'Nigga's In Paris' is from Kanye West and Jay-Z's album 'Watch The Throne' which was released in August 2011.
It is easy enough to assume that 'niggas in paris' is just another rap where the persona is bragging about their wealth, and in this case being able to explore and splash out in the fashionable and expensive city of Paris; "Whats Gucci my nigga? Whats Louis my killa? Whats drugs my dealer? Whats that jacket, Margiela?" . Although this could well be the case for King of arrogance and cock sure Kanye, the idea of Niggas in Paris actually has much more historical and cultural depth. In the19th Century, Paris created 'Black Paris'. African Americans travelled to the city to escape racism and receive appreciation for their talents that they did not experience in the USA. The roaring 20s saw these talented and aspiring writers and musicians fill The Moulin Rouge district and Paris soon became the Jazz capital of Europe.
History lesson over, this track also samples the 2007 comedy film Blades of Glory that starred Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The quote "We're going to skate to one song, one song only" is used as the intro and the next sample features later on;
"I dont even know what that means"
"No one knows what it means, but its provocative"
"No its not its gross"
"Gets the people GOING"
This is perhaps the most random pairing in music history and is definitely the most questioned part of the song. But think as long and hard as you want, turns out Jay and Kanye are fans of the film and simply felt that this clip was the missing piece to the track. Others will probably criticize this decision but I think most will agree that this clip really does work!! Its the type of line where if you miss it, you have to replay the whole song again just to hear it. What is rap without a bit of comedy?
The track is filled with genius lyrics and references, (even if you do just find yourself only singing 'that shit cray' over and over again).
One of my favourite being the mention of Mary-Kate and Ashley.
In the second verse, Kanye raps 'She said "Ye, can we get married at the mall?"' This could basically just refer to an actual mall ( some malls in america have auditoriums where people can get married), or it could link to the later lines "Prince Williams ain't do it right if you ask me, cause If were him I would've married Kate and Ashley" The Mall is the famous street leading up to Buckingham palace, suggesting that she wants to get married there not a shopping centre...
Here Kanye also cleverly uses a double syntax : married/mary (mary-kate/married kate(middleton) ), so maybe we can forgive him for calling the Prince Williams instead of William... oops.
Looks like Katys a fan
Love this, Ye and Jay should throw out some of these moves.
