Niggas in Paris
2011 single by Jay-Z and Kanye West
"Niggas in Paris" (censored as "Ni**as in Paris") 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. Pusha T was originally offered the beat, yet rejected it due to the playful sound. The beat was crafted by Hit-Boy and went unused until he was called by Don C, and he then 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 and Jon Heder 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.
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This entry incorporates text from “Niggas in Paris” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.