Niggas in Paris

This song deserves so much more attention, and by that I mean for the underlying meaning of the song, not for the beat or the artists involved. For all the criticism 'Ye and Jay have received, I believed they have crafted a song with a message matching it's rhythm and cadence. The parallel I immediately drew is with Ernest Hemingway's famous novel, The Sun Also Rises, the first half of which takes place in 1924 post-war Paris. The characters in the novel all struggle with deep-seeded insecurities concerning their masculinity and social superiority over others, and spend most of their time getting drunk and displaying narcissistic, arrogant behavior to try and impress the most prominent female character in the book, Brett. This allusion would explain the most braggartly lines in the song, including Jay's self-comparison to "Jackson, Tyson, Jordan," the mention of partying with "gold bottles, [while] scold[ing] models," and Kanye's claim that "doctors say I'm the illest." Another recurring motif in the novel is the character's intentional aloofness, their transparent front of general apathy, which they put up to protect themselves from revealing their true feelings. This is also alluded to, as Jay-Z says his "Nets could go 0-82 and I look at you like this shit gravy," and Kanye's line "Fuck that girl she don't wanna dance," feigning disinterest in Jay's heavy investment into the Nets, and what girls think of them to appear powerful. The main character of the book, Jake Barnes, is a veteran of WWI, and goes through the novel drinking and avoiding the subject of the war to dull the emotional pain that stems from the injury he suffered during the war. The injury has left him impotent, relating back to the theme of masculine insecurities and how the characters cover them up. Jay relates to the suffering, saying, "If you escaped what I escaped," (the war for Jake, maybe serious jail time for Jay here?) "you'd be in Paris getting fucked up too." The quips about "hot bitches I own" also mirrors the struggle that the men in The Sun Also Rises go through to control Brett, the flirty, promiscuous female lead that has several destructive relationships with men. The droning, repetitive beat matches the theme of an enduring, meaningless life the characters all live. Even the title of the album "Watch The Throne," evokes the theme of insecurity when striving for a position of power. Jay-Z and Kanye need to act like they cannot be de-throned if you will, from their seats atop the hip-hop industry, but in reality they are all too aware of their critics and the up and coming artists in position to be the next to reign over the rap game (Lil Wayne, Drake anyone?) The song and the album are beautiful, in an understated, prosaic fashion.