Watch the Throne
Encyclopedia
Watch the Throne is a collaborative studio album
by American rappers Jay-Z
and Kanye West
, released on August 8, 2011, by Roc-A-Fella Records
, Roc Nation
, and Def Jam Recordings
. Recording sessions for the album took place at various recording locations and began in November 2010. It was produced by West, 88 Keys, RZA
, Swizz Beatz
, Jeff Bhasker, and Mike Dean
, among others. Expanding on the dense production style of West's 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch the Throne incorporates orchestral and progressive rock
influences, unconventional samples
, and dramatic melodies in its sound. Jay-Z and West's braggadocio
lyrics on the album exhibit themes of opulence, fame, materialism, power, and the burdens of success, as well as political and socioeconomic
context.
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200
chart, selling 436,000 copies its first week. It produced five singles, including the international hit "Otis
" and Billboard
hits "H•A•M
" and "Niggas in Paris
". Upon its release, Watch the Throne received generally positive reviews from music critics, who commended its production and the rappers' performances, although some criticized the subject matter and the album's cohesiveness. Jay-Z and West are currently promoting the album with a concert tour
that spans October to December 2011. The album has been certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
and, as of November 2011, has sold 1,103,900 copies in the United States.
, which showcased West's style of hip hop production
at the time. West's early production work on Jay-Z's music helped raise his profile in the music industry. Subsequent collaborative work by the two included further production work by West for Jay-Z and collaborations on singles such as "Swagga Like Us
", "Run This Town
", and "Monster". Originally intended to be a five-track EP
by Jay-Z and West, Watch the Throne was revealed by West to be a full-length album in an October 2010 interview for MTV
. He said in the interview that they planned to record in the south of France
.
, The Mercer Hotel, MSR Studios, and Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York, New York, Le Meurice
in Paris, France, and Real World Studios
in Wiltshire, England. Production for the album began in November in England and continued during available times in Jay-Z's and West's respective schedules at recording locations in Australia, Paris, Abu Dhabi, New York City, and Los Angeles. In an interview for Billboard
, Jay-Z said that they often recorded in hotel rooms and that the album went through three iterations, as he and West had scaled back from their original musical direction for the album. He also noted difficulties in the recording process, including arguments with West regarding their direction. The album's earlier sessions produced little material that made the final cut.
In January 2011, they regrouped and rented a block of rooms at the Mercer Hotel in New York City and invited a select group of producers and recording artists. Chauncey "Hit-Boy" Hollis, who produced the track "Niggas in Paris", said of recording at the hotel, "There was music going on in every room. I had a room where I was cranking out beats, and then I’d go into the main room with Jay and [Kanye] and play beats for them. Kanye is really hands-on. I would come in with a beat and he’d be like, ‘Take this out, slow it down.’ It would make it sound 100 times better. Jay would then mumble different flows to the beat." Parts of the album were also recorded in New York City's Tribeca Grand Hotel. In an interview for Rolling Stone
, Jay-Z discussed their insistence on recording in person and attributed it to the delay in releasing the album, stating "If we were gonna do it, we were gonna do it together. No mailing it in." The album was mastered
by producer Mike Dean
at the Mercer Hotel.
Jay-Z and West worked with several guest recording artists, including Beyoncé
, Frank Ocean
, and Mr Hudson. "No Church in the Wild", the last song recorded for the album, was conceived by Jay-Z, West, and the song's producer 88-Keys throughout most of June. Producer and recording artist The-Dream
sings a verse on the track using AutoTune. Additional vocalists Elly Jackson
, Connie Mitchell
, and Justin Vernon provide the hook
on "That's My Bitch". Swizz Beatz
, who produced "Welcome to the Jungle", also provided background vocals to the track, and Kid Cudi
contributed additional vocals to "The Joy" and "Illest Motherfucker Alive", bonus tracks on the album's deluxe edition.
writes that the album's music is as "massive, dour, and relentlessly unconventional" as that of West's previous 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Music writer Robert Christgau
describes West's production as "a funkier and less ornate variant of the prog
-rap of 2010's acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". Music journalist Jody Rosen
characterizes the music as "vast, dark and booming," commenting that West "continues in the sonic vein he introduced in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, lacing the songs with rock
dynamics, layering his beats with eerie vocal chorales, piling on proggy flourishes." Conversely, Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine
finds West's "knack for dramatic, melodically sophisticated tracks [...] channeled away from the Olympian scale" of his previous album "and toward the more commercial vein of Jay-Z's recent work," which he attributes to West splitting production work with several other producers. On the songs' structure, Cole states, "every track eschews the standard verse-hook-repeat format in favor of more dynamic material."
Music journalist Alexis Petridis
comments that the album incorporates "unlikely sample
s." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
writes that the album's production "can be roughly segmented into three categories," noting "Southern-inflected tracks" such as "Niggas in Paris" and "H•A•M
", "moody and harsh numbers" like "Who Gon Stop Me" and "Why I Love You", and "the nostalgia that creeps over much of this album, giving it a sonic through-line and mission statement." Pitchfork Media
's Tom Breihan perceives "pure orchestral excess" on some of its songs and describes the album's musical scope as "a tribute to [West's] distinctive taste and sense of style."
's Tyler Fisher describes Watch the Throne as "an album centered around larger-than-life egos." Andy Kellman of Allmusic characterizes much of the album's lyrical content as "ruthless flaunting of material wealth and carte blanche industry resources." Ross Green of Tiny Mix Tapes
describes it as "luxury rap", noting Jay-Z's and West's "whimsy and braggadocio
." Rob Harvilla of Spin
views that their lyrics express elitism
, narcissism
, "relentless capitalism
," and "smug yet undeniable greatness." Music critic Greg Kot
views that the album is about "mutual admiration" and writes of the rappers' respective personas, "Jay-Z is about imperious flow, bridging his gritty past life on the streets with his current status as a cultural tastemaker and business mogul. [...] West is more desperate, transparent, awkward, vulnerable." Music critic Nathan Rabin
states that Jay-Z and West "are a study in contrasts: the businessman and the bohemian, the faithful husband and the drugged-up playboy, the walking press release and the loose cannon. Jay-Z is tidy. Kanye is nothing but rough edges." Jon Caramanica writes similarly, "breaking [...] old barriers is a means to acceptance and stability" for Jay-Z, while "West sounds lonely" with his fame, adding that "For Mr. West every flash of Dionysian
extreme is tempered by the realization of its hollowness." Robert Christgau noted "regal grandiosity" and "glory" as primary themes on the album. In his article "Brag Like That" for Barnes & Noble
, Christgau comments that "Jay-Z is a grown man and Kanye West is not" on the album and elaborates on their lyrics, stating:
Their lyrics also exhibit political and socioeconomic context. Jody Rosen writes that they "may be obsessed with their own king-size lives, but the tone here is serious, sober, weighty." Nitsuh Abebe of New York
views that the album is "about the relationship of black American men to wealth, power, and success. [...] a portrait of two black men thinking through the idea of success in America." He compares the album to artist Yinka Shonibare
's 1998 piece Diary of a Victorian Dandy, "in which the artist luxuriates in all the genteel pleasures of the time." Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times
notes "musings on the spoils of riches and the chaos that accompanies it," adding that "[the] tension between worshiping the spirit and celebrating the bounty drives Watch the Throne [...] The record questions faith while clinging to heritage and family, places this moment in an historical context, wonders on the mystery, power and confusion of the gilded life — while rolling around in amulet
s." Writer Kitty Empire
interprets it to be about "black power [...] conceived as a swaggering taunt of achievement, in line with both men's previous works, which routinely double as shopping guides. [...] [T]hey need to humanise all the conspicuous consumption." Claire Suddath of Time
views that the rappers' "bacchanal
celebration of the finer things in life" is secondary to the theme of "two men grappling with what it means to be successful and black in a nation that still thinks of them as second class
."
strings and a chorus sung by Beyoncé. "Niggas in Paris" incorporates staccato
orchestration, fizzing industrial noise, a sampling of dialogue from the 2007 film Blades of Glory
. "Otis" samples Otis Redding's 1966 song "Try a Little Tenderness
", manipulating it into a rhythm track with Redding's vocals and grunts. "Gotta Have It", produced by The Neptunes
, incorporates chopped-up James Brown
vocal samples and Eastern flute melodies. On "New Day", they address future sons about fame. It references the line "me and the RZA connect" from Raekwon
's 1995 song "Incarcerated Scarfaces", which was also produced by RZA. The track incorporates a sample of Nina Simone
's 1965 song "Feeling Good
" through an Auto-Tune
voice processor.
On "Welcome to the Jungle", Jay-Z laments personal losses and overcoming struggles. "Who Gon Stop Me" features bombastic production and samples Flux Pavilion
's 2011 song "I Can't Stop". "Murder to Excellence" addresses black-on-black crime
and limited social mobility
for African Americans. "Made in America" has themes of family life and the American Dream
, with Jay-Z and West discussing their respective rises to fame, while acknowledging those who helped and inspired them. "Why I Love You" has Jay-Z lamenting betrayal and how his past protégés failed to maintain without him.
, Roc Nation
, and Def Jam Recordings
, Jay-Z's and West's respective record labels. On July 4, it was made available to pre-order on Life + Times, Jay-Z's lifestyle webzine, which redirected to Island Def Jam's website page that featured the album's deluxe version available for $16.99, standard CD for $13.99, a deluxe digital version for $14.99, and standard digital album for $11.99. On July 22, its pre-order was made available on the iTunes Store
. The album was released digitally on August 8 exclusively through iTunes, while its physical release was made available on August 12. Its deluxe CD edition will be sold exclusively by Best Buy
through August 23, when it will be available at other retailers. The sales strategy for the album received criticism from other music retailers, who accused the record labels of giving preferential treatment to iTunes and Best Buy. One of the most anticipated albums in 2011, Watch the Throne became one of the few major label albums in the Internet age to avoid a leak
.
On July 7, Jay-Z hosted a private listening session at the Mercer Hotel in New York City, previewing the album's songs from his MacBook Pro
for a select group of reporters and music journalists. It was also exclusive to two teenage fans who had won access to the session for being the first two people to pre-order the album through Jay-Z's Life + Times website. The album's cover and artwork, both designed by Italian designer Riccardo Tisci
, were also premiered at the session. Benjamin Meadows-Ingrim of Billboard, who attended the session, said of the previewed material, "The songs were dramatic and boastful, with Jay-Z often taking the lead lyrically, and the collection showcased the differences between the two artists - Jay-Z, the technical marksman, and Kanye, the emotive chest beater." On August 1, Jay-Z and West held a listening session for the album at the Rose Center for Earth and Space
in New York City's American Museum of Natural History
. The session premiered the album in its entirety and featured attendance from journalists, models, industry types, and recording artists such as Busta Rhymes
, 88-Keys, and Beyoncé Knowles.
Jay-Z and West are currently promoting Watch the Throne with a 24-date, North American concert tour
produced by Live Nation
, beginning on October 29 and concluding on December 18.
" was officially released as a digital download
on January 11. It charted at number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100. On July 20, "Otis
" was premiered on Funkmaster Flex
's Hot 97 radio show and subsequently leaked to the Internet. It was sent to rhythmic contemporary
and urban contemporary
radio on August 9. Its cover art was created by Riccardo Tisci. "Otis" reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. A music video for the song was filmed by director Spike Jonze
in Los Angeles. "Lift Off" was sent to US urban radio on August 23. On September 13, "Why I Love You" was sent to US rhythmic radio, and "Niggas in Paris" was sent to both rhythmic and urban radio and has since peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Niggas in Paris" was sent to Top 40/Mainstream radio on November 8.. The next single in the US will be "Gotta Have It", it will impact U.S. Urban radio on December 6, 2011.
s. At Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted mean
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 75, based on 39 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Steve Jones of USA Today
praised the rappers' "chemistry" and wrote that it "allows each to carve out his own stylistic space, with Jay-Z coolly delivering his incisive lyrical darts, while the more emotional West thrives on adrenaline-fueled punchlines." Nathan Rabin
of The A.V. Club
commented that "exhilarating messiness and go-for-broke spontaneity infect Jay-Z and push him outside his comfort zone and into a realm of intense emotional reflection." Alexis Petridis
of The Guardian
stated, "If [it]'s musical direction seems like West's work, it's worth noting that Jay-Z has the better lyrics." Pitchfork Media
's Tom Breihan commented that the album "works best when Jay and Kanye are just talking about how great they are," adding that "Kanye is this album's obvious guiding force. [...] He displays levels of unequaled audacity." Claire Suddath of Time
complimented the lyrics' social commentary and "opulence," calling it "a beautifully decadent album by two of hip-hop's finest artists — men with a lot of things to say and a lot of money to spend." Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph
praised West's "attention to detail" and found their "wit and absurdity [...] entirely suited to the epic scale of productions." Kitty Empire
of The Observer
stated, "Some find this sort of branded gloating distasteful, but at their best both rappers can still make you laugh."
Despite noting "a relative lack of structural variety within the songs," Los Angeles Times
writer Randall Roberts found its production "captivating" and called the album "a cocksure, fiery, smart, if problematic, collaboration that showcases the pair's distinct lyrical skills." Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe
stated, "They still sound like two solo rappers. But there’s an undeniable synergy that they embraced for this project." Jayson Rodriguez of XXL
called the album "incredibly ambitious, yet dexterous" and commended its producers for "skillfully lay down a musical foundation that makes it easy to dance to and not be worn down by the, at times, didactic messages." Slant Magazine
's Matthew Cole praised West's "powerhouse production" and called it an album "that requires you to tolerate the artists' self-mythologizing and put up with their sometimes awkward attempts at experimentation." Despite noting a "lack of thematic consistency," David Amidon of PopMatters
commended "the entire conceit of the album’s framework" and added that it "succeeds [...] in giving us both sides of both artists—the braggadocio and the social consciousness—in nearly equal measure." Sputnikmusic
's Tyler Fisher noted "a lack of focus," but called it "a mess of an album that sounds too good to hate." Allmusic editor Andy Kellman called it "an audacious spectacle of vacuous pomposity as well as one of tremendous lyrical depth."
However, Chicago Tribune
writer Greg Kot
noted a "sometimes difficult partnership" and criticized Jay-Z's and West's "self-regard" in their lyrics, stating "they urge listeners to 'watch the throne,' and gaze in awe on their good fortune." Andy Gill of The Independent
found their rapping "pretty mediocre" and stated, "Too often here their complacent, back-slapping laxity leaves tracks floundering." Entertainment Weekly
s Kyle Anderson viewed that they lack chemistry together and commented that much of the album "sounds cluttered and disjointed." Rolling Stone
writer Jody Rosen
complimented West's production and Jay-Z's "emotional depth," but stated, "on a record this ambitious, this sonically bold, it's a shame two of music's greatest storytellers don't extend their gaze beyond their own luxe lives." Rob Harvilla of Spin
commented that "fame and wealth and pissed greatness [...] permeate[s] everything" and called the album "garish and glorious, exquisite and exasperating." BBC Music
's Marcus J. Moore perceived "a conflicted tug-of-war between the two" and called the album "a very noble attempt at cohesion, but its inconsistency ultimately stalls the project, resulting in an uneven recording that buckles under the weight of its own pressure." Sasha Frere-Jones
of The New Yorker
stated, "Weed the album down to a healthy ten, and [it] doesn’t become either classic or coherent, but it does work as an entertaining document of two wildly creative, not particularly wound-up friends." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
commented that "as a whole it’s not totally legible; there are too many ideas," calling it "an album with several phenomenal moments, even if it doesn’t quite add up to a phenomenal album."
chart, with first-week sales of 436,000 copies in the United States. It serves as Jay-Z's 12th number-one album and West's fifth number-one album in the US. Its debut week serves as the second highest debut week of 2011, while its first week digital sales of 321,000 downloads serve as the second highest one-week sales tally in digital history. The album had the biggest one-week digital tally ever for a rap album and broke the United States iTunes Store
's one-week sales record when it sold nearly 290,000 downloads in the first week via the retailer. It also reached number one on Billboard
s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
and Top Rap Albums
charts. The album remained at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold 177,000 copies in its second week. It sold 94,000 copies in its third week. In its fourth week, the album sold 80,000 copies. On September 15, 2011, Watch the Throne was certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), for shipments of one million copies in the US. As of November 27, 2011, the album had sold 1,103,900 copies in the United States.
In Canada, the album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart
, selling 25,000 copies in its first week. In its second week, it remained at number one on the chart and sold 15,900 copies. In Australia, it peaked at number two on the ARIA Top 50 Albums
. By September 2011, the album had shipped 35,000 copies in Australia.
s for Best Rap Album
and Best Recording Package
, set to be presented at the 54th Grammy Awards
in 2012. The song "Otis" was nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance
and Best Rap Song
. Q
ranked the album number six in its list of the Top 50 Albums of 2011.
(co.) denotes co-producer.
(add.) denotes additional production.
Sample credits
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American rappers Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
and Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
, released on August 8, 2011, by Roc-A-Fella Records
Roc-A-Fella Records
Roc-A-Fella Records is a record label founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Island Def Jam Motown Music Group.-Formation and Early Years:...
, Roc Nation
Roc Nation
Roc Nation is an American management, music publishing and entertainment company founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter.-History:In April 2008, Live Nation partnered with Jay-Z to create Roc Nation...
, and Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
. Recording sessions for the album took place at various recording locations and began in November 2010. It was produced by West, 88 Keys, RZA
RZA
Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA , is an American Grammy-winning music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, emcee, and occasional actor, director, and screenwriter. A prominent figure in Hip Hop, RZA is the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has produced almost...
, Swizz Beatz
Swizz Beatz
Kasseem Dean , better known by his stage name, Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, DJ, rapper and painter. At the age of 17, he gained attention in the hip-hop world through his friendship with rapper DMX. Grady Spivey and rapper Cassidy helped launch his label Full Surface Records...
, Jeff Bhasker, and Mike Dean
Mike Dean (producer)
Mike Dean is an American hip-hop producer. He is known for pioneering the "Dirty South" sound in the 1990s, particularly in work for artists from Rap-A-Lot Records. Dean has most notably worked alongside Scarface of the Geto Boys, 2Pac, Do or Die, Tha Dogg Pound, Yukmouth of the Luniz, Outlawz,...
, among others. Expanding on the dense production style of West's 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch the Throne incorporates orchestral and progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
influences, unconventional samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, and dramatic melodies in its sound. Jay-Z and West's braggadocio
Braggadocio (rap)
Braggadocio is a type of rapping where the MC is "bragging and boasting" and can include subjects such as physicality, fighting ability, sexual prowess, or coolness...
lyrics on the album exhibit themes of opulence, fame, materialism, power, and the burdens of success, as well as political and socioeconomic
Socioeconomics
Socioeconomics or socio-economics or social economics is an umbrella term with different usages. 'Social economics' may refer broadly to the "use of economics in the study of society." More narrowly, contemporary practice considers behavioral interactions of individuals and groups through social...
context.
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, selling 436,000 copies its first week. It produced five singles, including the international hit "Otis
Otis (song)
"Otis" is a single by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaboration album Watch the Throne, and is the fourth song on the tracklist. The song's existence, along with several other tracks from the album, was confirmed during a listening session hosted by Jay-Z on July 7. It was also...
" and Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
hits "H•A•M
H•A•M
"H•A•M" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, released as the first single from their collaboration album Watch the Throne. It debuted at #23 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was released as a digital download on iTunes on January 11, 2011. It was produced by Lexus "Lex Luger" Lewis...
" and "Niggas in Paris
Niggas in Paris
"Niggas in Paris" is a song by American rappers Kanye West and Jay-Z, released as the fourth single from their collaboration album Watch the Throne. It debuted at #75 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the week of the album's release...
". Upon its release, Watch the Throne received generally positive reviews from music critics, who commended its production and the rappers' performances, although some criticized the subject matter and the album's cohesiveness. Jay-Z and West are currently promoting the album with a concert tour
Watch the Throne Tour
The Watch The Throne Tour is an ongoing North American concert tour by American rappers Kanye West and Jay-Z. It began on October 28, 2011, in Atlanta at the Philips Arena and will continue until mid December with its final show scheduled in Vancouver on December 2011...
that spans October to December 2011. The album has been certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
and, as of November 2011, has sold 1,103,900 copies in the United States.
Background
Jay-Z and Kanye West had first worked together on the former's 2000 song "This Can't Be Life", which was produced by West, and on Jay-Z's 2001 album The BlueprintThe Blueprint
The Blueprint is the sixth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released September 11, 2001 on Roc-A-Fella Records in the United States. Its release was set a week earlier than initially planned in order to combat bootlegging. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2001 at Manhattan...
, which showcased West's style of hip hop production
Hip hop production
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it's most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip hop. This means that hip hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work...
at the time. West's early production work on Jay-Z's music helped raise his profile in the music industry. Subsequent collaborative work by the two included further production work by West for Jay-Z and collaborations on singles such as "Swagga Like Us
Swagga Like Us
"Swagga Like Us" is a song by rappers T.I. and Jay-Z, released as the second single from T.I.'s sixth studio album, Paper Trail. It was slated to appear on Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3; however he later confirmed all songs with Auto-Tune were removed from the album. It was released on September 6, 2008....
", "Run This Town
Run This Town
"Run This Town" is a 2009 song performed by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West. The song features Rihanna. The track was produced by Kanye West alongside No I.D. It is released as the second single of Jay-Z's eleventh studio album The Blueprint 3...
", and "Monster". Originally intended to be a five-track EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
by Jay-Z and West, Watch the Throne was revealed by West to be a full-length album in an October 2010 interview for MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. He said in the interview that they planned to record in the south of France
Southern France
Southern France , colloquially known as le Midi is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy...
.
Recording
Recording sessions for the album took place at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, Barford Estate in Sydney, Australia, Electric Lady StudiosElectric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios, at 52 West 8th Street, in New York City's Greenwich Village, is a recording studio originally built by Jimi Hendrix and designed by John Storyk in 1970...
, The Mercer Hotel, MSR Studios, and Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York, New York, Le Meurice
Hotel Meurice
Le Meurice is a 5-star hotel in Paris, located opposite the Tuileries Garden, between Place de la Concorde and the Musée du Louvre. This hotel is owned and managed by the Dorchester Collection...
in Paris, France, and Real World Studios
Real World Studios
Real World Studios is a residential recording studio in Box, Wiltshire, England associated with the Real World Records Ltd. record label founded by rock musician Peter Gabriel...
in Wiltshire, England. Production for the album began in November in England and continued during available times in Jay-Z's and West's respective schedules at recording locations in Australia, Paris, Abu Dhabi, New York City, and Los Angeles. In an interview for Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, Jay-Z said that they often recorded in hotel rooms and that the album went through three iterations, as he and West had scaled back from their original musical direction for the album. He also noted difficulties in the recording process, including arguments with West regarding their direction. The album's earlier sessions produced little material that made the final cut.
In January 2011, they regrouped and rented a block of rooms at the Mercer Hotel in New York City and invited a select group of producers and recording artists. Chauncey "Hit-Boy" Hollis, who produced the track "Niggas in Paris", said of recording at the hotel, "There was music going on in every room. I had a room where I was cranking out beats, and then I’d go into the main room with Jay and [Kanye] and play beats for them. Kanye is really hands-on. I would come in with a beat and he’d be like, ‘Take this out, slow it down.’ It would make it sound 100 times better. Jay would then mumble different flows to the beat." Parts of the album were also recorded in New York City's Tribeca Grand Hotel. In an interview for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Jay-Z discussed their insistence on recording in person and attributed it to the delay in releasing the album, stating "If we were gonna do it, we were gonna do it together. No mailing it in." The album was mastered
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
by producer Mike Dean
Mike Dean (producer)
Mike Dean is an American hip-hop producer. He is known for pioneering the "Dirty South" sound in the 1990s, particularly in work for artists from Rap-A-Lot Records. Dean has most notably worked alongside Scarface of the Geto Boys, 2Pac, Do or Die, Tha Dogg Pound, Yukmouth of the Luniz, Outlawz,...
at the Mercer Hotel.
Jay-Z and West worked with several guest recording artists, including Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
, Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean
Christopher Francis Ocean , better known by his stage name Frank Ocean, is an American singer-songwriter and rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a member of OFWGKTA.-2005-2010: Career beginnings:...
, and Mr Hudson. "No Church in the Wild", the last song recorded for the album, was conceived by Jay-Z, West, and the song's producer 88-Keys throughout most of June. Producer and recording artist The-Dream
The-Dream
Terius Youngdell Nash , better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for co-writing "Umbrella" for Rihanna and "Single Ladies " for Beyoncé, as well as for his three solo albums, Love Hate, Love vs...
sings a verse on the track using AutoTune. Additional vocalists Elly Jackson
Elly Jackson
Eleanor Kate "Elly" Jackson is an English singer-songwriter and the lead singer of the electropop duo La Roux. She is well known for her red hair and androgynous style.-Biography:...
, Connie Mitchell
Connie Mitchell
Connie Mitchell is an Australian pop singer and the lead vocalist with the Sydney band Sneaky Sound System. She appears on the band's singles "Pictures", "I Love It", "UFO", "Goodbye", "Kansas City", "When We Were Young", "16" and "We Love"...
, and Justin Vernon provide the hook
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
on "That's My Bitch". Swizz Beatz
Swizz Beatz
Kasseem Dean , better known by his stage name, Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, DJ, rapper and painter. At the age of 17, he gained attention in the hip-hop world through his friendship with rapper DMX. Grady Spivey and rapper Cassidy helped launch his label Full Surface Records...
, who produced "Welcome to the Jungle", also provided background vocals to the track, and Kid Cudi
Kid Cudi
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi , better known by his stage name Kid Cudi , sometimes stylized KiD CuDi, is an American rapper, singer and actor. He first gained major attention after the release of his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. In 2009, his single "Day 'n' Nite" reached the top five of the...
contributed additional vocals to "The Joy" and "Illest Motherfucker Alive", bonus tracks on the album's deluxe edition.
Music and style
Julian Benbow of The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
writes that the album's music is as "massive, dour, and relentlessly unconventional" as that of West's previous 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Music writer Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
describes West's production as "a funkier and less ornate variant of the prog
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
-rap of 2010's acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". Music journalist Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen is an American journalist and author. He is the music critic for the online magazine Slate, and the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song....
characterizes the music as "vast, dark and booming," commenting that West "continues in the sonic vein he introduced in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, lacing the songs with rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
dynamics, layering his beats with eerie vocal chorales, piling on proggy flourishes." Conversely, Matthew Cole of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
finds West's "knack for dramatic, melodically sophisticated tracks [...] channeled away from the Olympian scale" of his previous album "and toward the more commercial vein of Jay-Z's recent work," which he attributes to West splitting production work with several other producers. On the songs' structure, Cole states, "every track eschews the standard verse-hook-repeat format in favor of more dynamic material."
Music journalist Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
comments that the album incorporates "unlikely sample
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
s." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
writes that the album's production "can be roughly segmented into three categories," noting "Southern-inflected tracks" such as "Niggas in Paris" and "H•A•M
H•A•M
"H•A•M" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, released as the first single from their collaboration album Watch the Throne. It debuted at #23 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was released as a digital download on iTunes on January 11, 2011. It was produced by Lexus "Lex Luger" Lewis...
", "moody and harsh numbers" like "Who Gon Stop Me" and "Why I Love You", and "the nostalgia that creeps over much of this album, giving it a sonic through-line and mission statement." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Tom Breihan perceives "pure orchestral excess" on some of its songs and describes the album's musical scope as "a tribute to [West's] distinctive taste and sense of style."
Lyrical themes
The album features themes of opulence, fame, materialism, power, and the burdens of success. Jay-Z's and West's lyrics include boasts of obscene wealth, self aggrandisement, grandiosity, and social commentary. SputnikmusicSputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
's Tyler Fisher describes Watch the Throne as "an album centered around larger-than-life egos." Andy Kellman of Allmusic characterizes much of the album's lyrical content as "ruthless flaunting of material wealth and carte blanche industry resources." Ross Green of Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as its mix tapes generator.-History:Originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and...
describes it as "luxury rap", noting Jay-Z's and West's "whimsy and braggadocio
Braggadocio (rap)
Braggadocio is a type of rapping where the MC is "bragging and boasting" and can include subjects such as physicality, fighting ability, sexual prowess, or coolness...
." Rob Harvilla of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
views that their lyrics express elitism
Elitism
Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals, who form an elite — a select group of people with intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...
, narcissism
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
, "relentless capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
," and "smug yet undeniable greatness." Music critic Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
views that the album is about "mutual admiration" and writes of the rappers' respective personas, "Jay-Z is about imperious flow, bridging his gritty past life on the streets with his current status as a cultural tastemaker and business mogul. [...] West is more desperate, transparent, awkward, vulnerable." Music critic Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin is an American film and music critic. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rabin was the first head writer for The A.V. Club, a position he continues to hold today....
states that Jay-Z and West "are a study in contrasts: the businessman and the bohemian, the faithful husband and the drugged-up playboy, the walking press release and the loose cannon. Jay-Z is tidy. Kanye is nothing but rough edges." Jon Caramanica writes similarly, "breaking [...] old barriers is a means to acceptance and stability" for Jay-Z, while "West sounds lonely" with his fame, adding that "For Mr. West every flash of Dionysian
Apollonian and Dionysian
The Apollonian and Dionysian is a philosophical and literary concept, or dichotomy, based on certain features of ancient Greek mythology. Several Western philosophical and literary figures have invoked this dichotomy in critical and creative works....
extreme is tempered by the realization of its hollowness." Robert Christgau noted "regal grandiosity" and "glory" as primary themes on the album. In his article "Brag Like That" for Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
, Christgau comments that "Jay-Z is a grown man and Kanye West is not" on the album and elaborates on their lyrics, stating:
Their lyrics also exhibit political and socioeconomic context. Jody Rosen writes that they "may be obsessed with their own king-size lives, but the tone here is serious, sober, weighty." Nitsuh Abebe of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
views that the album is "about the relationship of black American men to wealth, power, and success. [...] a portrait of two black men thinking through the idea of success in America." He compares the album to artist Yinka Shonibare
Yinka Shonibare
Yinka Shonibare, MBE, is a British-Nigerian artist living in the UK. He readily acknowledges physical disability as part of his identity but creates work in which this is just one strand of a far richer weave.-Life and career:...
's 1998 piece Diary of a Victorian Dandy, "in which the artist luxuriates in all the genteel pleasures of the time." Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
notes "musings on the spoils of riches and the chaos that accompanies it," adding that "[the] tension between worshiping the spirit and celebrating the bounty drives Watch the Throne [...] The record questions faith while clinging to heritage and family, places this moment in an historical context, wonders on the mystery, power and confusion of the gilded life — while rolling around in amulet
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
s." Writer Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire is the pen name of a British writer and music critic.Empire was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 and brought up in Canada, Italy and Egypt before arriving in Britain in 1988....
interprets it to be about "black power [...] conceived as a swaggering taunt of achievement, in line with both men's previous works, which routinely double as shopping guides. [...] [T]hey need to humanise all the conspicuous consumption." Claire Suddath of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
views that the rappers' "bacchanal
Bacchanalia
The bacchanalia were wild and mystic festivals of the Greco-Roman god Bacchus , the wine god. The term has since come to describe any form of drunken revelry.-History:...
celebration of the finer things in life" is secondary to the theme of "two men grappling with what it means to be successful and black in a nation that still thinks of them as second class
Second-class citizen
Second-class citizen is an informal term used to describe a person who is systematically discriminated against within a state or other political jurisdiction, despite their nominal status as a citizen or legal resident there...
."
Content
"Lift Off" features baroqueBaroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
strings and a chorus sung by Beyoncé. "Niggas in Paris" incorporates staccato
Staccato
Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...
orchestration, fizzing industrial noise, a sampling of dialogue from the 2007 film Blades of Glory
Blades of Glory
Blades of Glory is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The movie was released on March 29, 2007 by DreamWorks and MTV Films...
. "Otis" samples Otis Redding's 1966 song "Try a Little Tenderness
Try a Little Tenderness
"Try a Little Tenderness" is a love song written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods, and recorded initially on December 8, 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra followed by both Ruth Etting and Bing Crosby in 1933...
", manipulating it into a rhythm track with Redding's vocals and grunts. "Gotta Have It", produced by The Neptunes
The Neptunes
The Neptunes are a record production duo consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who are credited with contributing the sound for many successful hip hop, R&B and pop artists in the late-1990s and 2000s...
, incorporates chopped-up James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
vocal samples and Eastern flute melodies. On "New Day", they address future sons about fame. It references the line "me and the RZA connect" from Raekwon
Raekwon
Corey Woods , better known by the stage name Raekwon, is an American rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He released his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... in 1995, and has since recorded four solo albums, as well as work with Wu-Tang and an extensive amount of guest contributions with...
's 1995 song "Incarcerated Scarfaces", which was also produced by RZA. The track incorporates a sample of Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
's 1965 song "Feeling Good
Feeling Good
"Feeling Good" is a song written by English singer-songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd starring Cy Grant, who sang the original version of the song...
" through an Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
voice processor.
On "Welcome to the Jungle", Jay-Z laments personal losses and overcoming struggles. "Who Gon Stop Me" features bombastic production and samples Flux Pavilion
Flux Pavilion
Joshua Steele, known professionally as Flux Pavilion, is an English dubstep producer and DJ. He is the co-founder of Circus Records, along with Doctor P and DJ Swan-E. He is best known for his 2011 single "Bass Cannon", which peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart, and was placed on the Radio...
's 2011 song "I Can't Stop". "Murder to Excellence" addresses black-on-black crime
Race and crime in the United States
The relationship between race and crime in the United States has been a topic of public controversy and scholarly debate for more than a century...
and limited social mobility
Social mobility
Social mobility refers to the movement of people in a population from one social class or economic level to another. It typically refers to vertical mobility -- movement of individuals or groups up from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marrying; but can also refer to...
for African Americans. "Made in America" has themes of family life and the American Dream
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
, with Jay-Z and West discussing their respective rises to fame, while acknowledging those who helped and inspired them. "Why I Love You" has Jay-Z lamenting betrayal and how his past protégés failed to maintain without him.
Release and promotion
The album was released by Roc-A-Fella RecordsRoc-A-Fella Records
Roc-A-Fella Records is a record label founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Island Def Jam Motown Music Group.-Formation and Early Years:...
, Roc Nation
Roc Nation
Roc Nation is an American management, music publishing and entertainment company founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter.-History:In April 2008, Live Nation partnered with Jay-Z to create Roc Nation...
, and Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
, Jay-Z's and West's respective record labels. On July 4, it was made available to pre-order on Life + Times, Jay-Z's lifestyle webzine, which redirected to Island Def Jam's website page that featured the album's deluxe version available for $16.99, standard CD for $13.99, a deluxe digital version for $14.99, and standard digital album for $11.99. On July 22, its pre-order was made available on the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
. The album was released digitally on August 8 exclusively through iTunes, while its physical release was made available on August 12. Its deluxe CD edition will be sold exclusively by Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
through August 23, when it will be available at other retailers. The sales strategy for the album received criticism from other music retailers, who accused the record labels of giving preferential treatment to iTunes and Best Buy. One of the most anticipated albums in 2011, Watch the Throne became one of the few major label albums in the Internet age to avoid a leak
Internet leak
An Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential information is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic works such...
.
On July 7, Jay-Z hosted a private listening session at the Mercer Hotel in New York City, previewing the album's songs from his MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro is a line of Macintosh portable computers introduced in January 2006 by Apple. It replaced the PowerBook G4 and was the second model, after the iMac, to be announced in the Apple–Intel transition...
for a select group of reporters and music journalists. It was also exclusive to two teenage fans who had won access to the session for being the first two people to pre-order the album through Jay-Z's Life + Times website. The album's cover and artwork, both designed by Italian designer Riccardo Tisci
Riccardo Tisci
Riccardo Tisci is an Italian fashion designer. He graduated from London's Central Saint Martins Academy in 1999, and in 2005 was named Creative Director for Givenchy womenswear and haute couture...
, were also premiered at the session. Benjamin Meadows-Ingrim of Billboard, who attended the session, said of the previewed material, "The songs were dramatic and boastful, with Jay-Z often taking the lead lyrically, and the collection showcased the differences between the two artists - Jay-Z, the technical marksman, and Kanye, the emotive chest beater." On August 1, Jay-Z and West held a listening session for the album at the Rose Center for Earth and Space
Rose Center for Earth and Space
The Rose Center for Earth and Space is a part of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The Center's complete name is The Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space. The main entrance is located on the northern side of the museum on 81st Street near...
in New York City's American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
. The session premiered the album in its entirety and featured attendance from journalists, models, industry types, and recording artists such as Busta Rhymes
Busta Rhymes
Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes ,Smith is an American rapper, producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the alias Busta Rhymes after NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes...
, 88-Keys, and Beyoncé Knowles.
Jay-Z and West are currently promoting Watch the Throne with a 24-date, North American concert tour
Watch the Throne Tour
The Watch The Throne Tour is an ongoing North American concert tour by American rappers Kanye West and Jay-Z. It began on October 28, 2011, in Atlanta at the Philips Arena and will continue until mid December with its final show scheduled in Vancouver on December 2011...
produced by Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
, beginning on October 29 and concluding on December 18.
Singles
Following West's announcement via his Twitter account, "H•A•MH•A•M
"H•A•M" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, released as the first single from their collaboration album Watch the Throne. It debuted at #23 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was released as a digital download on iTunes on January 11, 2011. It was produced by Lexus "Lex Luger" Lewis...
" was officially released as a digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
on January 11. It charted at number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100. On July 20, "Otis
Otis (song)
"Otis" is a single by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaboration album Watch the Throne, and is the fourth song on the tracklist. The song's existence, along with several other tracks from the album, was confirmed during a listening session hosted by Jay-Z on July 7. It was also...
" was premiered on Funkmaster Flex
Funkmaster Flex
Aston George Taylor, Jr. better known as Funkmaster Flex is an American hip hop DJ, rapper, musician and producer on New York City's Hot 97 radio station and host of the hit MTV show Funk Flex Full Throttle....
's Hot 97 radio show and subsequently leaked to the Internet. It was sent to rhythmic contemporary
Rhythmic Contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as rhythmic top 40, rhythmic contemporary hit radio or rhythmic crossover, is a music radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary rarely uses rock music or country music in its airplay, but it may...
and urban contemporary
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
radio on August 9. Its cover art was created by Riccardo Tisci. "Otis" reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. A music video for the song was filmed by director Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...
in Los Angeles. "Lift Off" was sent to US urban radio on August 23. On September 13, "Why I Love You" was sent to US rhythmic radio, and "Niggas in Paris" was sent to both rhythmic and urban radio and has since peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Niggas in Paris" was sent to Top 40/Mainstream radio on November 8.. The next single in the US will be "Gotta Have It", it will impact U.S. Urban radio on December 6, 2011.
Critical response
Watch the Throne received generally positive reviews from music criticMusic criticism
See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this...
s. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted mean
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 75, based on 39 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Steve Jones of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
praised the rappers' "chemistry" and wrote that it "allows each to carve out his own stylistic space, with Jay-Z coolly delivering his incisive lyrical darts, while the more emotional West thrives on adrenaline-fueled punchlines." Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin is an American film and music critic. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rabin was the first head writer for The A.V. Club, a position he continues to hold today....
of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
commented that "exhilarating messiness and go-for-broke spontaneity infect Jay-Z and push him outside his comfort zone and into a realm of intense emotional reflection." Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
stated, "If [it]'s musical direction seems like West's work, it's worth noting that Jay-Z has the better lyrics." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Tom Breihan commented that the album "works best when Jay and Kanye are just talking about how great they are," adding that "Kanye is this album's obvious guiding force. [...] He displays levels of unequaled audacity." Claire Suddath of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
complimented the lyrics' social commentary and "opulence," calling it "a beautifully decadent album by two of hip-hop's finest artists — men with a lot of things to say and a lot of money to spend." Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
praised West's "attention to detail" and found their "wit and absurdity [...] entirely suited to the epic scale of productions." Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire is the pen name of a British writer and music critic.Empire was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 and brought up in Canada, Italy and Egypt before arriving in Britain in 1988....
of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
stated, "Some find this sort of branded gloating distasteful, but at their best both rappers can still make you laugh."
Despite noting "a relative lack of structural variety within the songs," Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer Randall Roberts found its production "captivating" and called the album "a cocksure, fiery, smart, if problematic, collaboration that showcases the pair's distinct lyrical skills." Julian Benbow of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
stated, "They still sound like two solo rappers. But there’s an undeniable synergy that they embraced for this project." Jayson Rodriguez of XXL
XXL (magazine)
XXL is a Hip-Hop magazine, published by Harris Publications.In 1997, XXL was founded by former Source staffers as well as other Harris Publication employees, who wanted to create their own magazine about the hip-hop music and culture using the model developed by the founders of The Source...
called the album "incredibly ambitious, yet dexterous" and commended its producers for "skillfully lay down a musical foundation that makes it easy to dance to and not be worn down by the, at times, didactic messages." Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
's Matthew Cole praised West's "powerhouse production" and called it an album "that requires you to tolerate the artists' self-mythologizing and put up with their sometimes awkward attempts at experimentation." Despite noting a "lack of thematic consistency," David Amidon of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
commended "the entire conceit of the album’s framework" and added that it "succeeds [...] in giving us both sides of both artists—the braggadocio and the social consciousness—in nearly equal measure." Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
's Tyler Fisher noted "a lack of focus," but called it "a mess of an album that sounds too good to hate." Allmusic editor Andy Kellman called it "an audacious spectacle of vacuous pomposity as well as one of tremendous lyrical depth."
However, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
writer Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
noted a "sometimes difficult partnership" and criticized Jay-Z's and West's "self-regard" in their lyrics, stating "they urge listeners to 'watch the throne,' and gaze in awe on their good fortune." Andy Gill of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
found their rapping "pretty mediocre" and stated, "Too often here their complacent, back-slapping laxity leaves tracks floundering." Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s Kyle Anderson viewed that they lack chemistry together and commented that much of the album "sounds cluttered and disjointed." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
writer Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen is an American journalist and author. He is the music critic for the online magazine Slate, and the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song....
complimented West's production and Jay-Z's "emotional depth," but stated, "on a record this ambitious, this sonically bold, it's a shame two of music's greatest storytellers don't extend their gaze beyond their own luxe lives." Rob Harvilla of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
commented that "fame and wealth and pissed greatness [...] permeate[s] everything" and called the album "garish and glorious, exquisite and exasperating." BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
's Marcus J. Moore perceived "a conflicted tug-of-war between the two" and called the album "a very noble attempt at cohesion, but its inconsistency ultimately stalls the project, resulting in an uneven recording that buckles under the weight of its own pressure." Sasha Frere-Jones
Sasha Frere-Jones
Sasha Frere-Jones is an American writer, music critic, and musician. He has written for Pretty Decorating, ego trip, Hit It And Quit It, Mean, Slant, The New York Post, The Wire, The Village Voice, Slate, Spin, and The New York Times...
of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
stated, "Weed the album down to a healthy ten, and [it] doesn’t become either classic or coherent, but it does work as an entertaining document of two wildly creative, not particularly wound-up friends." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
commented that "as a whole it’s not totally legible; there are too many ideas," calling it "an album with several phenomenal moments, even if it doesn’t quite add up to a phenomenal album."
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, with first-week sales of 436,000 copies in the United States. It serves as Jay-Z's 12th number-one album and West's fifth number-one album in the US. Its debut week serves as the second highest debut week of 2011, while its first week digital sales of 321,000 downloads serve as the second highest one-week sales tally in digital history. The album had the biggest one-week digital tally ever for a rap album and broke the United States iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
's one-week sales record when it sold nearly 290,000 downloads in the first week via the retailer. It also reached number one on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
and Top Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004....
charts. The album remained at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold 177,000 copies in its second week. It sold 94,000 copies in its third week. In its fourth week, the album sold 80,000 copies. On September 15, 2011, Watch the Throne was certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA), for shipments of one million copies in the US. As of November 27, 2011, the album had sold 1,103,900 copies in the United States.
In Canada, the album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...
, selling 25,000 copies in its first week. In its second week, it remained at number one on the chart and sold 15,900 copies. In Australia, it peaked at number two on the ARIA Top 50 Albums
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
. By September 2011, the album had shipped 35,000 copies in Australia.
Accolades
Watch the Throne was nominated for Grammy AwardGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s for Best Rap Album
Grammy Award for Best Rap Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
and Best Recording Package
Grammy Award for Best Recording Package
The Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is one of a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album, not to the performer, except if the performer is also the art director....
, set to be presented at the 54th Grammy Awards
54th Grammy Awards
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It will be broadcasted on CBS. Nominations were announced on November 30, 2011 on prime-time television as part of "The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music's Biggest Night", a...
in 2012. The song "Otis" was nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance
Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance was an honor presented to recording artists at the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989 and the 32nd Grammy Awards in 1990 and again from 2012 for quality rap performances...
and Best Rap Song
Grammy Award for Best Rap Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song was first awarded in 2004. It is a songwriting award given to all who wrote the lyrics and music of the song. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year...
. Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
ranked the album number six in its list of the Top 50 Albums of 2011.
Track listing
Notes(co.) denotes co-producer.
(add.) denotes additional production.
Sample credits
- "No Church in the Wild" contains samples from "K Scope" as performed by Phil ManzaneraPhil ManzaneraPhil Manzanera is a musician and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music. In 2006 Manzanera co-produced David Gilmour's album On An Island and played in Gilmour's band for tours in Europe and North America...
, "Sunshine Help Me" as performed by Spooky ToothSpooky ToothSpooky Tooth are an English rock band principally active, with intermittent breakups, between 1967 to 1974. In recent years, the band has been reconstituted at various points, and continues to perform occasionally.-Career:...
and "Don't Tell a Lie About Me and I Won't Tell the Truth About You" as performed by James BrownJames BrownJames Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
. - "Niggas in Paris" contains samples from the Reverend W.A. Donaldson recording "Baptizing Scene" and dialogue between Will FerrellWill FerrellJohn William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
and Jon HederJon HederJonathan Joseph "Jon" Heder is an American screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. His feature film debut came in 2004 as the title character of the comedy film Napoleon Dynamite...
in the film Blades of GloryBlades of GloryBlades of Glory is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The movie was released on March 29, 2007 by DreamWorks and MTV Films...
. - "OtisOtis (song)"Otis" is a single by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaboration album Watch the Throne, and is the fourth song on the tracklist. The song's existence, along with several other tracks from the album, was confirmed during a listening session hosted by Jay-Z on July 7. It was also...
" contains samples from "Try a Little TendernessTry a Little Tenderness"Try a Little Tenderness" is a love song written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods, and recorded initially on December 8, 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra followed by both Ruth Etting and Bing Crosby in 1933...
" as performed by Otis ReddingOtis ReddingOtis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, "Don't Tell a Lie About Me and I Won't Tell the Truth About You" by James BrownJames BrownJames Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
. - "Gotta Have It" contains samples from "Don't Tell a Lie About Me and I Won't Tell the Truth About You," "People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul" and "My Thang" as performed by James BrownJames BrownJames Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
. - "New Day" contains samples from "Feeling GoodFeeling Good"Feeling Good" is a song written by English singer-songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd starring Cy Grant, who sang the original version of the song...
" as performed by Nina SimoneNina SimoneEunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
and "My World" by Alex Gilbert. - "That's My Bitch" contains samples from "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" as performed by James BrownJames BrownJames Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
and "Apache" by Incredible Bongo BandIncredible Bongo BandThe Incredible Bongo Band, also known as Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, was a project started in 1972 by Michael Viner, a record artist manager and executive at MGM Records. Viner was called on to supplement the soundtrack to the virtually anonymous B film The Thing With Two Heads. The...
. - "Welcome to the Jungle" contains samples from "They All Get Mad At You" as performed by Atmosphere (music group)Atmosphere (music group)Atmosphere is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group is composed of rapper Slug and DJ/Producer Ant...
- "Who Gon Stop Me" contains samples from "I Can't Stop" as performed by Flux PavilionFlux PavilionJoshua Steele, known professionally as Flux Pavilion, is an English dubstep producer and DJ. He is the co-founder of Circus Records, along with Doctor P and DJ Swan-E. He is best known for his 2011 single "Bass Cannon", which peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart, and was placed on the Radio...
. - "Murder to Excellence" contains samples from "La La La" as performed by IndiggoIndiggoIndiggo is the stage name of the identical twin sisters Gabriela and Mihaela Modorcea. Together they are professional actresses, singers, writers, songwriters. They were born in Romania on June 7. The roots of their family are in Transylvania, and they are also known as Dracula's Girls...
and "Celie Shaves Mr.Scarification" as performed by Quincy JonesQuincy JonesQuincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
. - "Why I Love You" contains samples from "I Love You So" as performed by CassiusCassius (band)Cassius is a French house music duo, consisting of producers Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francart, better known as Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass.-History:...
. - "Primetime" contains samples from "Action" as performed by Orange Krush.
- "The Joy" contains samples from "The Makings of You (Live)" as performed by Curtis MayfieldCurtis MayfieldCurtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
and "Different Strokes" as performed by Syl JohnsonSyl JohnsonSyl Johnson is an American blues and soul singer and record producer.-Biography:Born Sylvester Thompson in Holly Springs, Mississippi, United States, Johnson sang and played with blues artists Magic Sam, Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf in the 1950s, before recording with Jimmy Reed...
. - "Illest Motherfucker Alive" contains samples from "Titles" as performed by VangelisVangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
, the theme song to the 1981 film "Chariots of FireChariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
".
Album
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
2 |
| Australian Urban Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
1 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 12 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... |
16 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... |
7 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
1 |
| Danish Albums Chart Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
2 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
3 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 23 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
10 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
2 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
5 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
14 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 4 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
1 |
| Polish Albums Chart OLiS OLiS is the official list of the highest selling music albums in Poland. The list exists since October 23, 2000 and is provided by ZPAV.... |
21 |
| Scottish Albums Chart | 3 |
| South Korean Albums Chart Album Chart (Gaon Chart) The Gaon Album Chart are a set national charts that ranks the best-selling albums, including mini-albums and singles, in South Korea, provided by the Korea Music Content Industry Association. It started tracking sales since the beginning of 2010 and launched in February the same year as part of the... |
6 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 43 |
| Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
27 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
1 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
3 |
| UK Download Chart | 1 |
| UK R&B Albums Chart UK R&B Chart The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week... |
1 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
| US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
1 |
| US Billboard Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004.... |
1 |
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
US Rap Hot Rap Tracks Rap Songs is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations and sales in hip hop-focused or exclusive markets. From 1989 through 2001, it was based on how much the single... |
AUS ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
CAN Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
FRA Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
SWI Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
||||||
| "H•A•M H•A•M "H•A•M" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, released as the first single from their collaboration album Watch the Throne. It debuted at #23 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was released as a digital download on iTunes on January 11, 2011. It was produced by Lexus "Lex Luger" Lewis... " |
2011 | 23 | 24 | 15 | 78 | 47 | — | — | 30 | ||||
| "Otis Otis (song) "Otis" is a single by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaboration album Watch the Throne, and is the fourth song on the tracklist. The song's existence, along with several other tracks from the album, was confirmed during a listening session hosted by Jay-Z on July 7. It was also... " (featuring Otis Redding Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B... ) |
12 | 2 | 2 | 42 | 37 | 69 | 61 | 28 | |||||
| "Lift Off Lift Off (song) "Lift Off" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the song "is rescued by Beyoncé, who whips the chorus with a belt so powerful you'd think it insulted her mother." AllHipHop praised the song saying that it's an "epic anthem that... " (featuring Beyoncé Beyoncé Knowles Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child... ) |
121 | — | — | 81 | — | — | — | 48 | |||||
| "Niggas in Paris Niggas in Paris "Niggas in Paris" is a song by American rappers Kanye West and Jay-Z, released as the fourth single from their collaboration album Watch the Throne. It debuted at #75 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the week of the album's release... " |
16 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Why I Love You" (featuring Mr Hudson) |
— | — | — | — | — | 56 | 52 | 139 | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. | |||||||||||||
Certifications
| Country | Provider | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
Gold |
| Canada | CRIA Music Canada Music Canada was a Canadian music television miniseries which aired approximately monthly on CBC Television from 1966 to 1967.-Premise:This series featured various special productions of music and dance, from classical to modern styles.-Scheduling:... |
Platinum |
| United States | RIAA Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Platinum |
Release history
| Country | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | August 8, 2011 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
Roc-A-Fella Records Roc-A-Fella Records Roc-A-Fella Records is a record label founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon "Dame" Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Island Def Jam Motown Music Group.-Formation and Early Years:... , Roc Nation Roc Nation Roc Nation is an American management, music publishing and entertainment company founded by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter.-History:In April 2008, Live Nation partnered with Jay-Z to create Roc Nation... , Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group... |
| August 12, 2011 | CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
External links
- Watch the Throne at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Watch the Throne at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...