By Odeisel
Going ham means going wild and when you add the ingredients of the legendary Jay-Z, the lightning rod Kanye West and Hip-Hop’s fight music producer of the moment Lex Luger, you expect honey glazed pineapple and cherry garnished ham. With the first release from wildly anticipated Watch The Throne album, the trio come off half-baked on lead single “H.A.M.” (Hard As a Motherfucker).
Techno elements open the song and Luger’s trademarked atmospherics soon enter the fray over 808’s. Operatic singing weaves throughout the composition intermittently while double snares provide the timing pattern. Lex Luger does not layer the beat properly and there are elements (like the aforementioned singing) that are supposed to provide lift but are not in the right sequence to do so. Hard strings are abruptly infused mid-verse but fail to properly raise the energy of the track. It’s just jarring. The result is a messy hodgepodge of moving elements that doesn’t build properly. The influence of Kanye’s latest album is evident in the ending, where opera on steroids is delivered to an empty hall, lingering far after the rappers are gone.
Hearing Kanye trying to tough talk his way through Luger’s composition is laughable. His high-pitched delivery lacks the testosterone to manhandle this beat. He employs a vocal “hanh” mechanism to keep pace with the beat and shouts out legendary internet rapper Eli Porter in the midst of his verse but doesn’t accomplish much with his verse. He even lazily jacks a Weezy line that JUST came out (kicking bitches out like Pam).
Jay-Z drops a verse he could drop any day of the week. In the grand scheme of Jay verses it’s also ran status. He again refers to the death of Uncle Ray and his tough upbringing and the loss of his nephew and remains with the money talk. He still manages a couple slick wrinkles; addressing detractors that want to revoke his hood pass, noting he “swam water with great whites (I’m sure Buffet and Gates-Bill not Skip qualify), ya’ll mufuckas would have been chewed, hustled with vultures late night (word to Deehaven), ya’ll mufuckas would have been food.” He tosses a subliminal at Mr. Williams, who keeps insisting he’s getting more cheddar than Jay. “I’m like really half a billi, n***a really, you got Baby money, keep it real with n***as, n***as don’t have my lady money.” Jay closes in a flurry that you’ll have to catch for yourself cause this piece is getting too long.
It certainly isn’t the greatest song from Jay or Ye I’ve ever heard but there’s enough, particularly in Jay’s verse to like if you look for it. The production is haphazard and the ending anticlimactic, closer to Porky Pig than a slam from Darwin Ham. Still, I’d like to hear Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross and Flocka on something this hard. Judge for yourself. “H.A.M.”
Kanye West X Jay-Z- “H.A.M.”
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