The Throne ft. Otis Redding
Otis
Watch the Throne
Watch the Throne
At the beginning of the year we were treated to the rush-release of The Throne (the name assigned to the project consisting of Jay-Z & Kanye West) and the debut single "H.A.M. (Hard as a Mother****er). It debuted at number 30 in the UK Singles Chart, dropping like lead soon afterwards - not that it should come as a shock to anyone. Obviously the appeal of the project, the singles and the album is that Jay-Z and Kanye are both Gods respectively - but together it can surely only get better? H.A.M. was a tragic mess. It was negatively received and the song itself was both unnecessarily violent/bad-languaged and seemed to touch on topics including the Illuminati.
However, a few weeks back news of a second single began circulating the internet. The second single, entitled "Otis" is a big improvement on the mess of a lead single - even going as far to sample the late Otis Redding and the 1966 track 'Try a Little Tenderness'. As per usual, you can normally judge the direction of a song in the first 30 seconds - and with 'Otis' we are treated to a relaxing 25 seconds of soul singing before Jay-Z interrupts with the killer line 'Sounds so soulful, don't you agree?'. This collaboration works well on so many levels with Kanye and Jay swapping lines throughout the 3-minute long track. But I think the appeal of this track in particular is how consistent the usage of a sample is - we get to enjoy the scatting of Otis Redding over the course of the entire 3-minutes and are even treated to a piercing soul-scream at the end of the track.
I'm hoping the album released next week will follow more the direction of 'Otis' as opposed to 'H.A.M.' - I truly believe 'Otis' is some of the two rappers best work. I mean where else would Jay-Z produce the lyric: "Photoshop fresh, looking like wealth; I'm about to call the paparazzi on myself" and Kanye the lyric: "I made Jesus walk, so I ain't going to hell". Neither of these two need worry about going to hell - they are to forever walk the Earth as Gods of the music world (see below).
However, a few weeks back news of a second single began circulating the internet. The second single, entitled "Otis" is a big improvement on the mess of a lead single - even going as far to sample the late Otis Redding and the 1966 track 'Try a Little Tenderness'. As per usual, you can normally judge the direction of a song in the first 30 seconds - and with 'Otis' we are treated to a relaxing 25 seconds of soul singing before Jay-Z interrupts with the killer line 'Sounds so soulful, don't you agree?'. This collaboration works well on so many levels with Kanye and Jay swapping lines throughout the 3-minute long track. But I think the appeal of this track in particular is how consistent the usage of a sample is - we get to enjoy the scatting of Otis Redding over the course of the entire 3-minutes and are even treated to a piercing soul-scream at the end of the track.
I'm hoping the album released next week will follow more the direction of 'Otis' as opposed to 'H.A.M.' - I truly believe 'Otis' is some of the two rappers best work. I mean where else would Jay-Z produce the lyric: "Photoshop fresh, looking like wealth; I'm about to call the paparazzi on myself" and Kanye the lyric: "I made Jesus walk, so I ain't going to hell". Neither of these two need worry about going to hell - they are to forever walk the Earth as Gods of the music world (see below).
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