Hip hop's slickest entrepreneurs - Jay-Z and Kanye West - merge their titanic portfolios. It's part vanity project, part perfect fusion and ultimately the key to further global domination.

4.5/5

For fans of: Mos Def, Drake, Kanye West

The sharpest exponents of feeding the hype machine and delivering the goods are Jay-Z and Kanye West... the chinchilla hustler and the gold-plated college dropout.

'Watch the Throne' is the merging of these two hip-hop empires and the result is a Rolls Royce combo of supreme style with ultimate engineering.

Kicking off with 'No Church in the Wild' (featuring Frank Ocean) Jay-Z and Kanye West lay down the template for their gold gilded voyage, Kanye espousing the glamorous profits of his mogul lifestyle, "coke on a black skin, made a stripe like a zebra, I call that jungle fever".

It is a stealth start to an epic journey that reels in a select few to the VIP booth, including Beyonce, who soars through 'Lift Off', a song that continues their duel fascination with The American Dream and the creation of their joint hip hop superhero.

The staccato attack of Jay-Z on 'Ni**as in Paris' anchors your headphones/speakers in a heavyweight arena, before Kanye pleads "You are watching the throne, don't let me into my zone" – a classic Mr. West confession of his wild talents and uber ego.

The twin grins hook up with the sound of Otis Redding on 'Otis' - an unbridled attempt to join legends of soul in their own lifetime. 'Gotta Have It' and 'New Day' are the kind of mid-album recliners that fans of Kanye will know suits his complex formula.

Things get a little jiggier and old-skool on 'That's My Bitch' where Kanye talks about "Mary Magdalene on a pole dance" and Jay-Z reflects on his nuptials, after a roll call of hot chocolate babes, "Back to my Beyonces, you deserve three sacks for the entrée".

By the time 'Who Gon Stop Me' rolls around it feels like Jay-Z and Kanye are resting a little on their gold leaf laurels - bombarding you with thick stabs of digital noise and special features of the Carter/West Hi-Fi, Hi-Def experience, sirens crying into the ether.

The same/same vibe is happily broken on 'Made It In America', a ghostly track that takes on gospel tinged ambient zones, with a name call of righteous figures. Meanwhile 'Why I Love You' belts out like a slo-mo new romantic odyssey, with the deadly duo punch out the final figures of their manifesto.

Ultimately 'Watch the Throne' showcases the impenetrable kingdom that Jay-Z and Kanye West have created as the best private investigators of pop culture and the modern world.

Both artists always reach back to the roots as they reach for the stars, no matter how huge the ego and material wealth, their story is laid down picture perfect, like the best Scorsese movies.