Friday, August 12, 2011

Single Review: The Throne - Otis (Ft. Otis Redding)


     
  Single Rating: 10/10
    Kanye West and Jay-Z decided to make another ‘first single’ for their Watch The Throne album since there first attempt ‘H.A.M’ was kinda a failure critically. But I kinda liked H.A.M though, it may not nearly be up to Kanye or Jay-Z’s potential, but it’s still a great track. But that was the past, now let’s move on to the future and we can finally see, or hear how will the new first single, Otis will do.
     
    Otis was a song that was really about nothing. It was just Kanye and Jay-Z rapping verse after verse, combined with a fairly large group of punchiness. But at the same time there is no real story or real ideas behind the lyrics on the song, but at the same time the theme and concept where both really clear on this track. The song was just a little walk through Kanye and Jay-Z’s carriers and their positions as two of the very best artists in the rap world. It wasn’t a really smart, or even a unique concept, but the song’s presentation and style where the real jems of the track.
     
    Lyrically the song was really strong, there was no hook, it was just Kanye and Jay-Z both throwing line after line, than a usual punch line. For me, if a song has no story or real ideas behind it, that’s what artists should be able to do, put in really clever lyrics, some really strong punch line just going on and on and on, and for me what makes this great as a collaboration is that Kanye and Jay-Z used that perfectly, while constantly trading verses in a very balanced and strongly flowed style, that having no real ideas wouldn’t even matter here.
      
    The production on Otis was literally top notch. The beat was really good, it sounded like something that really rich people would have on their I-pods or something. It’s style sounded crazy expensive, and the Otis Redding sample just puts the price of that beat up, making it sound a lot classier in my opinion. As for the general production on the track, the quality also sounds really good and expensive, the mixing was really impressive, and honestly the production just sounds like it’s budget, which was probably a lot of money.
    
    Otis was overall an excellent track. Sure, it had no real concept, but it’s greatness makes up for that, and does a lot more for the track. Think about it, Kanye and Jigga where both exactly on Q with the beat, the production on the track deserves as much props as possible, and honestly this song just sounds like it has a really high chance of being remembered as a classic hip-hop track. It’s not going to be the best song of the year for sure, but it’s certainly gonna be up there as one of the best.

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