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Jay-Z & Kanye West Premiere 'Otis'

The Watch The Throne track sees them rap over a classic Otis Redding song...

King of SoulKanye West and Jay-Z have resurrected his spirit on a new track from their eagerly anticipated joint LP, Watch The Throne.
Yesterday, Yeezy and Jigga premiered the tune, entitled Otis, on New York City DJ Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 radio show, with the infectious track then making its way on the internet.


Otis opens with a slowed-down refrain lifted from Redding's 1966 version of Try A Little Tenderness. The musical icon wails: "It makes it easier, easier to bare," shortly before the piano sample is chopped and reworked. As the bass line is ushered in and the drums drop, Jay shouts out, "Sounds so soulful, wouldn't you agree?" before tearing into his boastful bars.

Jigga then raps: "I invented swag, poppin' bottles, puttin' supermodels in a cab,"before going on about his super-exclusive watch collection. Only eight bars pass before Jay tosses the mic to West, who picks up where his Big Brother left off.

West then continues: "Damn, Yeezy and Hov, where the hell you been/ N***as talkin' real reckless, stuntmen/ I adopted these n---as, Phillip Drummond 'em," turning the fictional father from the 1980s sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" into an actual verb.

But despite the pair's status in rap and their platinum success, this is no pop affair. There is no deep introspection, no intricate instrumentation, just a dusty hip-hop loop and street-bred rhymes. At one point, Jigga even threatens to murder anyone who takes issue with Kanye.
The hip-hop pair [uuid=18b3d8f4-78be-40c5-a15d-f3c4232cf94f]previously confirmed[/uuid] that after teasing Watch The Throne for months, their collaboration album will be available for download from 1st August.

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