Pair of Kings: Jay-Z and Kanye West

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The Borgata brings hip-hop royalty to town as Jay-Z and Kanye West’s ‘Throne’ tour hits Boardwalk Hall Nov. 19

By Ed Condran 

Add Comment | Comments: 4 | Posted Nov. 16, 2011

Kanye & Jay: Boardwalk ‘Empire’ state of mind?

ATLANTIC CITY — Hip-hop isn’t what it was  during the late 1980s when there were a number of incendiary acts, none larger than Public Enemy, which rapped about what mattered with a palpable intensity.  

That was a golden era. 

A minority of contemporary hip-hop artists are rapping about what matters. You can put Jay-Z and Kanye West onto that list. The iconic recording artists aren’t like their peers, many of which are content to wax about conspicuous consumption. 

Jay-Z and West impress in the studio and on the road. The hip-hop champs’ Watch the Throne tour is arguably the concert event of the year, with apologies to U2. 

The Throne Tour, which is slated for Saturday, Nov. 19, at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall is a tough ticket, which isn’t surprising since virtually every date of the tour is SRO. 

Jay-Z and West offered a preview of the concert two weeks ago at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and they lived up to the considerable hype behind the tour and the pair’s Watch The Throne album, which is, in this writer’s opinion, the best hip-hop release since West’s 2010 offering My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. 

There are anthemic cuts (“That’s My Bitch”), deep tunes (“A New Day”) and earnest songs (“Why I Love You”). The lyrics are insightful and provocative. There are some bombastic moments, too, but what do you expect when two massive egos get together?  

For the most part the tandem nail it in the studio. “Made in America,” which sounds biographical as West belts out the words, might be the controversial rapper’s finest work. He and his pal Jay have a chemistry and each has their finger on the pulse of hip-hop. 

The only prep I had for the Throne show was West’s brilliant performance in March, which closed the mighty South By Southwest music conference. West, who played a 2,500 capacity venue in Austin, Texas had a number of costume changes and guests, including Jay-Z. The energy and excitement was off the charts as West ripped it up. 

To West and Jay-Z’s credit, the juice at their recent Philly show was almost on the same level, which is a neat trick considering that they played a venue nearly 10 times the size of what they hit in Austin. 

They know how to play it to make it seem like they’re performing an intimate show in an airplane hangar. 

At the start of the Throne show, West and Jay appear at different sides of the stage as it rises, making it seem like the figures are larger than life, which is apt since they are just that and there are precious few stars in music that revel in their carefully crafted image like West and Jay Z.  

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