REVIEW: "H.A.M." by Kanye West & Jay-Z

Are you hard as a motherf*****? Well that's what the acronym H.A.M. represents, the title of the first Kanye West/Jay-Z collaboration from their upcoming album Watching The Throne, and both rappers want to convince you that they certainly are. The Lex Luger-produced track features a one minute verse from each rapper, beginning with Kanye West informing his enemies that he is back, so "forgettaboutit!" Surprisingly, for the hype surrounding the song, West's verse is largely subdued and hardly as hard as the chorus alludes: "I'm about to go H.A.M. Harder as a motherf*****, let these n*****s know who I am."




Jiggaman comes in after Kanye West with some well polished lyricism and a much stronger showing than his younger protege. From boasting about his money to his wife's assets ("N****s ain't got my lady money"), Jay is making it clear that no one can come close to the Marcy Projects-born mogul and the empire he's created. He recounts where he's come from and the "half-a-billi" that he's currently worth in some pretty awesome lyrics, and steals the show in this first musical showing of hip hop's two biggest artists of today.

The production begins with a relatively simple but captivating synths and a soft drum beat. Towards the end of each rapper's verse, an explosion of orchestral music ensues, with strings and collective choir singing dominating the bars. It reaches its climax during the chorus, in which the combination of the lyrics and the production work quite well. After Jay's verse, a piano-laced breakdown follows, only to be interrupted again by the orchestra of sounds towards the close of the track. Clearly, Lex Luger is as important as Jay or Yeezy in this track as the production stages the varying intensities of the song.

Since we all know that these two are H.A.M., this song is not exactly what my expectations were. While the production was strong and Jay's lyrics do go hard, Kanye seemed unable bring his A-game in this showing, even though he still had the finesse on this track to throw most of his competitors under the bus. However, he was most certainly outshined by his mentor, something I found a bit disconcerting. Let's just hope the Chicago native doesn't disappoint for the remaining tracks of Watch The Throne.

H.A.M. by Kanye West & Jay-Z: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (7/10)