don’t you agree?
I made Jesus walks so never going to hell
Couture level flow its never going on sale
Luxury rap, the Hermes of verses
Sophisticated ignorance
Write my curses in cursive
I get it custom
You a customer
You aint accustomed to going through customs
You aint been nowhere huh?
And all the ladies in the house got them showing off
I’m done I hit ya up, manana!
I’m digging “Otis”, firstly for the sample, and secondly for how Ye set that shit off! all three verses, Kanye wins. I listened to this song about 10 times in a row to try to catch it all. I have to say his wordplay had a more lasting impression on me. Only thing that bothers me is the placement of that “wailing” it just really does nothing for the track. its also pretty short so I’m not sure if the album version will include a hook of some sort, but it doesn’t need one IMO.
You already know how I feel about these guys. Anxiously awaiting Watch The Throne. If you haven’t yet peeped Hov’s lifestyle blog Life & Times (linked above), please check that out as well, some interesting stuff is on there.
I buy all Jay CDs so on the strength I gotta add this to my collection, probably the Deluxe Editioin even though yall know I’m gonna peep the leak too.
What yall think? hate it or love it? indifferent?
The Soundtrack of My Life 
I. FREAKIN. LOVE. THIS. SONG.
They had me at the “Try a Little Tenderness” loop. Then Hov drops “I invented swag” with the “All I Need” callback and I pretty much lost it.
And let me say how REFRESHING it is to hear Kanye get in the booth and RAP, like REALLY RAP. One of the things I’m looking forward to on Watch the Throne is the chemistry/competition between these two because I knew Kanye would go in spittin’ like his life depended on it. With Jay getting older, I honestly WANT Kanye to be heir to the throne, but I was so over all his “artsy” crap. I wanted to hear the dude just rhyme. He totally did it for me on this song.
Also, shout out to you Twin, as we were the first people (on my timeline at least) to tweet the “Sophisticated ignorance” line. lol
I’m feeling it, it hot track and kanye definitely owned the track. At this point jay is at a place where he doesn’t have to own every track, especially not w/kanye. Since kanye verse on “run this town” I think jay has entrusted him to do his thing, bc imo proir to that verse jay always outshined kanye.
Otis is nice but someone brought up great point on my tl lastnight about a simlear song(very soulful sample) that’s better but overlooked, “the joy”. I went back and listened to it last night and sure enough when u take away the hype/newness of Otis, The Joy was better song. I think it got lost in the hype of MBDTF album as a whole. It was a misc “good friday” track(and goin be a bonus on WTT delux) that got lost in the shuffle, I even forgot they put it out. Even on that track Kanye owns it: clever rhyme scheme and lost of qoutables.
So I say all of that to say, if u like Otis please revisit/relisten to The Joy, it will put things in perspective and give shne to overlooked track. Otis is nice but after comparing it to the joy I realized I gave it more credit than it deserves due to hype/newness
I saw mention of “The Joy” last night too. I will revisit.
and yall know I don’t really do posts about “new shit”but the last time I did…I just remember right before reading your comment G, was when “Run This Town” came out–and then, I was also hype off of how Ye went off on the track.
I agree Hov at this point doesn’t have to own every song. I’m def copping Watch the Throne!!!!
Oh yea my favorite line was “I adopted these niggas, I phillip Drummond’d em!”
Most might have forgot but Phillip drummond was the adoptive (white) father from “different strokes”. Like who digs that deep in history and plus out an overlooked but iconic gem in pop culture? Lol only kanye
I thought that line was funny too. you swear people don’t know pop culture! That was an easy one. but I’m old as shit too. LOL
Reecie, you’re a Stan though…
This is an okay track at best. The wordplay is to be expected from these two. But remember that Kanye writes and is very creative. Lyrically, I think that people aren’t used to hearing mainstream artists come across lyrical. But if you listen to someone like Lupe Fiasco, it makes you respect this wordplay a lot less because it’s just surface-level at best. I don’t know, I think a lot of my reaction to this song was tarnished by the fact that I saw the response on Twitter and then heard the actual song and was like, “You people just gassed because you ain’t heard them rap in a while.”
I loved it the second I heard it, but for me it’s really all about the sample. I listened to it carefully this morning after seeing multiple tweets about Kanye’s wordplay and I was kinda like…meh. I realize that – although I respect him as a musical genius – Kanye just doesn’t really do it for me. Blasphemy I know.
@ Dr J. “You people just gassed because you ain’t heard them rap in a while.”
THIS COULD BE TRUE! for a lot of people. but I really do dig the sample and the flow too. and I’m a Jay stan, not a Kanye one but I give him his props when he raps his ass off…
For some reason I usually won’t listen to Jay’s leaked tracks/albums. I like to wait until it drops and then wait maybe a week or two after that (let everyone’s hype/opinions die down in my mind) and then listen from my own perspective. I did listen to this Otis track (going against all that lol) and am feeling it. LOVE the sample…Ye killed it (I have a newfound love and respect for this man after seeing him live at Essence…he puts on an AMAZING show…and is very humble-who else would enter their concert on a platform in the middle of the arena and then WALK up the arena floor shaking hands to get TO his stage. Love him) and Jay can do (almost) no wrong in my eyes. These guys are the Best of Both Worlds #noRKelly to me. Hoping for great things from this album. Thanks for sharing.
I WANT to like all music that comes from any reasonable amount of effort. I still get excited about hiphop music like its ’95. But reading the Twitter/FB hype prior to hearing the song blew it for me. I disagree with everyone claiming this song is extra “soulful.” Doesnt strike me as soulful as so much as it is funky. The beat is definitely funky and I nod to it right away. I tend to like beats like that that are pretty much just ill loops without heavy drums. I’m kind of deaf though, so the vocal sample had me straining to catch some of the lyrics at first listen or two; it drowned them out some.
Jay seemed cool comfy on it and rightfully so. Nothing out of this world but not wack of course. Ye sounded like he was having fun just spitting braggadocious bars, which I tend to like, but I didnt think any of the lines were super crazy. Both were cool. The song is a play rather than a skip, but its not the second coming. I heard people posting that they are going to save hiphop and etc etc after they heard this? Chill. I’m just curious to know at what price the Watch the Throne Tour tix will start at.
It’s and interesting track. I loved the use of “Try A Little Tenderness” in a hip hop song. I’m interested to hear what other leaks may come out before the cd drops.
Nice sample, and Kanye kills it. Fortunately for me, I’m more likely to like anything Kanye puts out regardless of what folks say on twitter, and who doesn’t like Otis Redding? And Jay? Even before I heard it, I knew it would be a good match. And I’ve been bumping it ever since. Added it to my run mix.
Looking forward to WTT.
I think the track is good, but I expected more Stadium Status material (think Run This Town, Diamonds, etc). I appreciate the lyrical wordplay. Say what you want but they destroyed that track lyrically. The sample is a cool type of strange. I dig it.
WTT should be solid… key word SHOULD BE