There are moments in life that will forever stand out in your mind, positive or negative. Whether or not it’s a line or a scene from a movie, a personal event, your favorite sports team/player winning a title. You name it, there’s always something that’s imprinted in your mind for the rest of your life.
When it comes down to music releases, I’m old enough to remember A LOT of events. Frank Ocean dropping BLOND (Hell, when Frank dropped anything it was a big deal). When Tupac dropped the biggest and most vicious diss track in hip hop music (Hit Em Up). Jay-Z dropping Blueprint on 9/11 (obviously another event happened that same day….) Even when a certain Canadian dropped So Far Gone and kickstarted the most dominant run in music we’ve seen in quite a long time. I could go on and on and on and on, but I think the audience gets the point.
But there’s one music release, in my opinion, that is the best of all time in terms of impact, sound, themes, and yes, even memes. Also, this release had ramifications on the careers and the personal and professional relationship between the two artists behind this project.
WATCH THE THRONE with Jay-Z and Kanye West turns 15 this year (the official anniversary is this summer) and this album has been on my mind heavy, for a lot of different reasons. For me, it has repeat value (damn near the entire album is on my gym playlist.) Secondly, this is when Jay and Kanye were at the commercial and artistic peak of their powers. Lastly, after the release of WTT, both Jay’s and Kanye’s careers and their relationship would change dramatically, forever. But, before we get into the aftermath of all of that, let’s get into some of the themes and standout tracks from the project.
(One quick point: IMO Kanye was rapping his absolute best on this album. Dare I say he was outrapping Jay-Z. Yes, I will forever die on that hill.)
The first track, and might be the most popular one on the album, is “Niggas in Paris”. There’s a sample on this song from the comedy movie “Blades of Glory” with Will Ferrell that is still quoted from everyone, young or old, to this day (it gets the people going). The song’s production is top notch work by Hit-Boy, Mike Dean and Kanye himself. This song carries themes about black empowerment in America (from Jay’s view) and defying the odds to obtain success (Kanye’s view). Jay also talks about how he could envision himself being in jail otherwise, while West asserts that his doctors diagnosed him with an illness for his realness. The sound behind this song has a dubstep feel to it, while stripping it down to a more simple, straight forward minimalist sound. Not my favorite track, but still a great one nonetheless.
Another track from WTT that is for me THE signature song is “No Church in the Wild” featuring the great Frank Ocean. The beat. The lyrics. The hook. This song is the closest thing to perfection in any era of music. Powerful, doomsday-like cinematic production is the main force behind the greatness of this track. Also, Ocean’s haunting singing of the question “What’s a god to a non-believer who don’t believe in anything?” is something that still brings me goosebumps to this day. Also, the music video highlights unrest and protesting, in which would be a prelude of what we would see in Ferguson, with Travon Martin, Colin Kaepernick and of course, the year 2020 with the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement. In a sense, this song is almost an official “protest” song, before the term became a bit more mainstream in the next handful of years. For me, this is my favorite song of the album and one of my favorite songs ever.
One more song that, from a chart/radio perspective, didn’t receive a lot of love, but the themes of backstabbing and falling out behind this track is ironic, considering the current personal and professional standing between Ye and Jay. “Why I Love You?” feat Mr. Hudson, discusses what comes with success related to friendships and brotherhood. The track features lines such as “Caesar didn’t see it, so he ceased to exist / So the nigga that killed him had keys to his shit” which implies that Jay was throwing insults towards the Roc-A-Fella breakup with Damn Dash, his fallout with rapper Beanie Siegel. You could easily say that Jay and Ye were foreshadowing their own eventual relationship downfall.
Of course, there are more standout tracks (“Otis”, “Lift-Off”, “Murder to Excellence”, “Who Gon Stop Me”) just to name a few. The hype and the build behind this album was something to behold. You had to be outside when this era of music was around. It seemed pure, exciting and not forced. Or, you can simply say this was about two artists who decided to join forces to change the music industry. The flip side of an album of this magnitude is how it changed the careers of Jay and Ye. Both men went into different directions with their music careers (Ye being the more active artist. Jay hasn’t dropped an album since 4:44 in 2017, with a few guest verses here and there. Plus, he’s a billionaire and married to Beyonce, so I can’t blame him) and their personal fallout was driven by Ye’s controversies over the last decade or so (Like I always say, Google is your friend) There were rumors for years about a follow up sequel album (which would have been HUGE, but a risk because of the pressure of outdoing the first one) but it’s highly unlikely these two men will ever share the same studio, let alone be in the same room, again.
I’ll leave you with this last thought: I remember a Chicago radio station played this entire album on the radio. I had to pull over from the expressway to legit finish listening to it. After that, I went to a local record store and bought the CD (might be the last CD I ever bought before they went extinct.) and never looked back. Moments like this stand out for me the most, and I will forever cherish them.
The music industry needs more moments like this. It’s provocative and gets the people going.
Open Frame Media. 
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