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Locke. · 01-07-2011, 12:56 PM

Are Kanye West and Jay-Z plotting a surprise album release on Monday? The pair have long been hyping Watch the Throne, a full-length collaboration that was originally due to be released in January. But six months after the release of their single H.A.M., there's still no sign of the rest of the record. Now, though, rumours abound that hip-hop's leading lights have fireworks planned for US Independence Day.

There are "heavy rumours", as Rolling Stone put it, that Watch the Throne is to drop on Monday. The story was first reported by the Source, and now AllHipHop has expanded on the story with the suggestion it will be a digital-only release, at least at first. The aim is allegedly to avoid the kind of leaks that plagued West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Beyoncé's 4.

Speaking to MTV this week, West's protege CyHi the Prynce said Watch the Throne is ready to go. "Right now, all the music and everything is done," he said. "'Ye is gonna add his last little pizzazz, and it's going to be ready for you guys soon." Although CyHi said he didn't know the logistics of the release, West could "just put it out tomorrow if he wanted to".

"You never know what they gonna do and how they gonna put it out," he added. "They might put it out yesterday."

Earlier this week, West announced his Good Music label had inked a major deal with Def Jam. Future releases by Good artists, including the debut album by Big Sean, Finally Famous, will be issued jointly by Good and Def Jam. "There is no one who has made a greater impression on the game than Kanye," said Def Jam's CEO, Barry Weiss. "We look forward to working closely with the new and established artists that he will be bringing to Good Music, which is already off to an impressive start with Big Sean."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011...tch-the-throne

Hope this is true

Iceman · 01-07-2011, 02:09 PM

Hopefully it doesnt beat BME

Cant wait to hear it though.

Locke. · 01-07-2011, 02:17 PM

BME?

And dunno, don't think it will get #1 over here, especially if it's only digital release

Iceman · 01-07-2011, 02:25 PM

Bad Meets Evil (Eminem and Royce Da 5'9).

I reckon it'll top Billboard, BME did and 97% of sales were digital so if they can with only Eminem being well known I dont see why Kanye and Jay cant

Locke. · 01-07-2011, 02:28 PM

Ohh didn't know Eminem had a new album out already. How many did that sell first week?

Iceman · 01-07-2011, 02:44 PM

not too many

I think it was 135K

Iceman · 01-07-2011, 02:45 PM

oh it was 171K actually

its a pretty good album.

Locke. · 01-07-2011, 07:04 PM

Good for albums these days.. 20k in America an your getting a top 10, used to need about 100k.

Iceman · 01-07-2011, 07:10 PM

yeah its not too bad, they did no promo bar a video released a week beforehand so Im quite happy about it.

Locke. · 04-07-2011, 02:15 PM

Just made available for pre-order today, August 2nd is the release date apparently.

Cover art:

Iceman · 04-07-2011, 02:31 PM

It's very shiny.

Locke. · 08-07-2011, 07:44 PM

Review from Rolling Stone:

1. The first track we heard, tentatively titled "No Church," is Jay-Z's current favorite of the bunch. It's easy to see why. An apocalyptic rumble of a beat backdrops a diabolically earwormy hook (courtesy of Odd Future crooner Frank Ocean) about religion and power. Jay-Z unspools brainy couplets about great thinkers like Socrates, Plato, Jesus, Kanye and himself; Kanye raps about drugs and sex, among other topics.

2. If "Liftoff" isn't a chart hit within the next year, I'll be surprised. Jay-Z and Kanye get downright triumphal over synthesized fanfare à la West's "All of the Lights," and Beyoncé's anthemic hook is the type of thing that makes radio programmers go weak in the knees. Huge.

3. No one boasts like Jay-Z and Kanye West. Here they talk delightful trash over a fearsome beat that grows from icy synthesizer plinks and minimalist snare attack to a fuzzed-out industrial breakdown. Midway through is a bit of sampled dialogue from 2007's goofy comedy Blades of Glory (Kanye's idea): "No one knows what it means," says Will Ferrell, "but it's provocative."

Kanye and Jay-Z's Album Up for Pre-Orders

4. Probably the best song we heard last night, bearing the working title "Otis," spins gold from a chopped-up sample of Otis Redding's classic "Try a Little Tenderness." It's a nice callback to the soul-laced beats Kanye used to give Jay-Z back in 2000 and 2001. ("That's our zone," Jay said later. "That's what we do better than anyone else.") Their rhymes are tricky, showoffy stuff, with the two old friends trading lines like a 21st-century Run-DMC. Every head in the room was nodding by the end of this track.

5. Watch the Throne isn't all braggadocio. This slower, introspective number finds Jay-Z and West both addressing their hypothetical future children. They don't hold back, and the self-doubt and soul-searching in their verses is genuinely moving. I can't recall ever hearing Jay-Z open up quite like this before, not even on "This Can't Be Life." Kanye's verse is pretty special, too – after the playback, Jay-Z said he thinks it's one of Ye's top three performances ever.

6. Back to stunting! A sample of Andrea Bocelli's schmaltzy "Con Te Partirò" gets sped down and mangled into an improbably heavy groove as Jay-Z and Kanye tout their international lifestyle in slick verses. The phrase they chant during the chorus, and presumably the working title for this one, is "Living So Italian." Very catchy. "It was actually fun for us," Jay later explained of this track. "We were laughing."

7. Diced-up vocal snippets and gut-punching bass back aggressive rhymes from Kanye and Jay-Z. One of them references YC's recent hit "Racks on Racks," a nod to the contemporary rap trends this album both embraces and outpaces.

8. A sample of English dubstep producer Flux Pavilion's single "I Can't Stop" comes crashing into an enormous wall of Dirty South synths, and the beat keeps evolving from there. Kanye's opening verse includes a smidgen of Pig Latin, while Jay-Z mythologizes his street-corner-to-corner-office backstory for the ten thousandth time. It's still a damned compelling arc after all these years.

9. Another contemplative interlude, with West thinking about black-on-black crime rates over looped "la la la" harmonies.

10. Frank Ocean's second appearance on the album is another keeper. Hip-hop heads will be singing his honey-voiced, religiously-themed hook all fall. Jay-Z and Kanye keep the thoughtful mood going with verses that revisit their respective rises to fame.

11. More European trend-spotting: A sledgehammer beat built around French house duo Cassius' 2010 single "I Love You So" rolls out while Kanye and Jay-Z indulge in some sullen thoughts regarding unnamed turncoats and ingrates. Slashing violin parts come in on the bridge before the song ends abruptly.

The album was over, but the party wasn't. Most of the writers hung around for another hour and a half while Jay-Z held court, pouring more bubbly and chatting informally about the recording process. One reason for the lengthy wait for Watch the Throne, he explained, is that he and Kanye insisted on collaborating in person. "If we were gonna do it, we were gonna do it together," he said. "No mailing it in." They got started in Bath, England last November and kept going in Australia, Paris, New York and Los Angeles whenever their schedules allowed. As for when the rest of the world will get to hear the finished product, "I'll just say soon," he added. "Not far away. Soon."

When the vibe in the room felt sufficiently loose, Jay-Z leaned back over his laptop and brought out a couple of outtakes that were as strong as anything that's currently slated to make the album. Clearly he and West have no shortage of creative juice going right now. In fact, Jay-Z is already looking forward to his next project – an embryonic solo LP for which he's completed recording two songs, one featuring Frank Ocean. (Alas, he wouldn't play those tunes for us.) Right now, he added toward the end of the night, "I'm really inspired."

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...-york-20110708

Shaun · 13-07-2011, 01:16 AM

Jay-Z's blog Life + Times has revealed the tracklist for Watch the Throne, Jay's highly anticipated collaborative album with Kanye West. Odd Future's Frank Ocean guests on two tracks, while Beyoncé guests on another. The single "H.A.M." is relegated to a bonus track on the deluxe edition. Check out the full tracklist below, as well as video of Kanye and Jay performing "H.A.M." live at SXSW:
Watch the Throne:

01 No Church in the Wild (ft. Frank Ocean)
02 Lift Off (ft. Beyoncé)
03 *****s in Paris
04 Otis (ft. Otis Redding)
05 Gotta Have It
06 New Day
07 Prime Time
08 Who Gon Stop Me
09 Murder to Excellence
10 Welcome to the Jungle
11 Sweet Baby Jesus (ft. Frank Ocean)
12 Why I Love You (ft. Mr Hudson)

Bonus tracks:
13 Illest Mother****er Alive
14 H*A*M
15 That's My Bitch
16 The Joy (ft. Curtis Mayfield)

Locke. · 14-07-2011, 05:07 PM

Youtube video

Locke. · 19-07-2011, 03:19 PM

Kanye West and Jay-Z have announced the release date of their eagerly anticipated joint album.

After teasing Watch The Throne for months, Yeezy and Jigga have confirmed that it will be available for digital download from 1st August.

Physical copies of the LP - which the pair begun recording last year - will then hit shops on 5th August.

The track-listing for Watch The Throne has already been revealed and features collaborations with Jay's wife Beyoncé, Mr Hudson and Frank Ocean.

The LP also has a collection of bonus tracks including their hook-up H*A*M and That's My Bi**h - which features La Roux's Elly Jackson.

A list of production credits for Watch The Throne have also hit the internet, with hiphopdx.com reporting that Swizz Beatz, The Neptunes and Kanye himself have all produced tunes for the LP.