Jay-Z made a trip to Paris, France, to perform at a celebration for a new Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit opening at Louis Vuitton Fondation’s Auditorium on April 14. During this private concert, he fittingly played “Ni**as in Paris,” the smash hit from his 2011 collaborative album with Kanye West, Watch The Throne.
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As of May 2022, “Ni**as in Paris” is 9x certified platinum by the RIAA, creeping up on diamond status. After its release, the song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 36 weeks. Clearly one of the most successful tracks of both Jay-Z and West’s careers, “Ni**as in Paris” still holds up. However, there was a point where the song was almost made by a different artist.
Why Pusha T Passed
While Ye and Hov were crafting Watch The Throne, Pusha T was working on his debut studio album Fear of God II: Let Us Pray, which would release three months after WTT (November 2011). Widely known as incredibly close friends and collaborators, West and Pusha shared ideas and instrumentals often.
In an interview with Sneeze Magazine shortly after his album release in 2011, Pusha was asked what it was like being in Watch The Throne studio sessions, and if there were any beats from the LP that he could’ve used instead of West and Jay-Z.
“‘Ni**as in Paris’!” he replied. “I tell people all the time that I don’t know if I would’ve attacked it that way which means the record might not have been as special once I got on it.”
Making the beat with co-producer Hit-Boy, West asked if Pusha wanted it for his album. But, as he noted above, Pusha was and still is mostly known for making edgier, dark hip-hop songs, rather than party songs like “Ni**as in Paris” would come to be. So, he decided to pass on the “Ni**as in Paris” beat, considering he already had a Hit-Boy instrumental prepped for Fear of God II: Let Us Pray.
“Ye gave me beats and that was in the bunch,” he said. “‘Ni**as in Paris’ was playful to me and I was in demonic rap mode. I was like, ‘Yo, I don’t want this right now.’ He was like, ‘Man, this will be a club smash.’ And I’m like, ‘Maybe, but don’t ask me to wrap my brain around that when I’m writing stuff like ‘My God,’ which is another Hit Boy beat.'”
Ultimately, the potential for the “Ni**as in Paris” beat was likely maximized by West and Jay-Z. But, it’s still amusing to consider the possibilities with Pusha T rapping over the instrumental instead.
(Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation)
