Advertise on podcast: Watching the Throne: A Lyrical Analysis of Kanye West

Pop the champagne, because we just got a new Kanye album...which also means it's time for another season of Watching the Throne! Season 7 will be entirely dedicated to what we already consider to be Kanye's magnum opus: Donda. Throughout the season, we are going to run through every single line on every single song and piece together the themes and narratives at hand. In this initial episode, we hypothesize what they think the album is doing—all before we rank every single song on Donda. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcoming to Watching the Throne. Throoone. Throoooone. Throne. Where we analyze Kanye West. And this season, we're dissecting his newest album, Donda. And what better place to start than with Donda Chant! If you can believe it, we spend over an hour talking about this very meaningful and very important and very meditative opener. #Kanye #Donda If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guess who's explaining Jail tonight? We are! Moving on from Donda Chant into the first official song on Donda, we find Kanye and JAY-Z trapped in a symbolic jail they must work their way out of. In this episode, we discuss what that jail means for both Kanye and Jay, who have both suffered from rocky marriages, and how that lays the foundation for the album narrative moving forward. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So you think God Breathed is a long, pointless, and boring song? Well, do we have a treat for you! In this extra-long episode, we shed light on what is actually a deeply layered and sonically complex song that's incredibly important in setting up the Donda narrative. Kanye West would be proud of this episode. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you know Watching the Throne, then you know that we LOVE long episodes. So when we decide to split an episode into two parts...we do it for a reason. There was simply too much to unpack in Off the Grid, so for Part 1 we're strictly going to focus on Playboi Carti and Fivio's verses. Notoriety, materialism, power struggles, projection, pressure—there's a host of topics to get into before we pick apart Kanye's legendary verse. So let's do this. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could it possibly get than Fivio's gargantuan guest verse? Why yes. Yes it can. Because Kanye West has a few things to say. On this episode, we unpack Ye's legendary closer on Off the Grid and theorize about how it previews several themes we'll continue to see play out on Donda. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm! We have been waiting for this episode since the very beginning. Hurricane—which very well could be the best song on Donda—is jam-packed with beautiful production, intense imagery, and narrative-building lyricism. In addition to all of that, we discuss the conception of the song and how it's changed over the years, Peter walking on water in the Bible, and a possible reference to R.E.M. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decades ago, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem that would become part of a legendary speech from Donda West in 2007—and would later become a guiding light for Kanye West when making music in 2021. Praise God wouldn't exist without Brooks, a famous Black poet from Chicago whose words spoke to Kanye at an incredibly difficult time in his life. And by dissecting the lines in this song and her poem, we can gain crucial insight into the Donda narrative. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who's here when you need a podcast to lean on? We are! And today, we're dissecting one of the heaviest songs of Kanye's career. Jonah navigates a minefield of depression, pain, anger, and suffering—with a possible Drake diss thrown in as well? From the ambient-heavy production to the piercing lyrics, we unpack what might be the most underrated track on Donda. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Kanye vs. Drake." That standoff has been brewing for quite some time, and it finally reached a head these past few months with the release of Donda and Certified Lover Boy. Of course Drake has thrown his lyrical shots during that period—but Kanye has as well. And Ok Ok is the most direct Kanye has ever been about the feud. On this episode, we discuss the poetry of Kanye's diss, as well as Lil Yachty's dark, disturbing verse and Rooga's passionate cry to move on from such negativity. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonah has a Drake diss. Ok Ok has a Drake diss. And now Junya...has a Drake diss. Hmm. We're starting to see a pattern. So why is Kanye so obsessed with Drake on this section of the Donda? On this episode, we theorize why the album makes such an antagonistic shift by picking apart the lyrics of what might be Kanye's most perplexing song to date. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sunny melodies. Pop culture references. Lauryn Hill samples. Is this...Old Kanye we hear??? Believe What I Say certainly feels that way after so many dark, grim tracks on Donda. But there are plenty of New Kanye tricks on this song that elevate it to higher levels. On this episode, we get into Kanye's refreshing take on the Kimye divorce and how he felt as his marriage with Kim came to an end. If you'd like to support the show (and hear this episode ad-free), then join our Patreon community. You can also watch this podcast in video form over on our YouTube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices