few listens you wouldn't be able to pick them all out. The mood and ambiance ranges all the way from the top with "Lift Off" the bottom with "Why I Love You."
The album features both on top of their game and really marks a major point in Jay Z's evolution. Over time Jay has evolved from drug dealer, to greedy business man, to where he is now. Now Jay is still a business man but he's more charitable and frequently using themes from The Fiver Percent Nation while flipping racist entities on their heads. Jay Z caught a lot of flack for working with Barney's after the stop and frisk. Jay countered that on the track "The Devil Is A Lie," with the lyric "You seen what I did to the stop and frisk, Brooklyn on the Barney's like we own the bitch, give the money to the hood, now we all win," and he did give the money too the hood. Originally only twenty five percent was going to go to scholarships, but Jay flipped it so one hundred percent of those sales went to scholarships for black students. Jay is often criticized unfairly because he isn't out marching with Nas or showing up to protest like J. Cole. However, he's always been a big donator behind the scenes. Way back on "Moment Of Clarity," he stated it "We as rappers must decide what's most important, and I can't help the poor if I'm one of them, so I got rich and gave back, to me that's the win/win." Watch the Throne was Jay's coming out. He's fully in favor of black excellence and wants more black millionaires. For a long time Jay has been getting the "he's not black anymore treatment," and around this time it was obvious that it started to bother him. Although the feud with Nas was long done he was tired of the "Nas is in the hood giving back, where are you?" No matter how much Jay may pretend it doesn't bother him, it does. Remember when he spent the better part of a year doing a ton of features telling people he wasn't in the Illuminati or a devil worshiper? For Jay Z Watch The Throne was him saying "Don't question my blackness or my dedication to the streets." He then went on to dedicate most of his music afterwards to the topic. He'll never admit it, but people got to Jay.
I can't say the same for Kanye. I'm a fan of Kanye, I admit it. Throughout the album he did paint pictures of black excellence. He did draw attention to things such as the violence in Chicago. He pointed to the fact that no matter how much money he has, there's still white people who obviously do not want him around. The problem is Kanye spent way more time talking about Kanye. A friend of mine once told me "Kanye West is a smart guy. He sees a lot of things, but sometimes, Kanye only sees racism, when it effects Kanye." As much as he talks about the hospitals in Chicago that won't even treat gunshot wounds, he'll talk about nobody respecting his leather jogging pants. It's understandable. Jay Z has been rich for a long time and worth over half a billion dollars. Kanye has been rich for a long time, but nowhere near as long as Jay and he's nowhere near as rich as Jay. It's understandable. He's actively trying to overcome hurdles to make more money and Jay has already crossed them. As Kanye would put it later "You see it's broke nigga racism, that's that "Don't touch anything in the store" and it's rich nigga racism, that's that "Come in, please buy more." Sometimes on the album it seems like Kanye only sees "rich nigga racism." It's clear that he's sees racism. He's not throwing the party for black excellence. He was invited and he's looking around saying how nice it is but asking why he isn't the most excellent at the party. Sometimes it seems like Kanye wants to do good but the devil on his shoulder tells him to ball out instead, then Jay has to come in and tell Kanye to calm down and be logical.
"Niggas In Paris," is just about Jay and Kanye going gorilla in Paris. At first it may seem like they're just bragging but let's look at history. Slavery was abolished in 1315 for France and at the moment a slave set foot in France, they were a free man or woman. Compared to 1865 in the United States. France beat the United States by 550 years in the abolition of slavery. Because of that black Frenchmen have long been balling out in Paris. From Alexander Dumas to Josephine Baker. Niggas have been in Paris for a long time, going gorilla.
On the song "Gotta Have It," Kanye raps about White America trying to assassinate his character. I admit it, Kanye West is a jackass, but he's right. He received more backlash for saying "George Bush does not care about black people," and interrupting Taylor Swift than almost anyone else. Donald Trump has been asking for Obama's birth certificate since 2006. Ted Nugent has called him Obama a radical Muslim socialist communist satanist. There have been countless country musicians yelling "he's not my president." Kanye is also not the first person to interrupt an award show, but Taylor Swift is a white woman so he received more backlash than anyone else.
"Welcome To The Jungle," is primarily a Jay Z song with Kanye only appearing on the hook and the bridge. In the song he questions how fame has effected him. He no longer has fun in the spotlight. In the second verse he asks questions of President Obama. It's no secret that Jay Z has supported Obama but now he's wondering why Obama hasn't done anywhere near as much as he promised for the hood. He wonders why Obama doesn't speak out on the murders and to Jay's credit he may have gotten through to Obama with this. Since then Obama has spoken out on the deaths of people like Trayvon Martin and Mike brown as well as launched programs like My Brother's Keeper. He also takes the media to task stating that they either don't know or don't care about what goes on in the black community.
"Murder to Excellence," is the perfect centerpiece to Watch The Throne. It covers the transition from the murders in Chicago and Brooklyn to going gorilla in Paris. On his first verse Jay points out how hard it is to survive black on black violence when most of the people who die are hit with stray bullets. Johnny Cash has this song called "Man In Black," where he talks about the reason he always wears black. He wears it to represent the poor and beaten down, the people in prison who have long payed for their crimes. Jay takes this moniker for himself with this song. it's undeniable that Jay loves his black. It can be argued that all those things that Johnny Cash wore black to represent, take place a ridiculously high rates in the black community. Mandatory sentencing for non violent crimes, more funding for police weapons than schools. Jay takes that moniker of Man in Black for himself and chastising those who question his blackness while rapping:
"Strays from the same shade nigga, we on the same team, giving you respect, I expect the same thing, all-black everything, nigga you know my fresh code, I’m out here fighting for you, don’t increase my stressload, Niggas watching the throne, very happy to be you, power to the people, when you see me, see you"
Kanye points a ton of reason for black on black violence. Guns are easily accessible, but the school can't even afford a shop class. The kids are left with nothing to do but shoot at each other. That's not even taking into consideration that most gunshot wounds in Chicago would be non-fatal if there weren't hospitals that refused to treat any gunshot wounds. Kanye goes on to point out that more people have been dying in Chicago than Iraq every year since 2007. Yet, the media only cares when they can point to black on black violence as reason why it's okay to shoot and kill an unarmed black person in the back, sometimes while they're handcuffed. Kanye equates this to genocide. Black people simply being wiped off the Earth while the media ignores it in favor of Kylie Jenner's new lips, until another black person dies. That way they can say black people don't care about black on black violence. The thing is, we do. We care a lot, there's constant events trying to stop black on black violence. Going back to what Jay Z said, they either don't know or they don't care. In Jay Z's second verse he goes on to call for end to black on black violence restating what Nas did decades ago "It's all black, it's all us, one love," just in case people forgot.
The track then switches the beat and transitions from murder to excellence where Jay practically begs for more black millionaires while Kanye points out how the system is rigged with mass incarceration. Jay even marks themselves as part of the new black elite. In the past the black elite was marked by people like Bill Cosby who would preach respectability politics. The idea that if you simply stopped sagging then racism ends. The old black elite like Don Lemon who believes that littering is what is destroying the black community. The old black elite had people like Isaiah Washington telling Chris Rock that the police would leave him alone if he wasn't flaunting his wealth. This new black elite is filled with people like Jay Z, Kanye West, Nas, Beyonce and others who are out to build more black millionaires. People like J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar who don't think sagging is what causes the police to stop black people. The new black elite separates itself by still exuding black excellence made of both black culture and excellence.
"Why I Love You," is another predominately Jay Z track. In this track Jay questions why he still cares for friends who have turned into enemies. A lot of it seems to be aimed directly at Dame Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke who he co-founded Roc-A-Fella with. For those who don't know when Jay Z became president of Def Jam, they also bought Roc-A-Fella. At this point Dame started pushing out people like Jay Z and Kanye West. He started promoting groups like the Diplomats who would go on to diss Jay. Eventually the three all sold their remaining 50% in Roc-A-Fella and artist were given the choice between the Roc with Jay or Dame Dash Music Group. Kanye West, Memphis Bleek and Young Gunz' were the only ones to choose Jay. Eventually Beanie Sigel did return to Roc-A-Fella. Biggs however left the music industry and went back to selling drugs. Eventually Dash's label went broke and all of those on that side blamed Jay. Biggs was arrested and blamed Jay. At the time of recording this Sigel was also mad at Jay, although they recently reconciled with Beans admitting he was just jealous after Jay repeatedly stating he still loved him.
"The Joy," wraps up the deluxe version of the album. It's a track that features a Curtis Mayfield sample while Jay and Kanye reminisce on the past. They celebrate overcoming racism and other obstacles while stating they aren't going anywhere while encouraging others to reach the level. Both take time to thank their mothers for putting up with them even when they did the opposite of what they told. Jay celebrates finally making his mother proud of him and tells her nobody will ever take the joy from her.
Watch The Throne is a polarizing album that touches on a lot of issues. It's not just partying. As Jay Z stated it's a celebration of black excellence. A look at where they came from and where they are now. At first glance, I can see why reviewers would be upset about it, claiming it to be just a bunch of braggadocio. Jay Z once famously asked "Motherfuckers say that I'm foolish I only talk about jewels, do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?" Just like the black community, there's a lot more here than what you see on the surface. You either don't know or just don't care.
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You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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