Jay-Z And Kanye West's 'Otis': Spike Jonze-Directed Video Drops

With Watch the Throne's hugely buzzed-about Monday morning release on iTunes, its wide release today, and now the premiere of their first music video off the album, this can probably officially go down in history as Watch the Throne Week.

Jay-Z and Kanye West dropped the Spike Jonze-directed video for their single, "Otis," on five different outlets Thursday at 8:56 p.m. EST (it arrived three minutes late, for the record, but who's refreshing their screen every two seconds?): MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV.com and BET got the exclusive -- but really its two outlets, since four of them are pretty much the same.

The video begins in crisp colors (a far cry from the grainy black and white in the teaser trailer) with the duo torching a Maybach in a large, empty warehouse yard. They tear that car apart and create some sort of makeshift convertible, which they then drive around the lot aimlessly in circles, with four young girls riding high in the back.

The video has a real light, soft quality to it. Jay and Kanye amble around almost in slow-motion, talking down to the camera all giddy-like. It climaxes with the duo laughing maniacally as sparks shoot up all around them. It makes you think, as Spike Jonze always does, this is what a music video should be.

Also of note: a young man in a suit and sunglasses -- none other than actor/comedian Aziz Ansari -- makes a few cameos, driving the car, dancing around and acting awkwardly cool with them standing next to the car. Ansari and West have been friends ever since Ansari asked West for permission to name his standup comedy tour the "Glow in the Dark" tour, after West's tour of the same name. And the rest is history.

WATCH the video for "Otis":

Get More: JAY Z and Kanye West, Music, More Music Videos

Comments

[Rachael78]

05:08 AM on 08/18/2011

this song is hawt. I griped at the imagery in the video before, but can't stop listening to this song.

[Niasia]

04:21 PM on 08/16/2011

Well I liked it...It was fun. Geez people if oyu don't like or care fr it fine just don't click. See a simple fix.

[bokhattak]

03:23 PM on 08/16/2011

Hip-hop is an art form like any other that, when created with honesty, represents the artist in that moment. These two have worked to create empires for themselves and it seems that in this moment, they are flaunting their wealth in a real way. If you have issue with black men having wealth and power, I can see how this would be disconcerting. I, for one, congratulate them both on their success and wish them more.

All that said, I have to defer to a song from one of the greatest hip-hop albums (in my opinion) of all time - "Fear Not Of Man" from Mos Def's Black On Both Sides. Forgive the abridged lyrics, but I'm bringing in the pertinent parts:

"Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin".
"So.. if Hip-Hop is about the people
and the.. Hip-Hop won't get better until the people get better
... people get better
when they start to understand that, they are valuable
... they valuable caause they been created by God"

Does this song from Jay-Z and Kanye represent the people getting better? I can't say... because I'm not going to judge them or their art. For me, it's a track worth listening to a few times simply because it sounds hot but at the end of the day, I'm getting back to some hip-hop that feeds my soul.

[LLNYRN]

08:24 AM on 08/16/2011

I saw The Bar-Kays and Steve Cropper at an outdoor concert in the pouring rain a few days ago. They did Otis Redding better than these guys ever will.

A song that was seen as one of the emotional anthems for Black American Struggle reduced to some dudes bragging about themselves and what they have.

And has anyone caught what the b-side to the "OTIS" promotional single is?
"NI**AS IN PARIS".
Says a lot, doesn't it?

And my friends wonder way I gave up on Hip-Hop/Rap almost 15 years ago, when Wu-Tang's "WU-TANG FOREVER" was released. I consider that 2-CD set to be the LAST GREAT Hip-Hop/Rap piece. There hasn't been anything good since.

[Disco Stewpid]

01:22 PM on 08/16/2011

check out Dälek if you haven't already. they're still producing some quality experimental beats and lyrics. "absence" and "abandoned language" are good albums to start with.

[Rachael78]

04:07 AM on 08/14/2011

I lost all respect for these two watching this video. They might be worth a billion between them, but they are acting like slaves. Someone should do a mashup with Birth of a Nation and show these fools driving around with four "status symbol" white women in the backseat. Bigger Thomas much?

Bros, we have to love ourselves first and above all.

[Niasia]

04:18 PM on 08/16/2011

So even though Jay Z is married to a black woman we still need to be objectified in his video? Oh please with your outrage.

[Rachael78]

05:25 PM on 08/17/2011

No, he can objectify a black woman at home. Ha ha.

I wouldn't care if he had a white wife. Love is a beautiful thing and that's his business. I am commenting on images made for the public and consumed by young black girls. You know- girls maybe close to the complexion of the two "stars".

You liked the video and its imagery? You liked (or didn't have an opinion on) the models they used? Good for you. I am saying how I feel.

[oalvarez]

12:57 AM on 08/13/2011

If you support and let yourself be influence by these sad illuminati puppet performers you deserve everything you get. This YouTube channel describes the type of indoctrination at play with these big summer rap/hip hop music releases. You don't have to take their word for it either. Do your own research. You'll see a pattern emerging. Google Professor Griff as well. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9AB9FC8DFCE80143

[Jonas Brother]

07:44 PM on 08/12/2011

The problem with hiphop today are people like the ones in this thread, old white people with no sense for anything new talking about it and thinking that their opinion is worth more than a 3 year olds.

1. The car is going up for auction to raise money for the hunger crisis in Africa

2. Black people have been going through a 10 times worse recession since the US was founded, now you get a little taste of what black people go through everyday and then all of a sudden it's forbidden for black people to be successful and celebrate.

3. The song is a celebration, celebrating the late great Otis, life in general, hiphop, latinos, black people, America, success and more. Just a big ass celebration. I don't see white folks saying anything when Celine Dion's neckless costs more than this whole video.

4. The video is classic hiphop, In a spot with no extras, having fun and trying to spread happiness (to the people who feel no envy or anger for black success). Song has no hook meaning that it's not for you pop, country old folks and on.

5. It's embarrassing that after all this time, a little black success brings out the inner racist in people and worse from a mostly liberal site.

[kenhamlett]

08:03 PM on 08/12/2011

While I agree that the charitable aspects of the release are admirable, hip-hop today has become music for TV commercials and elevators. When that happens, you know it is time for something new ....

[Rachael78]

04:09 AM on 08/14/2011

962 fans? Do you get paid for the content you write?

[JustAnotherTalkingHead]

09:01 PM on 08/15/2011

While it may be true that much of Hip-Hop has turned commercial, you could say that about other genres as well, specifically modern rock. There are numerous hip hop artists that aren't about TV commercials. The most poignant example in recent months is Shabazz Palaces. They're absolutely something new, fresh, and innovative.

[ipv4]

08:35 PM on 08/12/2011

Why this gota be all about white people. Stop projecting your own prejudices.

[NatTurner1]

07:28 PM on 08/12/2011

I like how folks "diss" this great track because it samples Otis, but never had a problem when Elvis stole from "Big Boy" Crudup & "Big Mama" Thornton.

Hypocrites!

[Jonas Brother]

07:49 PM on 08/12/2011

If Elvis was black and stole from a white person and the internet was around back then it would be 10000 negative comments about what a bad person he is. It's Otis Redding basically not saying a single word just chopping his voice cause Kanye wanted to keep it classic hiphop back when black people couldn't afford instruments and big studios to record so they bought small machines to sample the sounds of the streets, rock, disco and electronic sounds to create beats. It's an art very hard to master, that's why Kanye West, Rza, Pete Rock, Dr. Dre and Dj Premier are so ahead of most people when it comes to sampling cause they've mastered it. Personally I find it easier to recreate a song with a guitar, than to recreate a Dr. Dre sample.

[DisAMedia]

08:46 PM on 08/12/2011

It is not at all as hard as you say it is to make that beat. You find the BPM of that song, you find the clips you want, and you use a sampler. My friend is a sick producer for a hip hop group, and good sampling is hard - RZA's samples are hard. DJ Premier's samples r hard - especially when they do it with the wheels of steel. But Kanye's has never been very intricate, and the proof is in the pudding; especially if you ever have used a program like Logic before.

[ipv4]

08:29 PM on 08/12/2011

DAAAAM!! Stop taking it so personal. You keep repeating your tired old line.

[lmab]

08:44 AM on 08/13/2011

That's all he knows how to do......Just another form of sampling.....nothing new.

[rakimfan]

02:03 PM on 08/12/2011

This is Hip Hop plain and simple. Making something from nothing. At the very least they triggered sales for Redding's catalog. At it's best it is an anthem of the summer.

[ipv4]

05:18 PM on 08/12/2011

This isn't making something from nothing. They are sampling a song and rapping over it.

[NatTurner1]

07:24 PM on 08/12/2011

Better than Elvis re-doing all of the music of Otis Blackwell and putting his own music and spin on the style of what "Big Boy" Crudup and "Big Mama" Thornton did. What was good for Elvis should be good for Jay-Z.

[BehruzBahman]

07:55 PM on 08/12/2011

rapping isn't making something from nothing?

[korbendal]

01:25 PM on 08/12/2011

The only Rap music I'm still able to listen to is 90's rap...
Notorious BIG, Snoop Dog's "Jin n Juice", etc.
Now Rap music became to music... what Remakes are to their original movies..
In other words.. it may sound different, edgy (especially with that annoying repeating siren/horn effect, and Lil' John's random blurbs).. but can't beat the original.
There's nothing really memorable about a Rap song these days.. they all sound the same...
and the worse thing is that they keep appearing in each other's songs, and "remixing" each other's songs, which dilutes Rap even further... (I'm sure there are millions of variations of Lil' Wayne's "Lollypop" nowadays)
BTW.. does anyone even remember Terror Squad's "Lean Back"?
my feedback is towards the current commercial Rap artists that are showed down our throats by the record companies..
I'm sure there are still great rappers out there..

[rakimfan]

01:57 PM on 08/12/2011

Lean Back is not 90's Rap. Also, Biggie was a Bad Boy artist. Bad Boy was the number one label to repurpose entire songs from old school catalogs. Just say you don't like the record.

[Jonas Brother]

08:05 PM on 08/12/2011

Rap was founded of sampling from the fact that inner city kids couldn't afford studios, instruments and such and had no market unless they were singing. So they mixed up different sounds on a mix board and had different people rapping in the park. The 80s had the most sampling of all decades, lately rap has a lot less sampling. Like Kanye West's biggest single of 2010 All of the lights, he produced and composed a whole orchestra with over 20 artists to create that song. But with Otis he's taking it back to the original hiphop idea. And he's respecting the late great, besides that his wife and family loves the song and they love the fact that they are getting paid a lot.

[Veneita]

12:14 PM on 08/12/2011

:o?

[scorpioleidy]

11:04 AM on 08/12/2011

I've never bought a single song or DVD from either of these c/owns. And I never will!

[copelli21]

11:07 AM on 08/12/2011

99 problems and you not buying a Jay-Z song ain't one.

[thalius]

11:51 AM on 08/12/2011

haaa, I like that. copelli21.

[Rachael78]

05:07 AM on 08/18/2011

f&f

[Eric Frazier]

10:04 AM on 08/12/2011

Stop! Do not press play on this video, it is crap. They just rapped over "Try a little tenderness". Do yourself a favor go buy "Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul", "Love Man" and "Otis Blue" You will thank me and yourself later.

[NatTurner1]

07:25 PM on 08/12/2011

And while you are at it, never buy or play an Elvis song as its no more than "Big Boy" Crudup and"Big Mama" Thornton!

[lmab]

08:52 AM on 08/13/2011

If originality were required....you would be banned from posting.

[Lewis Reginald Morris]

09:38 AM on 08/12/2011

I'm not the biggest fan of Watch The Throne, but the absolute hatred here mystifies me.

Look, as a long time hip hop fan, I happen to like the fun songs that recall the earlier days in hip hop, and I like those music videos to reflect that. Maybe the people disliking this video aren't well-versed in hip hop, or just plain don't like it. Maybe that's why I happen to enjoy this video, because it recalls the days of hip hop when it was fun, and not the over-serious completely idiotic rap out on radio nowadays. These guys are actually rapping... There's actual lyrics. And, it's fun to listen to. The use of the Otis Redding sample is well used here. It indicates a fun vibe, the vibe of two friends rapping in their basement for fun.

I understand that a lot of people hate Kanye West, and I don't even particularly like him myself. However, it seems that most of the people here tuned in and watch this video just to hate it and overly criticize a video that isn't even meant to be all that deep in the first place...

Just replace Jay-Z and Kanye West with some other group or duo, like the Beastie Boys (which is what this video reminded of... no coincidence, Spike Jonze directed it), then y'all would be loving it.

[Tblack]

10:26 AM on 08/12/2011

Sorry. But this is a rough draft of everything. Music, video, you name it. Otis Redding well used? Ye is actually rapping? Compared to what? Asher Roth? This is just bad and in poor taste considering the state of our economy and the 16% black unemployment rate. I seriously expect more from Spike too.

[DisAMedia]

12:19 PM on 08/12/2011

LOL Tblack. Asher Roth's bullshit is still more lyrical than Kan. Rage Against the Machine ain't even considered hip hop by most, but Zack de la Rocha is political - not that murder to excellence crap. That's rehash. Lewis, you ever listen to like MFDoom or Mos Def or Jean Grae? There's at least 30 MC's in the game (or even folks who retired) who are better than Jay and Kan, and it's sickening. Listen to Nicki Minaj rip em apart on that Monsta garbage. Nicki's got rapping skills, but she don't got anything else, and EVEN SHE killed JayCons

[DisAMedia]

12:16 PM on 08/12/2011

Actual lyrics!? Listen, I love hip hop to the death. I even got Jay's Vol 3, 2, and reasonable doubt. But the party days of hip hop ended with "The Message". Hip Hop is an avant-garde. A cultural movement against the mainstream. IT IS NOT the mainstream and should never try and dumb itself down to be that. Otis Redding samples been used several times by RZA with no acknowledgement. Masta Killa's album No Said Date's got a sick sample from the same song on D.T.D. Ghostface kills it. Even on the underground - there's a rap group that I've been listening to, underground, called the digital sickness, and their production is infinitely better than Kanye's. http://soundcloud.com/the-digital-sickness . The point is: this is called "WATCH THE THRONE!" They are saying they are kings. They are the best. And they're not at all. They're just nihilists.

[Lewis Reginald Morris]

12:34 PM on 08/12/2011

It kills me when people say "hip hop is THIS" or "hip hop is THAT". Look, Hip-Hop is avant-garde, fun party music, political commentary, gutter gangster rap, social commentary, etc. It doesn't have to fit in the narrow minded "against the mainstream" viewpoint you're putting it in. It is much too big as a culture to stuff it in such a vague category.

I prefer the underground to mainstream rap. I prefer Duck Down Records and Stones Throw (and even Decon Records) to what is popular now. But, I'm not gonna hate this song just because it's mainstream. I like it because I happen to think it's a good song. Not great, but good.

[Orris Root]

11:02 AM on 08/16/2011

Hate to break it to you but hip hop is mainstream now. And listening to you name drop old school artists to make yourself seem credible makes me cringe. We understand, you like old school hip hop. I like old school hip hop as well but i like some of the new stuff as well. All categorized on my iTunes depending on my mood I pic a category. same goes for my movie collection, depending on my mood I pic a category. I know that if I pick a Jud Apathow movie or Michael Bay movie I'm not gonna have a philosophical discussion about it later. I go in and enjoy it for what each category is. Senseless comedy, Summer blockbuster blow stuff up movie. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy them just because I also like thought provoking movies

[SimonBao]

09:25 AM on 08/12/2011

Weak, ill-advised, without creative merit.

One, if anyone wants to honor or enjoy Otis Redding's work, go listen to Otis. This track does nothing to honor Otis Redding, adds nothing to the original. Merely mucks it up.

Second, it's 2011 and these 2 clowns still constantly feel around for their own d*cks. Rewatch the video and just pay attention to where each keeps putting his own hands. I *could* say something about how they're both too old to still be checking to see if their testicles have dropped.

Now that even Justin Bieber does the same thing on stage when he's performing, grabbing at the Bieber twig and berries, one would think that Jay-Z and West would both abandon such a "trademark" juvenile gesture. It's no longer a legitimate form of "swagger" if Bieber is doing it too.

Third, if two Asian American recording artists made a video showcasing "Supermodels" in the back of the car, and the Beautiful Women were all white, I'd question what's up with that - I'm half-Asian and I'm entitled to ask whats up with that. One Beautiful Woman in the car *might* be multi-racial, she *might* be Latino, she might even be white. But there is absolutely no Beautiful Woman in this video who's clearly and distinctively African-American.

Odd, to deliberately exclude such a woman from the cast. And beyond question that such casting is deliberate.

[rgc]

09:41 AM on 08/12/2011

f&f

[Tblack]

10:27 AM on 08/12/2011

Fanned as well. Uninspired school yard bravado garbage.

[DisAMedia]

12:22 PM on 08/12/2011

AND it LITERALLY adds NOTHING to the original. Jay & Kan could never record anything like sitting at the dock of the bay or a change is gonna come. (i know it's sam cooke, but Otis's version is too good.)

[Cornelia36]

02:35 PM on 08/12/2011

DisAMedia - i was going to fan you in an earlier post... for talking about how we need Chuck - D in times like these.....but you had to go on and mention Otis Redding AND Sam Cooke?!! Faved and fanned!!