page_title: Niggas in Paris
section_title: Critical reception
hierarchical_section_title: Niggas in Paris / Critical reception
caption_attribution_description: English: Kanye West and Jay-Z performing at Staples Center on December 11, 2011 in Los Angeles on their Watch the Throne Tour.
context_page_description: "Niggas in Paris" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from their collaborative album Watch the Throne. The song is built around a synth bell loop from the Dirty South Bangaz music library and also contains vocal samples from "Baptizing Scene" by Reverend W.A. Donaldson, an interpolation of "Victory" by Puff Daddy featuring The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes, and dialogue excerpts from the 2007 film Blades of Glory. On the week of the album's release the song debuted at number 75 on the US Billboard Hot 100 eventually peaking at number 5. As of 2018, it has sold 6 million archetype digital units in the United States. The song won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.
context_section_description: The song received universal acclaim from many critics. Rolling Stone commented on the song by saying "Jay and Ye come in hard over a slow, menacing beat and icy synthesizer notes, but regardless, this cut is mostly memorable for including an unexpected sample of dialogue from the Will Ferrell/Jon Heder ice-skating comedy Blades of Glory. 'No one knows what it means, but it's provocative,' says Ferrell with deep conviction, essentially summing up the art of hip-hop lyrics." Erika Ramirez of Billboard commented on the song by saying, "Kanye steals the show on the Hit-Boy produced club anthem. A sampling of dialogue from the 2007 film Blades of Glory is tucked in between." The Guardian called the song a standout track on the album and also commented by saying "This percolating track could have been produced by Wiley, with sick sub-bass and a snare that sounds like static. Both rappers are in excellent form, with West repeating 'That shit cray'. Kanye begins in half-time and speeds up. Among the lines that jump out: "I'm suffering from realness" and 'Don't let me get in my zone.' A standout track." Pitchfork complimented that the song possessed great moments by Kanye West and said the following: "It also features this great Kanye moment, 'Doctors say I'm the illest because I'm suffering from realness/Got my niggas in Paris, and they going gorillas.'"
  Pitchfork named "Niggas In Paris" the 12th best track of 2011 and Rolling Stone named it the second best of the year. XXL named "Niggas In Paris" the best song of 2011 as well as the "hottest beat" of 2011. Digital Spy placed this song on their 24th spot of the best songs of 2011. It was voted number 98 in Australia's annual Triple J Hottest 100, 2011. XXL named it one of the top five hip hop songs of 2011. The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll ranked "Niggas in Paris" at number five to find the best music of 2011. Amazon named it the eighth best song of 2011. Consequence of Sound placed it 13th on its list of the top 50 songs of 2011.
  NME named "Niggas in Paris" the eighty-first best song of all time in 2014 and then later in the year, the best track of the decade thus far. In 2014, Fact ranked it 64th their list of the 100 best songs of the decade. In 2015, Billboard listed it as the fifth best song of the 2010s. The song was chosen for the year 2011 in The Rap Year Book, which deconstructed the most important rap song from every year since 1979. The song was nominated for Anthem of the Summer at the 2013 UK Festival Awards In 2018, Rolling Stone named "Niggas in Paris" the 58th best song of the 21st century.
caption: West received early acclaim for his production work on Jay-Z's The Blueprint; the two are pictured here in 2011.
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