The Throne’s Sibling Rivalry and the Williams Sisters: the Problem with Expectations

On Monday, at long last, we will finally hear Watch the Throne, a new twist on a partnership that has given the hip-hop world some of its most enduring songs. I’m calling it a new twist because for the most part the relationship between Jay-Z and Kanye West as rapper and producer respectively. Hov famously was reluctant to nurture Kanye the MC until he had proven itself, and while gradually Kanye has proved him wrong and they have lit up a few tracks together (although the less said about Jay-Z’s verse on “Monster”, the better) the dynamic between the two has me seriously wondering whether their album can come anywhere near approaching the sum of its two parts.

I keep thinking back to 2001, when I went to see Venus and Serena Williams play one another in the final of the U.S. Open. They were (and still are, just ask Pusha T, a tennis fanatic) two of the most talented female tennis players (or tennis players, period) that have ever lived. Yet whenever they have played each other, the match has been less than interesting. The sibling relationship seems to take away the killer instinct that makes both players so ferocious to face, and so two of the best players of their generation have never played a legendary match against one another.

For the same reason, I’m worried about Watch The Throne. Jay has always been Kanye’s “big brother“, the man that made him and the person he always wants to impress with his music. Can he bring the fire and the competition to make the album as good as it should be?

Look at the other big tag-team album of the year: Eminem and Royce Da 5’9″‘s Hell: The Sequel (sorry, Gucci and Waka, yours doesn’t count). The interplay there is fierce: they are both fiercely competitive musicians, and I’m guessing the fire over their now-ended beef probably contributed to making the album so good. After all, beef brought out the best in Jay before (quick day-dream: what would a Jay-Z/Nas album be like?), so maybe a little conflict with Kanye could bring the fire the album needs.

Yet somehow, the news of dissent within the Throne camp that emerged this week doesn’t really stir me. The rumored bickering (quickly quashed) allegedly pits Kanye’s desire for spectacle against Jay-Z’s businessman ethic, but really, it just sounds like brothers bickering.

There is, however, a silver lining that still has me hopeful that the album can live up to its impossibly high expectations. When Hov called into Hot 97 this week, he talked about how badly he wants the tour to be this greatest show on earth, and emphasized how important the album not leaking is to the experience of hearing it. He sounded less like CEO Sean Carter, and more like an artist unleashing his masterpiece. And that had me thinking that maybe Watch the Throne could be less about the two men towering over the hip-hop world, and more about the struggle between them for the throne itself.

Really, for the last year or so, Kanye has been the big brother. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy returned him to the top of the game, catapulting him over the pretender kings that had emerged in his post-Taylor Swift exile. Meanwhile, Jigga has been relatively quiet, content to be the businessman rather than the business, man. My gut tells me that if Watch the Throne is going to be as good as we hope, it will be because Jay reasserts his claim to the crown. While there has never been much of a ferocious competition between the two before, Hov has also never had to work for the spotlight. Whether he actually works for it will make the difference between a legendary album and a very listenable disappointment (I say very listenable because I still have “Otis” on repeat despite the fact that I’ve gotten pretty bored the lyrics that are essentially just two guys talking about how rich they are).

And if Jay-Z brings it, look to see how Kanye responds, and hope it doesn’t get too ugly. Because you have to remember, fellas, what Omar Little said: you come at the king, you best not miss.