Watch The Throne

If you can forgive these self-satisfied rap titans their name-checking of Mark Rothko,Dries Van Noten and Miele,though,8221;Watch The Throne8221; has more on its mind. Celebration of the high life is undercut by regrets,loneliness,and snatches of mournful social commentary. Like West8217;s acclaimed solo effort last year,the album title reveals itself as both boastful and paranoid,proud and furtive. Watch us on top,they seem to say,but know that we don8217;t always like what we see from here _ both looking outward and in.

8221;Murder to Excellence8221; encapsulates the theme in a two-parter that shifts beats halfway through. West begins by quoting an old Jay-Z line _ 8221;I8217;m from the murder capital,where they murder for capital8221; _ to decry black-on-black violence in his hometown of Chicago. Jay-Z then describes ascending to 8221;the new black elite8221; with Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey. 8221;Only spot a few blacks the higher I go 8230; that ain8217;t enough. We gon8217; need a million more,8221; he raps.

Isolation infuses the Swizz Beats-produced 8221;Welcome to the Jungle,8221; where West drinks away his struggles: 8221;Just when I thought I had everything,I lost it all. So que sera. Get a case of Syrah,let it chase the pain.8221; Jay-Z places himself in the shoes of fellow musicians at their lowest points,linking Eminem,Michael Jackson,Pimp C,2Pac and more through coded couplets that reward repeat listening.

Even more dour is the RZA-produced 8221;New Day,8221; with odes to sons the two may eventually father. Over a plinking piano and Nina Simone sample,West flagellates himself for mistakes,from his choice in women to post-Katrina telethon appearance,noting: 8221;I8217;ll never let my son have an ego.8221; Jay-Z is even more direct: 8221;Sorry Junior,I already ruined ya,8217;cause you ain8217;t even alive,paparazzi pursuing ya.8221;

Oh,poor millionaire rappers. Go cry into your Armand de Brignac Champagne at your yacht parties,you may find yourself responding. But this type of intimacy and honesty doesn8217;t come easy _ or often enough _ in commercial hip-hop. West8217;s feverish,sometimes needy soul-baring has jolted the oft-aloof Jay-Z to attention,just as his sped-up soul samples did the first time they worked together,on 20018217;s classic 8221;The Blueprint.8221;

8221;Throne8221; is sometimes guilty of failing to let its lyrics breathe,as West and other producers drown out the duo8217;s rhymes with distracting vocal samples or ever-escalating arrhythmic electro beats. 8221;Who Gon Stop Me8221; is an ambitious but ultimately failed rap-dubstep mashup. The playful wordplay of 8221;Gotta Have It8221; gets lost in the Neptunes8217; multiple James Brown samples. Beyonce showcase 8221;Lift Off8221; wants to be a successor to West8217;s regal,star-studded 8221;All of the Lights8221; but feels incomplete,like it was ripped from an engineer8217;s hands to beat a deadline.

Moments of determined calm hit their target more effectively. Frank Ocean,part of the buzzy Los Angeles collective Odd Future,croons a soulful,effortless chorus on the gorgeous memoir 8221;Made In America,8221; an album highlight. He8217;s joined by The-Dream on the provocative album opener 8221;No Church In the Wild,8221; filled with striking images and poetry.

The 23-year-old Ocean8217;s presence signifies the 8221;Throne8217;s8221; attempt to blend old with new. Despite all the nods to hip-hop history _ 8221;Apache8221; and 8221;Top Billin8221; samples,quotes from Outkast and Wu-Tang _ the 34-year-old West and 41-year-old Jay-Z have crafted a bleeding-edge nontraditional hip-hop album. Over the course of 12 songs plus four bonus tracks in the deluxe edition West has pushed his 8221;big brother,8221; one of hip-hop8217;s few true legends,into riskier territory,sonically and lyrically,than he8217;s gone in many years.

Not including Jay-Z8217;s R. Kelly collaborations _ and really,the less said the better _ these hard-working rhyme partners have touched on their genre8217;s familiar aspirational themes repeatedly over the course of a combined 16 solo albums. On top,done counting their Basquiats and all-black Maybachs,they8217;re left to assess: What else is there?

CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: A subtle ebbing and swelling backbeat gives Jay-Z room for a staccato look back at his childhood in 8221;Made In America,8221; while Frank Ocean gives praise to black leaders on the album8217;s most memorable chorus.