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I’m going to guess I am not alone here, but the only time democracy and capitalism ever feel like they kind of work is when I’m listening to rap music. There’s a knowing thrill I get buying into the lived-in sentiments of the Throne’s ‘Made In America,’ and there’s a touch of that in a hopeful speech from the president that wearily though never cynically acknowledges the country’s history of discrimination. Watch The Throne is an album that somehow tapped into the sneering money-burning of the one percent, invigorated itself as rap’s only event last year (and yet still, the end of something), and functioned as a convergence point for the nationwide tension between wanting to be mindful and wanting to buy a bunch of stuff.