page_title: Magna Carta Holy Grail
section_title: Recording and production
hierarchical_section_title: Magna Carta Holy Grail / Recording and production
caption_attribution_description: English: Actor and musician Justin Timberlake at the 83rd Academy Awards.
context_page_description: Magna Carta Holy Grail is the twelfth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It was made available for free digital download for Samsung customers via the Jay-Z Magna Carta app on July 4, 2013. It was released for retail sale on July 8, 2013, by Roc-A-Fella, Roc Nation, and Universal Music Distribution. The album features guest appearances by Justin Timberlake, Nas, Rick Ross, Frank Ocean and Beyoncé. Most of the album was produced by Timbaland and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, while other producers included Boi-1da, Mike Will Made It, Hit-Boy, Mike Dean, No I.D., The-Dream, Swizz Beatz, and Pharrell Williams among others. The album was promoted through various commercials presented by Samsung and was not preceded by any retail singles.
  Upon its release, Magna Carta Holy Grail was met with mixed reviews from music critics. Some complimented the album's production and composition, while others were disappointed with its overall theme and found many songs repetitive. On the day of its physical release in the United States, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 1,000,000 copies.
context_section_description: In late 2011, it was confirmed three songs had been recorded and one of which featured Frank Ocean which would end up being "Oceans", the oldest song that appeared on the album. The recording for "Oceans" and production for "Holy Grail" were completed in 2011, during the recording sessions for Jay's collaborative album with Kanye West, Watch the Throne. West wanted the two songs to appear on Watch the Throne, however Jay-Z chose to keep them for Magna Carta Holy Grail. After Watch the Throne was released, Jay-Z chose to go on a worldwide concert tour instead of devoting more time for the album. Following the end of the tour, the main bulk of recording sessions for Magna Carta Holy Grail took place at Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz' Jungle City Studios in New York, where Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé Knowles were also working on their albums at the time. Jay-Z described the recording process as having a "minimalist approach" to give Magna Carta Holy Grail a "1990s feel".
  While working on Beyoncé's fifth studio album, frequent collaborator Timbaland played Jay-Z the instrumental for what would become "Picasso Baby". According to Jay-Z, that song built the sound of the album. Jay-Z and Timbaland had grown apart after they worked on The Blueprint 3, but reunited for this album. Timbaland ended up handling the majority of the production on Magna Carta Holy Grail. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Jay-Z stated that while the two have recorded many songs in the past, it was not until Magna Carta Holy Grail that they got the chemistry to collaborate for a whole project. Producer J-Roc described "Picasso Baby" as "just New York". He told XXL that him and Timbaland "were really just feeling the city, the energy that it gives out" and were inspired by the "numerous different cultures and different dialects or sounds."
  The instrumental for "FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt" was started by producer Vinylz, who was inspired by a Pimp C speech he found on YouTube. He sampled Pimp C's voice for the intro and then created the instrumental in a short amount of time. After fellow producer Boi-1da added to the production, the song was sent to Rick Ross who intended to use it for his upcoming album. Jay-Z was meant to add a guest verse to it, but when he heard the instrumental, he wanted the track for his album. Timbaland added additional changes to it before they mastered the final version.
  In 2012, Jay-Z contacted GOOD Music producer Hit-Boy about working together on Magna Carta Holy Grail. Hit-Boy created the instrumental for "Somewhereinamerica", a song that was initially supposed to appear on the debut album of Grand Hustle artist Travis Scott. While in the studio with Jay-Z, Scott played the instrumental for him and Jay-Z instantly liked it. The instrumental for the song "Crown" was made by 16-year-old Canadian producer WondaGurl. She had collaborated with Travis Scott on his Owl Pharaoh mixtape and went on to produce another track for his upcoming album. Scott liked the instrumental and started to build upon it with Mike Dean. The two then gave it to Jay-Z who recorded "Crown" over it.
  Overall, Jay-Z worked extensively on the album's production with producers such as Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Pharrell Williams who were also featured in the Samsung commercials promoting Magna Carta Holy Grail. He had also worked on the album's production with Jahlil Beats, Boi-1da, Mike Dean, Kanye West and Mike Will Made It, among others. He had also been seen in the studio with various recording artists such as Drake, The-Dream, Raekwon, Nas, and Timberlake working on the album. The final track listing revealed guest appearances by Timberlake, Frank Ocean, Nas, Pharrell, Swizz Beatz, Rick Ross and Beyoncé among others.
caption: Justin Timberlake makes three appearances on the album.
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