Watch The Throne: Ye & Jay Z

08/09/2011

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Watch the Throne, Jay Z & Kanye West
                                                          Rated: WC (Worth Coppin')

Watch The Throne…Rightfully titled; I don’t think any other artists could pull this off. It’s a very well-rounded album. You’ve got hard hitting tracks like “H.A.M” and my personal favorite, “Ni**as in Paris,” then you have oldy-feeling music like “Otis” and “The Joy.” I was bobbing my head by the 2nd track; this album required my undivided attention. You can’t help but vibe to it. Above that, the content is spectacular. From Black-on-Black crime to racism, there’s a lot being talked about here. I’m impressed. It’s not preachy either. Nice beats. A solid album. As my homegirl would say, “Y’all did that!”

                                                  Currently listening to: “Murder to Excellence”

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Watch The Throne Pt. I

08/09/2011

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The problem with the music industry—one of them anyway—is that they only cater to 13 year olds. I think the assumption is that only teenagers buy music or go to iTunes. Maybe it’s their impressionability: they’ll believe anything. But I like what Jay Z, Yeezy and Beyonce have done with their albums. They made it about the music.

The lesson: sometimes, you have to conform: give the people what they’re asking for. You have to do this in order to get where you want to be. However, once you arrive, you can do whatever you want to do with it. You can go back to where you started from or really talk about the stuff you want to talk about. It would be great if the music industry wouldn’t corrupt artists from the start. It would be great if artists could make music inclusive of the people in their age range. Lil Wayne is 28; he should be making music for his age, meaning it—the content, sound—should be mature (“How to Love”). If 13-year-olds like it, great, if they don’t…well, it wasn’t really for them anyway. Instead, industry execs will send artists back in the booth and tell them to rewrite their music (dumb it down) or come up with something that sounds different (which usually ends up sounding like everything else that’s already out); however, when the artist flops, they drop them (Ciara).

What I’ve noticed is, no matter how much cookie-cutter music they put out, the “greats” (Beyonce, Jay Z, Kanye, Mariah) will get to where they are because they refuse to settle, they refuse to conform to what the industry says is hot. Artistry is about creativity. If you let that go for money, you have nothing. I think many current and up-and-coming artists should read a page out of Jay Z and Kanye’s book. Focus on the music, not the money. The rest will follow. Watch The Throne.

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