"Niggas in Paris" is a song by American rappers Kanye West and Jay-Z from their collaboration
album Watch the Throne.
The song contains elements from "Baptizing Scene" by Reverend W.A.
Donaldson and also samples dialogue from DreamWorks Pictures' 2007 film Blades of Glory.
It debuted at number 75 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the week of the album's release.
The song was sent to Rhythmic and Urban radio on September 13, 2011.
The song has since peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Kanye West's
14th top-10 single and Jay-Z's 18th making Jay-Z the rapper with the most top-10 hits.
As of November 2012, it has sold 3 million digital units in the United States.
The song won for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 55th Grammy Awards.
Background In an interview, Kanye West revealed that
the song was inspired by his travels in Paris:
I am where art meets commercial.
The sweet spot between the hood and Hollywood.
Having a conversation with Karl Lagerfeld and Jay-Z within the same hour.
When we're in Paris dressing all crazy at fashion shows, we listening to Jay-Z.
Jeezy in Paris, that's what it is.
The song's production was originally offered to GOOD Music rapper Pusha T by Hit-Boy, however
Pusha turned it down saying "It sounds like a video game.
Get that shit out of here!"
Artwork The artwork for "Niggas in Paris" features
the flag of France with a black third substituted for the blue one and is exactly the same cover
used for Kanye West and Jay-Z's song "Why I Love You" which was released to radios simultaneously
with "Niggas in Paris" on September 13, 2011.
An alternative artwork, similar to the album cover, was used on Pandora.
Covers, remixes and freestyles The official remix features rapper T.I..
Remixes or freestyles on this beat created by other artists include a remix by Chris
Brown and T-Pain, a freestyle by Game titled "Niggas in Compton", a freestyle by Meek Mill
which appeared on his mixtape Dreamchasers, a remix by Busta Rhymes, a remix by Chevy
Woods titled "Taylors in Paris", a freestyle by Trey Songz which appeared on his mixtape
#LemmeHolDatBeat2 titled "Trigga In Africa", a remix by E.S.G.
titled "Niggas in Houston", and a remix by Felony titled "Niggas in Harris."
Pitbull released a remix of "Niggas in Paris" called "Latinos in Paris" with Vein, Jamie
Drastik, and Sensato.
He also released a video, but only featuring Sensato.
Mos Def made a freestyle to the song called "Niggas in Poorest".
Other rappers that did freestyles include Young Jeezy, Freddie Gibbs, Emilio Rojas,
Traphik, Romeo Miller, and Lil Wayne.
German rapper Casper has at times performed a German version of the track at concerts.
British rap-metal band Hacktivist have covered the song, which has become a live staple during
the group's shows.
American recording artist Katy Perry performed a clean version of the track on March 19,
2012 as part of a Live Lounge special for BBC Radio 1's Fearne Cotton.
The track, which was performed alongside "The One That Got Away", "Firework", "Thinking
of You" and "Part of Me", saw the artist rap to re-worded verses from Jay-Z and West.
The song was satirized by rapper and spoken word artist George Watsky as "Ninjas in Paris",
which highlights the simplicity of the hook and pokes fun at common rap video tropes such
as guns, luxury cars and jewelry.
The British rap metal/progressive metal/djent band Hacktivist released a cover of the song
with an accompanying video on 6 August 2013.
Prior to this the cover had been a regular feature of their live sets.
Music video On December 13, 2011, after their last Los
Angeles stop at Staples Center on their Watch the Throne Tour, Jay-Z announced that the
live performance would be used for the song's music video.
The video was released on February 9, 2012 through VEVO and was directed by West himself.
The video features the live concert footage treated with strobe effects, kaleidoscopic
mirrored images, inserts of jungle cats, and imagery of Paris landmarks.
As with the track itself, the video also features a brief snippet of footage from Blades of
Glory.
Hit-Boy, Kid Cudi and King Chip make brief appearances in the video.
The video also contains a warning message to viewers on the flash photography in the
video.
Critical reception The song received critical acclaim.
Rolling Stone commented on the song by saying "Jay and Ye come in hard over a slow, menacing
beat and icy synthesizer notes, but regardless, this cut is mostly memorable for including
an unexpected sample of dialogue from the Will Ferrell/Jon Heder ice-skating comedy
Blades of Glory.
'No one knows what it means, but it's provocative,' says Ferrell with deep conviction, essentially
summing up the art of hip-hop lyrics."
Billboard commented on the song by saying, "Kanye steals the show on the Hit-Boy produced
club anthem.
A sampling of dialogue from the 2007 film Blades of Glory is tucked in between."
The Guardian called the song a standout track on the album and also commented by saying
"This percolating track could have been produced by Wiley, with sick sub-bass and a snare that
sounds like static.
Both rappers are in excellent form, with West repeating 'That shit cray'.
Kanye begins in half-time and speeds up.
Among the lines that jump out: "I'm suffering from realness" and 'Don't let me get in my
zone.'
A standout track."
Pitchfork complimented that the song possessed great moments by Kanye West and said the following:
"It also features this great Kanye moment, 'Doctors say I'm the illest because I'm suffering
from realness/Got my niggas in Paris, and they going gorillas.'"
Pitchfork later named "Niggas In Paris" the 12th best track of 2011 and Rolling Stone
named it the second best of the year.
XXL named "Niggas In Paris" the best song of 2011 as well as the "hottest beat" of 2011.
Digital Spy placed this song on their 24th spot of the best songs of 2011.
It was voted number 98 in Australia's annual Triple J Hottest 100, 2011.
XXL named it one of the top five hip hop songs of 2011.
"Niggas in Paris" won Best Rap Performance at the 55th Grammy Awards.
Live performances The song has been performed on the Watch the
Throne Tour.
MTV News said with "the track's Will Ferrell intro brought on the moment that everyone
was waiting for."
USA Today commented "at one point, as Jay-Z and West performed Niggas in Paris from their
new hit CD, Watch the Throne, West exhorted the audience to "Bounce!
Bounce!"
The resulting stomping had Philips Arena rocking and shaking in a way that it hasn't for the
Hawks in a long time."
In early stops, the song was performed three times.
Kanye West and Jay-Z began performing the song more than thrice at the Miami show at
American Airlines Arena by performing the song five times.
The song was played six times at the TD Garden in Boston on November 21, 2011 setting a record
for the tour at the time.
It was then broken when it was performed seven times at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
It was again broken on December 1, 2011 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois when
the duo performed the song 8 times.
On December 12, 2011 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, the song was played
a total of 9 times, a record which would stand until the next night, when the duo performed
the song 10 times.
The crowd was also told that cameras had been brought to the concert for the record breaking
December 13th performance to film the music video for the song.
The song was also performed live as part of the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
During the Final Tour Stop in Vancouver the aforementioned record was met again with the
duo performing the song ten times on the final night, December 18 at Rogers Arena, despite
several newspaper articles claiming that it was performed a total of eleven times.
On June 1, 2012 during their first date in Paris, at the Palais Omnisports de Bercy,
they actually broke the record, performing the song 11 times.
They claimed themselves that the record was held by Los Angeles, when Jay-Z said: "The
record is held by L.A. with ten times.
[..] But this song isn't called "Niggas in Los Angeles".
[...] We gotta break that record and bring it to 11", thus ending the rumors concerning
the record being broken in Vancouver.
The last record has been broke again on June 18, 2012 performed 12 times in Paris at Palais
Omnisports Paris Bercy.
The song was performed live at BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend on 23 June 2012 as part of
the London 2012 Festival.
Chart performance On August 27, 2011, "Niggas in Paris" made
its debut on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 75, making it the second highest debut for
any non-single on the album behind only "Who Gon Stop Me".
On the US Billboard Hot Digital Songs the song debuted at number 58 even before it was
released as a single from the album.
It has since peaked at number five on the Billiboard Hot 100.
As of November 2012, the song has sold 3 million copies in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart on March
18, 2012 ― for the week ending date March 24, 2012 ― spending 10 weeks in the top
40 of the chart, selling 200,000 copies.
According to the Official Charts Company, the song has sold 432,000 copies in the United
Kingdom.
Uses in media The song was used for a viral video composed
by the campaign team for French presidential election candidate and current president François
Hollande.
Credits and personnel The credits for "Niggas in Paris" are adapted
from the liner notes of Watch the Throne.
Recording Recorded at: Hôtel Meurice, Paris.
Personnel Kanye West – songwriting, vocals, production
Jay-Z – songwriting, vocals Hit-Boy – songwriting, production
Mike Dean – mastering, songwriting, production Anthony Kilhoffer – audio mixing, additional
production Noah Goldstein – recording
Reverend W.A.
Donaldson – songwriting Samples
Contains audio from the motion picture Blades of Glory, used courtesy of Paramount Pictures,
and contains elements of "Baptizing Scene", performed and written by Reverend W.A.
Donaldson.
Charts and certifications Release history