The arrival of one of hip-hop’s most anticipated albums is imminent, but there’s still not an official release date.
There was a significant amount of buzz on the internet surrounding Kanye West & jay’Z’s Watch the Throne recently. Many reports suggested that the album might even see a surprise release today. Well, the album’s not out, but it appears that it has been completed.
A preorder page has been set up for the album, with standard and deluxe versions available. The cover art for the project has also been issued, and it keeps in line with Kanye’s often ostentatious visuals. What don’t we have? Well, we don’t have a release date. The album could come out tomorrow. It could come out in September. I will say that Kanye and Jay have done a pretty good job at shrouding this project in mystery.
First single “H.A.M.” underperformed, but I’d imagine that Jay and ‘Ye have a large enough audience that first week sales should be pretty solid, even if the album turns out to suck (which, given ‘Ye’s perfectionist tendencies, I doubt.) That said, Jay’s unfortunate track record with collaborations (the two Best of Both Worlds projects with R. Kelly as well as the Linkin Park mash-up) gives me a little bit of uncertainty.
The results of ‘Ye and Jay’s album-length collaboration will be known to us…eventually.
5 comments
Kyle says:
Jul 4, 2011
I actually quite like Jay’s Linkin Park collaboration, but, yeah, the R. Kelly collaborations were baaaaaaad. That said, Kanye’s an artist of much higher caliber than either R. Kelly or Linkin Park, so I think there’s much less to worry about. Especially because he and Jay have proven their chemistry a fair few times in the past.
Drew says:
Jul 4, 2011
Yeah, I was hoping for this today. Damn rumors, making me all excited about a holiday that would otherwise pass me by without me even noticing.
Still, I’m looking forward to this – I believe my opinions on both Jay AND ‘Ye are well-documented and overwhelmingly positive – so I’m waiting with bated breath. And as far as Jay’s track record with collab albums is concerned, I ignored the R. Kelly ones, but the Linkin Park one involved, well, Linkin Park. I think that’s all that needs to said about the most disappointing squandering of those Black Album acapellas.
GG says:
Jul 5, 2011
Even though I’m not sure I have faith that it will be good, I’m looking quite forward to this one.
blerd says:
Jul 5, 2011
Me too. And I share your skepticism.
blerd says:
Jul 5, 2011
You were right to ignore the R. Kelly albums. I somewhat like Linkin Park, so the fact that the “Collision Course” LP turned out to be such a mess was a bit disheartening.