So, last night, I went to a planetarium in New York and got to hear the new Kanye and Jay-Z album…
There was a mysterious Eyes Wide Shut feeling to Monday night’s listening party for Kanye West and Jay-Z’s much-anticipated Watch the Throne collaborative album.
After handing over any and every device that could possibly record audio or video, an excited clump of writers, rappers, models, and nebulous industry types filed into the Rose Center for Earth and Space at New York’s Museum of Natural History for an hour and a half of sipping champagne, waiting, noshing (shouts to that potato-pancake thing with maple syrup or something on it), and more waiting. Then suddenly, everyone began climbing a staircase and moving towards an elevator, which took us to a dimly lit museum floor (illuminated only by TVs showing a Watch The Throne documentary). Finally, we were seated in Hayden Planetarium.
More and more guests flowed in, including hip-hop royalty (Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, Clipse’s Pusha T), some rap-nerd legends (Kanye co-producer and Rap-A-Lot sonic architect Mike Dean, Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg) and, yes, Beyonce. Kanye arrived early on, dressed kinda casual (flannel, jeans, big-ass chain) smiling, shaking hands, and grinning ear-to-ear, genuinely psyched to be there…
Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader?
having not yet heard Watch The Throne in its entirety, I’m still fixated on the “Otis” single. and there’s a great line in the song where Jay says “not bad, huh?… for some immigrants” and I think it speaks perfectly to what you write here: “in a ‘not everyone has it like this, and I feel fucked-up about that’ way…even tying it into African-American history.”
From what I remember, Jay is really good at throwing those sneaky, little, black-pride jabs in there somewhere and I’m glad that you noticed it in a select place(s) throughout this project.
Eric
3 Aug 11 at 10:56 am