The Throne

Kanye West and Jay-Z, the two most powerful forces in the mainstream rap game, dropped Watch The Throne in early August. On Otis Redding-sampling single “Otis,” West coins the new genre of “luxury rap,” an appropriate category for the album. “What’s 50 grand to a muthafucka like me, can you please remind me?” Jay asks on “Niggas In Paris.” It’s a celebration of opulence—a world where Maybachs, “other other Benzes,” Margielas, Basquiats, Manolos, and Louboutins are easily accessible, everyday items. But the kings seem awfully bored by it all, like when Earth makes Kanye’s “dick soft,” so they escape to the Moon on “Lift Off.” Ticket sales from this tour ostensibly go toward building that Icarusian spaceship. 

Updated 10/19/2011