"Otis" details

JIGGA & YEEZY TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS: Everybody’s buzzing about “Otis,” the latest leak from Jay-Z and Kanye West’s mystery-shrouded Watch the Throne collab album. There’s no clip, in keeping with the superstar duo’s apparent eschewing of any setup whatsoever, although we’re hearing the track went to radio yesterday, and someone involved in the project has taken the trouble to redirect all the YouTube fan grabs to the “official” (non) video (above). The track is built around a generous sample from the Otis Redding classic “Try a Little Tenderness,” and if these two manage to turn kids on to the music of the archetypal Southern soul singer, they’ll be performing a valuable public service. Various reports this week claim that Watch the Throne will be released Aug. 5 on (as best as we can determine) G.O.O.D Music/Roc Nation/Def Jam/IDJ—but according to IDJ, that date (which is the Friday after next) is not real…at least at this time. Casting the date further in doubt is the fact that an 8/5 release would be too soon to make the circulars for Best Buy or Target, which require a minimum three-week lead time, and it’s hard to imagine a release of this magnitude not being in those circulars. (7/22a)