“How many people do you know can take it this far?” Beyoncé howls on the second track of the collaborative effort of Jay-Z and Kanye West. Her soulful bragging about going to Mars and being magnificent is accurate, though. We live in a generation with very few and select bonafide superstars. Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé are in an exclusive group of musical forces that not only garner success, but to whom people look to see the new wave of where pop music will be orbiting.

I’m no astrologist, but it seems every sixth Mercury retrograde, these mega-stars come together and eclipse the whole music world with a great collaboration. Usually, it’s just a video or two. This time, it’s a whole conceptual album. Watch The Throne has amazing potential to be the “new fresh code” for Hip-Hop music or that disappointment of something that could have been so great, but fizzled. Yes, Watch The Throne could be a shooting star or Y2K.

Let’s lunar dip right in, shall we! We were combatted with sneak peaks of Watch The Throne with “H*A*M*” and later “Otis.” They are both conversations between the two rappers, about how other-worldly their money, skills, chicks, and dicks are. “H*A*M*” speaks with a heavy aggression and super-sonic spit-fires between the two rappers overtop electronic, Nintendo-type production that explodes into operatic singing and strings. “Otis” is classic soul-sampling, but Kanye’s sensibilities are obviously more advanced than the kid we met on The College Dropout. It feels like how classic Hip-Hop might sound in 2089 (if we get that far, of course).

The proper album opens with “No Church In The Wild,” in the bigger scheme of Watch The Throne it’s a bit alienating and can make an excited listener quite nervous, Kanye West’s auto-tune assisted flow along with Frank Ocean’s hardly pitch-perfect screeches might lead the listener to believe watching an inanimate object for a about an hour might really be more enjoyable. “Lift Off” is a more redeemable effort. Beyoncé’s soul-soaked alto vibrato fills the chorus and with the beat change-up and the astronaut samplings, it’s as polished and encompassing like you might imagine it would be with all that star power.

Then, speeds in “Niggas In Paris” like a new-age rocket ship. Jay and Kanye keep the 808s, but leave the heartbreak in ’09, and replace it with explosions. Witty tirades like, “Prince Williams ain’t do it right if you ask me, if I was him I would’ve ‘Mary’ Kate and Ashley.” Yeah, it’s that type of record. Like a lot of the records on this album, the songs have a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde effect, they start off as one record and become more intense with new production that fits right into the over-all idea of the song, but could stand alone as independent tunes. Kanye chants, “don’t let me get in my zone!” Almost warning the listener and opponents, that he’s about to turn into the monster we all love, loathe and throw stones (and money) at.

Surprisingly, Watch The Throne isn’t all bombs and rants. “New Day” is a sensitive tango the duo do as open letters to their unborn sons on top of a sample of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.” Jigga talks about his fear of divorce and how he, through his fame and success, already ruined his son’s life. “Made In America” is a sensitive track about being black in America with Frank Ocean returning with a bit more tolerable vocals, though the song has little replay value, despite its heavy subject matter. The highlight of this space oddity is “Who Gon’ Stop Me” and “Why I Love You (feat. Mr. Hudson),” with dubsteb influences, harsh flows, and a great forecast where Hip-Hop should be directing towards. More edgy, more aggressive, more ridiculous.

Between “Why I Love You” and “Illest Motherfucker Alive,” there’s a three minute break. Almost like to prepare the audience (or watchers) for the meteor that it about to his the last quarter of the album. It’s these theatric novelties throughout the album that really glues this celestial voyage together. Between various songs there’s a tip-toe, jazz piece that is riddled throughout the album. “Murder To Excellence” and “That’s My Bitch” are odes to the universal palette of both rappers’ expanding taste. Songs like “Primetime” are lost and if it wasn’t for the arresting Curtis Mayfield sample on “The Joy,” it would have followed the same fate. They aren’t bad songs, but sonically everything is so aggressive, encompassing, and quirky on the majority of the album that these more classic takes on rap songs are dull in comparison. However, these slight hiccups don’t take away from the cosmic journey. Watch The Throne cannot be accused of not having vision.

Sure, everyone and their boyfriend is a rapper. And every kid with a dream wants to go to the moon. But on Watch The Throne, Jay-Z and Kanye West, prove to be explorers of the world willing to bring back their finds and create poetry around it, leaving us admirers as simply stardust.

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