Jay-Z & Kanye West

Two of the most decorated careers in rap, one record. Watch the Throne arrived in August 2011 as a surprise release and immediately reframed what a collaborative album could be. Jay-Z and Kanye West had been in each other's orbit since Reasonable Doubt. This was the formal document of that relationship, recorded across hotel suites in four cities and mixed into one of the most produced records either artist had made. Niggas in Paris, Otis, Gotta Have It. The album holds up because the competition between them was real.