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| "Niggas in Paris" | ||||
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| Single by Jay-Z and Kanye West | ||||
| from the album Watch the Throne | ||||
| Released | September 13, 2011 | |||
| Recorded | 2010–2011 | |||
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| Length | 3:39 | |||
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| Jay-Z singles chronology | ||||
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| Kanye West singles chronology | ||||
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| "Niggas in Paris" on YouTube | ||||
"Niggas in Paris" (censored as "Ni**as in Paris"[1]) is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaborative studio album, Watch the Throne (2011). The song was produced by Hit-Boy with West and Mike Dean, while Anthony Kilhoffer contributed additional production. The producers served as co-writers with Jay-Z and Reverend W.A. Donaldson, the latter of whom was credited due to a sample of his work. Jay-Z envisioned the song's concept as how the two obtained their wealth instead of showing it off, using it as a momentary question of their status. Pusha T was originally offered the beat, yet rejected it due to the playful sound. The beat was crafted by Hit-Boy in five minutes and went unused until he was called by Don C, then he provided it for the song. On September 13, 2011, the song was released to US rhythmic and urban contemporary radio stations as the album's fourth single, through Def Jam, Roc Nation, and Roc-A-Fella
An uptempo hip hop and club song with elements of West Coast rap, "Niggas in Paris" features a minimalist beat and samples from "Baptizing Scene" by Donaldson. The song also samples a couple of excerpts of Will Ferrell from the sports comedy film, Blades of Glory (2007). Lyrically, it carries a theme of black empowerment as Jay-Z and West discuss defying their odds to achieve extensive wealth and success. Jay-Z envisions he would have elsewise found himself in jail, while West asserts that his doctors diagnosed him with an illness for his realness. The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, who mostly highlighted Jay-Z and West's verses. Some praised the synthesizer driven production and focus was also placed on the samples from Blades of Glory, while a few critics saw it as an album highlight.
The song was named to year-end lists for 2011 by multiple publications, such as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. It was awarded Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, alongside winning Track of the Year and Best Club Banger at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards. Later appearing on retrospective lists of numerous outlets, "Niggas in Paris" was ranked as the 81st best song of all time by NME in 2014. The song reached number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 11th top-five hit for Jay-Z and the 10th for West on the chart. Also in the United States, it topped the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts. The song attained top–20 positions in Canada, Denmark, Scotland, and the United Kingdom. It was certified diamond in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America, standing as Jay-Z's first single to achieve this certification and West's second. The song further received triple platinum certifications in Denmark and the UK by IFPI Danmark and the British Phonographic Industry, respectively.
An accompanying music video was premiered at the entrance to Shoreditch High Street railway station in February 2012, using split screen kaleidoscopic effects to go between Jay-Z and West performing the song at the Staples Center and footage of their crowd. The music video received a nomination for Video of the Year at the 2012 BET Awards, while it was nominated for Best Editing and Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. Jay-Z and West performed the song repeatedly at concerts on the Watch the Throne Tour (2011–12), providing the largest number of performances at a concert in Paris. The rappers performed the song three times for Jay-Z's set at BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend in 2012, three years before West delivered a performance of it at the Glastonbury Festival. The song was used as a soundtrack across different forms of media, including Otter Spice Productions' browser game, Kanye Zone (2012). Katy Perry performed an acoustic version of it for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in March 2012, replacing the explicit language with alternate phrases. In October 2011, the remix of "Niggas in Paris" was released, featuring a verse from T.I.