Jay-Z and Kanye West took wildly different approaches to their respective solo albums — and we’re not just talking about the ways they were marketed, either — so it will probably come as a surprise to learn that, once upon a time, Kanye coveted a pair of Jay’s Magna Carta tracks so badly that he was willing to fight for them.
Or at least push for them.
That’s according to Jay, who revealed to BBC Radio One host Zane Lowe that, during the making of Watch The Throne, he and ‘Ye battled over the fate of a pair of songs — “Oceans” and “Holy Grail” — that would ultimately end up on Magna Carta … Holy Grail. Seems West thought they were too good to leave on the shelf for the time being.
“We had this whole plan when me and Kanye did [the] Watch The Throne album that we would go right into our solos after that,” Jay-Z said. “Soon as I thought we had wrapped up Watch The Throne, I made two records … I had ‘Holy Grail’ and ‘Oceans’.
‘I played those records for Kanye. And he was like, ‘No, those have to go on Watch The Throne, so we spent four days arguing about those records,” he continued. “I was explaining to him why it wasn’t right for this project and I had a whole idea for making this album called Magna Carta … Holy Grail.“
Of course, as you’d probably expect, Kanye wasn’t about to give up without a fight. And over the course of those four days, things got a tad bit heated … though Jay was quick to point out that he and West never got physical. The same can’t be said, however, for other members of the WTT studio team.
“[It was] four days, four days literally arguing … not like fighting,” he said. “Well, there was some pushing at one point, but not between us. Just everyone else got a little excited.”
Of course, we all know who ended up winning that argument. Perhaps that’s why Kanye was so angry on Yeezus …
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