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"H•A•M"
Single by Jay-Z and Kanye West
from the album Watch the Throne
Released	January 11, 2011 (2011-01-11)
Recorded	2010–2011
Genre	Hardcore hip hop trap rap opera
Length	4:38
Label	Roc-A-Fella Roc Nation Def Jam
Songwriter(s)	Shawn Carter Kanye West Lexus Lewis
Producer(s)	Lex Luger
Jay-Z singles chronology
"Monster" (2010) "H•A•M" (2011) "Otis" (2011)
Kanye West singles chronology
"Christmas in Harlem" (2010) "H•A•M" (2011) "E.T." (2011)

"H•A•M" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West. It was released as the first single from their collaborative studio album Watch the Throne on January 11, 2011. It was produced by Lexus "Lex Luger" Lewis and Kanye West. The song has served as the opening track to the duo's Watch the Throne Tour. Various rap artists have remixed it, such as Ace Hood and Busta Rhymes. The song was featured in the 2012 film Project X. It peaked at No. 23 on Billboard Hot 100.

Background and recording

Jay-Z and West are both American rappers who have collaborated on several tracks together, such as singles like "Swagga Like Us" (2008), "Run This Town" (2009), and "Monster" (2010). In 2010, the two began production and recording together for a collaborative record titled Watch the Throne. "H•A•M" includes additional vocals from opera singer Aude Cardona, who also sings on the track "Illest Motherfucker Alive". Cardona explained that she once woke up to a message asking if she was an opera singer and did not initially realize it was from West's manager, who was recruiting her for the album. The team knew of Cardona because a friend from Jive Records recommended her to the owner of Electric Lady Studios and she was surprised to record at the location of The Mercer Hotel in SoHo, Manhattan, only meeting West there and finding him to be very nice. Cardona found that despite West being clear in his vision, he was willing to listen to other ideas and allowed the singer to improvise for much of her solo parts. She appreciated the song for mixing hip hop with opera and spent seven hours recording her vocals, delivering many takes in high C notes as she aimed for West's desired combination of gospel and R&B to offer a modern sound. On January 10, 2011, "H•A•M" leaked via Facebook at midnight and was played over 43,000 times within nine hours, being shared online as an MP3 too. In an August 2011 interview with 99 Jamz, Jay-Z described "H•A•M" as a "super intense" song that is difficult to listen to on its own, yet can be experienced differently in the context of Watch the Throne. He called the song a "massive hit record", intending for it to be played at concerts rather than "inside your home".

In January 2011, record producer Lex Luger disclosed that West and Jay-Z had recruited him for production on the album. The producer was not fully certain about the position initially, although he appreciated his opportunity of the collaboration. Lex Luger sent West and Jay-Z the track for "H•A•M" during recording sessions for the former's fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in November 2010, standing as one of the two beats he requested to use. He originally provided around eight beats to West when recording in New York, where they worked on the album track "See Me Now". Lex Luger predicted "H•A•M" would be "aggressive and hard", continuing the style of his previous production work on Rick Ross' "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" (2010) and Waka Flocka Flame's "Hard in da Paint" (2009). After receiving the track, West added his production work that included a choir and did not allow Lex Luger to listen until it was finalized for the premiere in January 2011. The producer attributed this to West's perfectionist approach, feeling he required his material to be "10 times greater than everything".

Release and reception

On January 7, 2011, West tweeted the song's cover art, which was created by Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy. He also announced "H•A•M" would be released on January 11. It was released for Music download in the United States as the album's lead single on the scheduled date, through Jay-Z's labels Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. During a private listening event at The Mercer Hotel on July 7, 2011, Jay-Z said that the song was reflective of the album having been scaled back from its earlier iterations that were more dramatic and intricately planned. Jay-Z and West were reluctant to release the song and retrospectively, the former felt the first single should have featured the two rapping back and forth for three minutes with no hook. On August 23, 2011, Def Jam, Roc Nation, and Roc-A-Fella released the deluxe edition of West and Jay-Z's album Watch the Throne, including "H•A•M" as the 14th track. Fellow rapper and producer Swizz Beatz commented positively on the song, saying, "I think that those being both of my friends, and knowing that people can team up on such a high caliber level – as musicians, as rappers, as friends, as peers – I think it's super positive, and I think that if more of the industry did moves like this it would be a better place for everybody." "H•A•M" received mixed reviews from critics. The song received a three out of five star review from Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone. Kevin O'Donnell of Spin praised the song by saying, "Kanye's latest, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was the most epic album of 2010 – and the rapper's ambitions haven't eased up one bit here. The track morphs into the weirdest sounding opera ever, with a female singing window-shattering trills over a gospel piano progression and the song's hard-hitting beat."

Live performances and remixes

In February 2011, West delivered a solo rendition of the song during the premiere party for Nike's The Black Mamba. On March 19, West and Jay-Z performed "H•A•M" during Vevo's GOOD Music show for South by Southwest (SXSW) at an abandoned power plant in Austin, Texas. The performers entered the stage as fireworks went off in the sky above and West rapped along with Jay-Z during his verse, looking him directly in the face. A few months after the performance, it was uploaded to YouTube by Vevo in July 2011. On May 10, West brought out Jay-Z to perform the song towards the end of his benefit concert for the annual party of the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, New York. During West and Jay-Z's Watch the Throne Tour that ran from 2011 until 2012, they performed the song as the opening number. The rappers performed it for Samsung Galaxy's SXSW concert at the Austin Music Hall on March 12, 2014, accompanied by a 12-foot video cube at the center of the stage.

Busta Rhymes made a remix to the song. Roscoe Dash also did a freestyle to it for the intro to his "Dash Effect" Mixtape. Also freestyles have been made by Lupe Fiasco, Lil' Kim, Chingy, 40 Cal, Papoose, Emilio Rojas, Ace Hood, Lil Wyte (who renamed it "Porter House") and XV (who renamed the song "Heroes Amongst Men"). Odd Future members Tyler, The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, and Domo Genesis also remixed the song and freestyled it on Hot 97.

Chart performance

On January 19, 2011, "H•A•M" made its debut on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 23 and on the US Billboard Hot Digital Songs at number 10, with digital sales of 125,000 units.

Credits and personnel

• Produced by Lex Luger
• Co-produced by Kanye West
• Additional production by Mike Dean
• Recorded by Noah Goldstein (assisted by Matt Arnold) at Real World Studios and (The Mercer) Hotel
• Mixed by Mike Dean at (The Mercer) Hotel
• Cello: Christopher "Hitchcock" Chorney
• Cello arrangement: Mike Dean
• Additional vocals: Aude Cardona and Jacob Lewis Smith
• Creative direction: Ricardo Tisci

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

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• 2011 singles
• Jay-Z songs
• Kanye West songs
• Hardcore hip hop songs
• Trap music songs
• Roc-A-Fella Records singles
• Roc Nation singles
• Def Jam Recordings singles
• Song recordings produced by Lex Luger (musician)
• Song recordings produced by Kanye West
• Song recordings produced by Mike Dean (record producer)
• Songs written by Jay-Z
• Songs written by Kanye West
• Songs written by Lex Luger (musician)