Aug
12

Album Review: Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Watch the Throne”

Renato Pagnani writes his curses in Times New Roman. Watch the Throne is the product of two artists that have nothing left to do but buy more 16th-century Persian rugs and continue trying to acquire the very goblet that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Both Jay-Z and Kanye West are now part of… Continue reading »

Aug
09

“Look At Me”: An Oral History of Watch the Throne

Abe Beame hacked the email of a culture writer from GQ to bring you this from September’s issue. Sean “Jay-Z” Carter: I remember it was like four o’clock in the morning. I was in Hawaii like a year ago and I get this wild text from Kanye, I still have it in my phone, hold… Continue reading »

Jul
21

The Adventures of Millionaires and Otis: Jay-Z and Kanye Love Themselves Tender

You have to like this. I mean, it has the corpse of Otis Redding propped up like Bernie and it has JAY-Z!!! and KANYE WEST!!! and you can’t even write any of these men’s names without three exclamation points and ALL CAPS. This is a contractual thing and I don’t want to risk getting sued… Continue reading »

Jul
11

An Illuminati Insider’s Guide to Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Watch the Throne

Stolen by The What (Jeff Weiss, Sach O, Doc Zeus, Zilla Rocca, Douglas Martin,  Matt Shea, Jonah Bromwich) Track 1: THE SUN KINGS (Versailles, Fly or Die) (Co-Produced by No I.D., Hurby “Luv Bug,” Azor, Bushwick Bill, Lou Adler, & Kanye West) On “Monster,” Kanye tantalized and teased us with his bold images of stuffing… Continue reading »

Jan
12

The Curse of H.A.M: Whose Swine Will Survive Until Easter Sunday?

Scene 9- Annie Hall from logan lemberger on Vimeo. Because Kanye West and Jay-Z love Pill, but hate Hebrews, they have graced us with their latest single, “H.A.M.” We are ordered to hail to the throne, but some of us follow the scriptures of Supreme Clientele: “y’all know how we dine, but we don’t eat… Continue reading »

Jan
11

Sach O: Jay-Z & Kanye West – H.A.M

Sach O never ate ham, never gave a damn. I always warm up to Kanye West singles after a while but as of yet, this one leaves me pretty cold. Lex Lugor’s beat deviates slightly from his standard fare – same old southern hi-hats now with sampled orchestral stuff instead of synthesized orchestral stuff –… Continue reading »

Dec
06

DITDC: Jay-Z – In My Lifetime, Vol 1

 Sach O is the one that got away. “What I did with ‘[In My Lifetime] Volume One’ was I tried to make records. I had just made ‘Reasonable Doubt’ … it wasn’t successful in music industry terms. It was a cult classic on the streets, but it wasn’t successful in the music business and I… Continue reading »

Dec
03

Ten Things I Learned from Jay-Z’s Decoded

Jonah Bromwich decodes Decoded so you don’t have to. 1. I knew Marcy Projects wasn’t Mt. Holyoke before I started Decoded but three scenes from Jay’s old neighborhood really struck me. According to Jay, kids in Marcy would go up to “leaning nodders” (heroin addicts ) and push them off the benches they were sleeping… Continue reading »

Oct
30

Kanye West ft. Pete Rock, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Charlie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield, and The Great Pumpkin

Perhaps the first Good Friday track since “Monster” that I can co-sign wholeheartedly. Kanye and the original Curtis have been a winning combination since before Lupe was consistently a fiasco. The biggest whore since Horus kicks a few standard Yeezy verses which have become almost formulaic.  Clever puns breaking apart familiar words (planned parenthood) and… Continue reading »

Oct
14

Big L & Jay-Z – “Freestyle on Stretch and Bobbito”

So ahead of its time, its parents haven’t met yet. The long mythologized, nine and a half minute long freestyle on Stretch and Bobbito was just excavated Chilean-style, courtesy of the DJ Premier blog. Jay-Z and Big L in 1995, going in over the “Keep it Real” instrumental — better known now as the beat… Continue reading »

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