Watch the Throne

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if I said I’d listened to Watch the Throne seven or eight times already this week, because I have. I totally have. It’s good. Luke-warm reviews be damned.

One of my favorite things: this line from Jay-Z in “New Day,” where he throws a massive spoiler alert down a few weeks before the recently announced Beyoncé pregnancy.

Sorry junior/I already ruined ya/
Cause you ain’t even alive, paparazzi pursuin’ ya/
Sins of a father make your life ten times harder/

Also great: the Otis Redding samples in “Otis;” the fact that Jay-Z is 41; the RZA name-checking; even more hip-hop cameos from Bon Iver; the final step in Kayne’s transformation from smart-ass jerk to brooding dark asshole.

This was lovingly handwritten on August 30th, 2011