Ni**as in Paris

Jay-Z and Kanye West began recording the track at Le Meurice in Paris in November 2010, then finished and mixed it at The Mercer Hotel in New York in 2011. The original release credits Hit-Boy, Kanye West, Mike Dean, Anthony Kilhoffer, and Noah Goldstein alongside the two artists. Released as part of Watch the Throne in 2011, the track became one of the album’s defining singles and reached No. 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while also topping the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts. It was met with widespread critical acclaim and won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 2013 Grammy Awards. The song became a long-running signature for both artists, powering repeated live performances on the Watch the Throne Tour and later becoming a diamond-certified hit in the United States. Its hook, production, and status as a career-defining collaboration have kept it a recurring reference point in 2010s hip-hop retrospectives.