Songfacts®:

• This is the opening track from American rapper Jay-Z's 11th studio album, The Blueprint 3.
• Australian musician Luke Steele of pop duo Empire of the Sun appears on this track., (check out "We Are The People"). Steele told MTV News that their collaboration came about after Jay-Z heard the Empire of the Sun track "Standing on the Shore," from their debut album Walking on a Dream, on the "Running on E" episode of Entourage. He explained: "Apparently, he was watching Entourage, and he heard one of our songs and he needed this chorus for one of the tracks." The Brooklyn MC sent his track to Steele in Australia. "I tracked it all day, for 12 hours, and then I sent it back," he said. "I was a bit nervous, wondering what everyone thought, and Jay-Z called me at 3 in the morning, and he said he loved it." Steele added that he took the original hook of "Standing on the Shore" and did his usual studio manipulation on it. "It's just whatever comes to mind," he said. "I added some reverse [vocals] and wrote a Neptunes-y, Beach Boys melody on the chorus, and it turned out to be great."
• On one of the verses Jay Z targets rapper The Game and former best friend/business partner Dame Dash.
• This samples "Spirit" by French musician Frederic Mercier from his 1978 cosmic electronica album, Pacific.