Watch the Throne

Yesterday Kanye and Jay-Z's new album Watch the Throne dropped and I don't know how I feel about it. I also don't know how I feel about the fact that I've become one of those people who use the word "dropped" in that context. Back to the album. I've listened to it twice now in its entirety and I've listened to a few tracks more than twice, and I have to say that overall, this album is not good. Maybe if it was the sophomore effort of some B-list rap duo that was only famous for that one super catchy single that was stuck in everyone's head last summer it would be acceptable, but this is freaking Jay-Z and Kanye mothafucking West. I expect more from them. The track "No Church in the Wild" is fantastic and I really love "Made in America", but, not to be over dramatic, "Otis" made me want to fly to London just so I could join in on the riots. It sounded like I was driving around in my car, listening to "Try a Little Tenderness" at a reasonable volume, and some dickbag pulled up next to me blaring his cousin's shitty rap demo album. It's fantastic that they wanted to pay tribute to the King of Soul, and I laud that effort, but rapping nonsense over his singing is not much of a tribute. It just sounds like they were listening to Otis in the studio and forgot to turn it off before they started recording. Ducky's lip synch in Pretty in Pink was more of a tribute than this drivel.
Then there's the song "Ni**as in Paris." Not only is the title delightful, but it seems to have almost nothing to do with the rest of the song, except for the line where they say "ni**as in Paris and they going gorillas," which I assume has something to do with going bananas or perhaps going ape shit? When I first saw the title I assumed it had something to do with racism in France, which would be very much worthy of commentary, but it's not; it's just Ye and Jay rambling about being rich. Cool? I also don't know what to think about this song when it appears alongside a song like "Made in America", which comments on the strides made in the past century by African-Americans and "No Church in the Wild", which comments on the role of religion and celebrity both in history and modern society. Basically, this album is half powerful, thoughtful verse that elevates rap to the level of poetry, and half mumbled nonsense with the same trite rhymes about being rich and famous that make people hate rap. Of course, there's every chance that I'm an idiot and I'm missing the point. Maybe the half of the album that sounds like garbage to me is meant to sound that way as some sort of meta statement about the rap industry in general. Or maybe they just got sloppy because they tried to put out an album too quickly.
In short, I think I'm just irritated because I really love Jay-Z and Kanye and I expected better from them. Maybe I just need to listen to the album again.