JAY-Z and Kanye West released their joint album, Watch the Throne, exactly eight years ago today. The superstar team-up features the swaggering second single, “Otis,” which Kanye reportedly produced after being challenged by his mentor, No I.D.. In a 2012 XXL interview, the producer-turned-record-exec remembered putting his protégé on the spot.
“I get the co-productions, but how you gon' do an album and you don’t go to the machine and do one beat by yourself?” No I.D. told XXL. “We have always sparked this challenge in each other and it bled into the world, so I just wanted to hit him in the stomach real quick. This is what you got? He was like, ‘No, that’s cool. I’m bout to do something.’”
In response, Kanye flipped Otis Redding’s 1966 classic, “Try a Little Tenderness” for “Otis.” The soul-sampling production hearkens back to the style for which he became known throughout The Blueprint and College Dropout era.
According to R&B singer The-Dream, however, “Otis” was one of six records inspired by JAY-Z playing “Holy Grail” for Kanye. He broke it down in a verified annotation on the WTT opening track, “No Church in the Wild”:
As they were wrapping up Watch The Throne, Jay says, ‘Are we finished? Is this it? Okay, cool, I want to play you a record that’s gonna be on my album.’ He plays ‘Holy Grail,’ and of course a shitstorm happens. Kanye’s not an idiot. Kanye says, ‘This track is crazy, it needs to be on Watch the Throne.’ And Jay says, ‘No, that’s a single from my album.’ And that’s how I got the phone call asking me to try to do a record close to that one.
I get to New York, and we’re at the Mercer Hotel, working. We had the whole floor. I get in, Frank Ocean’s sitting there, and they’re just starting on ‘No Church in the Wild.’ So ‘Holy Grail’ itself inspired them to change Watch the Throne. Because of that record, six other records got made at that point, including ‘Otis.’
Back in 2016, Roc Nation executive Lenny Santiago shared a photo on his Instagram of Kanye producing the beat.
Lenny S also wrote a caption recalling how Kanye made the beat and rushed off to catch a flight:
[Kanye] was being reminded that he had to leave to catch his flight, he sort of brushed that off and was like, fuck it, let me just play y’all a piece of the song so you could see how dope it is. He then approached the MPC and Keyboard and plays it. Everyone in the room does the ugly face like when you hear some dope shit or see the sickest slam dunk at a contest. […] 15 or 20 minutes later before he runs off to catch his flight, he creates the phenomenal track known to us as ‘Otis.'
Regardless of its origin, “Otis” was well-received in stark contrast to the first WTT single, “H·A·M,” featuring co-production by Kanye and trap innovator Lex Luger. Despite peaking at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, the latter track drew mixed reviews for its bombastic production and simplified chorus.
“Otis” eventually peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100, winning Jay and Kanye a Grammy in 2012 for Best Rap Performance.
Read the full XXL interview here, and catch up on all the lyrics to JAY-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne on Genius now.
