Just a few months ago, the idea of Kanye West and Paul McCartney teaming up for new music seemed like a pipedream or, worse, a joke. One month into 2015, the duo has already released some of the most talked about music of the year. After West tweeted “Only One” just minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, the song quickly became McCartney’s first Top 40 single in almost three decades. With “FourFiveSeconds” (which the pair made with Rihanna), McCartney then became the oldest act ever to chart on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart. The PaulYe collaboration hasn’t only been a success for McCartney: With a Grammys performance coming up on Sunday night, “FourFiveSeconds” is already on track to be Kanye’s biggest hit in years.
There is only one thing to do in the wake of all this success: West and McCartney need to launch their own Watch the Throne tour.
It’s such an obviously great idea. After all, the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus”; Kanye is “a god.” Jay Z planked on a million; Paul planks on a billion.
Photos by Getty Images, iStock; Photo illustration by Derreck Johnson for Slate.
Paul, one of pop’s great singers, could ably sing all the hooks in Kanye’s songs. Kanye could do autotuned versions of all the John parts in Beatles tracks. And think of the opportunities for medleys and mashups: “Hey Jude” into “Hey Mama,” “Blackbird” into “Black Skinhead,” “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds From Sierra Leone.”
And individual songs would really benefit from the kind of big-money stagecraft only a megatour can provide. Paul could perform “Fool on the Hill” on an actual giant hill that Kanye has built in the middle of the stadium.
Photo illustration by Derreck Johnson for Slate.
Paul would look pretty dope in a Margiela mask.
Photos by Getty Images; Photo illustration by Derreck Johnson for Slate.
Imagine him wearing that while they perform “N—as in Paris,” but instead of saying “Ball so hard,” McCartney can say “Paul so hard.”
And the show would end with the duo performing “Only One” 11 consecutive times.
Like the whole idea of Kanye West and Paul McCartney linking up in the first place, this notion might seem unlikely, or a novelty. But why couldn’t it happen? After all, Paul already said Watch the Throne was the best tour he ever attended.
Are you ready for Watch the Throne 2: Bigger Than Yeezus?
