‘Ni**as in Paris’: The Definitive Breakdown
“Ni**as in Paris,” the most popular song from Jay-Z and Kanye West‘s Watch the Throne, is a catchy eff-you anthem, a tongue-wag for troubled times. Sure, the song has earned countless radio spins and iTunes buys (and hit Number Six on the Billboard Hot 100), but it’s also become the duo’s signature live song on their Watch the Throne tour: They performed it three times in New York and six times in Miami, and when they got to Los Angeles, on December 14th, they performed it 10 times – eclipsed only by their efforts in Vancouver three nights later (11!). Just when it seemed like the madness would never end – an entire night of “Ni**as in Paris,” perhaps? – the tour ended on Sunday. Still, the numbers live on.
34: Concert dates.
2.5 hours: Estimated running time of each WTT concert.
85 hours: Total running time for 34 dates.
168: Total number of times “Ni**as in Paris” played in concert.
11: In Vancouver (12/17)
10: Los Angeles (12/14)
9: Chicago (12/1); Los Angeles (12/13)
2: Atlanta (10/28)
0: Paris
4.94: Average number of times “Paris” played, per night.
18: Minutes, on average, per date.
40:25: Running time, in minutes, of “Paris” in Vancouver, after being played 11 times.
613.2: Total live running time, in minutes.
194: Running time, in minutes, of the movie Titanic.
705: Running time, in minutes, of Band of Brothers miniseries.
26.7: Full House episodes one could watch, in that time.
2: Seconds of “married Kate and Ashley” per “Paris.”
5:36: Minutes total, as performed on tour.
93: Running time of Blades of Glory, in minutes.
10: Seconds of dialogue from Blades of Glory, on the CD version of the song.
28: Total number of minutes of Blades of Glory dialogue, when played 168 times.
134: Total times Jay-Z said, “Again!”
1,680: “Don’t let me get in my zone”-s.
2,856: “Ball so hard”-s.
0: New Jersey Nets’ regular-season games so far this year.
2,184: “CRAY”-s.
652,200: Estimated number of Watch the Throne tour tickets sold.
298.6: Ticketholders per “CRAY.”
3:39: Length, in minutes, of studio recording.
2,150: Cost, in euros, of a night in the Deluxe Suite at the Hôtel Meurice in Paris, where “Ni**as in Paris” was recorded.
1,144,000: Copies of Watch the Throne sold, as of December 11th.
1: Business card thrown to get kicked out of a Watch the Throne show.
$50,ooo: Amount Jay-Z had to pay for visiting the Kentucky Wildcats’ locker room.
$99.50: That fine, per “mothafuckers wanna fine me” performed.
$1,463.00: Price of a Margiela leather jacket, currently 30 percent off at Neiman Marcus.
$3.50: Cost of a Filet-o-Fish at McDonald’s.
$3,305.00: Secondary-market value for a floor seat to WTT’s opening night in Atlanta (10/28).
944: Filet-o-Fish’s that could buy.
358,828: Calories in 944 Filet-o-Fish’s.
10.22: Total running time of “Ni**as in Paris,” in hours.
8.3: Flight from Chicago to Paris, non-stop, in hours.
8.5: Flight from Paris to New York, non-stop, in hours.
6: Live coverage of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding proceedings, start to finish, in hours.
…WHICH IS:
2: Round-trips from London to Paris, via high-speed train.
23.5: Loops around Paris, via Boulevard Périphérique, at the legal speed limit of 80km/h (50mph).
6.5: Screenings of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (2011).
2: Circles one could make (reasonably) walking between the three Hermès shops in Paris, spending an hour at each.