Watch the Throne

Video Song: "Ni**gas in Paris" & "Why I Love You (ft. Mr. Hudson)" - Jay-Z & Kanye West

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So if you didn't know, two of rap's biggest names, Jay-Z and Kanye West came together to release a collaborative album, Watch the Throne, on August 8th of this year. While the album, Watch the Throne is neither Kanye nor Jay's best (in our opinion), it can easily be considered a successful collaboration, especially since both rappers were recently presented with platinum plaques signifying the worldwide sales of over two million units. (The studio album sold 436,000 copies in the United States in its first week alone and topped the iTunes album charts in 23 different countries, marking it Jay's 12th #1 album on the Billboard 200 and Ye's 5th.)

Jay and Kanye have been promoting the album with a concert tour that kicked off October 29th in Atlanta and will continue through December ending on the 18th in Vancouver. Scene Stealers was lucky enough to catch the second show at the Garden on November 8th, where the 2 stars undoubtably dominated the stage.

Now, with such a hyped up album and two huge Hip Hop stars, you'd expect this concert to be all glitz and glam...but it wasn't (despite the flourishes on the plumes of flame, the giant LCD blocks that rose above the crowd and the footage of animals playing in the background, plus the mini laser show, we mean lol). This concert though, just felt like two old friends trading rhymes for over two hours...and it was dope.  

 

They opened with "H.A.M." on opposite sides of the arena...the crowd went crazy.  The same energy was held throughout the concert, even when Jay and Kanye's duets were separated by spurts of their own work.

Jay and Kanye sat down on stage together and rapped "New Day" as if they were discussing things on a stoop on their block. The song is a genuine track about the reality of fatherhood in the limelight...which suddenly seemed to hold a new meaning to Jay with Beyonce's impending pregnancy.

 

Kanye wasn't without emotion either, as he went into songs from 808s...especially "Runaway." He urged the audience to love each other and went over some of his regrets that marked him as an "asshole" to some (uhm, Amber Rose). 

Jay picked it back up again with songs like "Big Pimpin" that led to a back-and-forth as Kanye recanted with "Gold Digger" and Jay answered back with "99 Problems"...(you forget how many hits these two have!)

Then it was time to get cray...as Kanye and Jay get into "Ni**as in Paris"...3 TIMES to end the show!! But of course, the crowd asks for more and the two return to the stage with "Encore," leading into Jay's "Lucifer" and "Money Ain't A Thing." Kanye came back with "Keep'em High" and "All Falls Down."  Ultimately though, they ended the concert with "Why I Love You."

Straight dopeness.

xo, Jessica & Samantha