Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should know by now that Jay-Z has a new album Magna Carta Holy Grail. The follow-up to 2011’s Watch The Throne was announced in a rather unorthodox method via a commercial aired during ame five of the NBA Finals.
The video features Jay-Z and all-star producers Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and Rick Rubin in the studio working on the new record, and was paid for by Samsung electronics as part of a $20 million deal.
Now more details have emerged about Magna Carta Holy Grail, including a track listing and claims by Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love that one track features Jay-Z singing lyrics of Nirvana’s breakthrough smash hit ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.
The claim was made during an interview with The Huffington Post, with Love divulging that she let “letting Jay-Z use lyrics– [daughter] Frances would freak [if she knew this.] Jay-Z’s huge and we’re friends. I mean we’re not besties or anything…. They [used the lyrics] without asking, which is kind of nervy but the business side has been taken care of so it’s fine.”
Love owns a large portion of the Nirvana catalogue, something she inherited following the suicide death of her then-husband frontman Kurt Cobain. Jay-z’s cover comes just a few months after Courtney Love covered the hip hop superstars ’99 Problems’ at a Sundance Film Festival gig.
Even though Magna Carta Holy Grail‘s release is still a few weeks away, Jay-Z can already claim $5 million in sales thanks to his deal with Samsung. As part of the $20 million deal Jay-Z signed last month, Samsung has purchased 1 million copies of the album before it’s even hit the shelves. The company plans to hand out the copies for free a full 782 hours prior to its official release to 1 million Samsung mobile phone users.
You can see the albums track listing below.
Magna Carta Holy Grail Track listing
01. “Picasso Baby”
02. “Heaven”
03. “Versus”
04. “Tom Ford”
05. “Beach Is Better”
06. “FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt”
07. “Oceans”
08. “F.U.T.W.”
09. “Part II (On The Run)”
10. “BBC”
11. “La Familia”
12. “Jay-Z Blue”
13. “Nickles & Dimes”
14. “Holy Grail”
15. “Open Letter”
