'Niggas in Paris': Jay-Z and Kanye Will Perform It 13 Times When They're Here. Seriously.

"Niggas in Paris": Jay-Z and Kanye Will Perform It 13 Times When They're Here. Seriously.

By Rebecca Haithcoat Tue., Nov. 29 2011 at 8:45 AM

Update: At Staples Center they ended up performing "Niggas In Paris" seven times on December 11, nine times on December 12, and ten times on December 13.

Do you enjoy "Niggas in Paris," the Jay-Z and Kanye West single dominating radio right now? Great! Because you'll be hearing it 13 times when they perform at the Staples Center in a couple weeks.

See, it's just simple math. When they kicked off their Watch The Throne tour last month in Atlanta, they ended the show by playing "Niggas in Paris" -- produced by L.A.'s own Hit Boy -- three times. ("The crowd didn't ask for an encore that time," tweeted someone named Freshalina. "Everyone was more than satisfied.")

But that was nothing; by the time they'd made it to Miami on November 15 they closed with it five times, and in Boston on November 21 they did it six times. In Montreal the next night it was reportedly performed only five times, but in Detroit on Saturday they continued upping the ante with a seven-spot.

Considering the track is about three minutes and 50 seconds, that's more than 26 minutes straight of the same damn song.

We sent all of this info to our resident scientist Shea Serrano. Using linear regressions and shit, he calculated that at this rate Jay and 'Ye will be performing the song 13 times by the time they hit L.A. on December 11. That's about 50 minutes' worth of "Niggas in Paris."

And also kind of awesome. Andy Kaufman-esque. It got us wondering how all of this came together.

Jay-Z is a crowd-pleaser at heart; he's famous for giving people what they want in concert. But this isn't that, exactly -- it's more shoving what they want down their throat. Or like when you catch your kid smoking and force her to smoke a whole pack.

Kanye is know for being subversive, but this is weird even for him. Maybe it's some sort of meta commentary on the fleeting nature of hit singles? Perhaps the idea was to accelerate the process so quickly that, instead of fans tiring of the track after a few months, they'll tire of it in a single listening session.

Tags:

Jay-Z, Kanye West, Staples Center, Watch The Throne

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Daniel Alexander DeWitt

All they are doing is enjoying how stupid everyone is. They know their fans are stupid. That's how they got rich. I mean. Who else, can take thousands of morons. Have them pay shit loads to see a show. And they only hear like 5 songs and then another song that's just played over and over again till the end of the show. It would be like producing a CD were there's only one song but it's repeated 20 times and people buy and Love it. $50 for one song. Lol. No one smart enough to catch on. That's why Jay has Billions of dollars. These Rappers PREY on the stupidity of others. Lol. Y'all been ripped off. And made them richer. I think it's funny. Lol.

Crazy French Boy

In Paris they did it 11 times. That Shit Crazy !!!!!!!!!

Sylvaindauphin

thay did it 12 times yestarday !!! In Paris again !

DarLai

10 times in LA last night. They only play the whole song twice (second and last time.) They could have played it 5 more times & I wouldn't have cared. It's about the energy. It was amazing.

Mary

In New Orleans they did it 7 times, is that a record?

rebecca

you're tied with detroit. we'll let you know how it goes out here.

Giovannitomaro

I really hate this!!!

Charles B.

No other racial or ethnic slurs would be tolerated. If they used a slur describing gays or Jews and their careers would be over. Why the double standard? What record company do they work for?

RayHuron2008

lol rappers use gay slurs all the time, and no one cares, and they still get airplay. Shut up. Also, they're black, so why would they're career be over for using a slur that is for them?

MY STADY — mystady.com

Oh shut up.

Marcofromhouston

My guess for monday's show in houston...

5 times.

And of course a Bun B appearance.

SoCalMalaise

Rap Concerts:The one place thousands of white people can get away with saying the n-word

Anonymous (for a reason)

In all honesty, being a white male I caught myself saying it quite a few times at their concert in Pittsburgh last Sunday, even when I tried not to considering the people sitting around me haha

tre

Show is 2.5 hours...40 songs or so. Note that these multiple renditions are basically the encore of the show.

tre

There are live guitar and keyboard embellishments when they perform the song.

First time is usually normal with few embellishments, the immediate encore is very lively. The song actually plays with the outro on the second time and they leave the stage.

They come back on stage and drop it again and the energy at this point is ridiculous along with the embellishments.

In Toronto (first night), they played Encore after the 3rd NIP and that just felt right to close out the show.

But man, 7 times?!?! The energy in the building must have been insane. Each rendition always manages to be crazier than the previous one...as if they're getting more drunk and wild each time.

It's pretty funny shit overall and the crowd loves it.

Kawoq

Is the track being replayed like an endless loop instrumentally or is it being crafted for its eccentric extended live version? How long is their show usually? Loved this article!