"H.A.M." (an acronym for "Hard As a Motherfucker" and stylized as "H•A•M") is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West from the deluxe edition of their collaborative studio album, Watch the Throne (2011). The song features additional vocals from Aude Cardona and Jacob Lewis Smith. It was produced by Lex Luger and co-produced by West, with additional production from Mike Dean, and the three of them served as co-writers with Jay-Z. The song's beat was first provided to West by Lex Luger during the recording sessions for the rapper's fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). West then added his production work up until the release and would not preview it to Lex Luger, who considered this was due to his perfectionist approach. The song was released for digital download in the United States as the lead single for the album on January 11, 2011, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings.
A hip-hop, electro, and orchestral number with techno elements, the song includes drums and an electro-opera coda. Jay-Z also addresses Birdman's previous comments that he is not a better rapper nor richer than Lil Wayne, who responded to him in "It's Good". "H.A.M." received mixed reviews from music critics, who were divided towards Jay-Z and West's performance styles. Some highlighted their innovation and others considered the music to be unsuitable for the two, while a few critics praised its elaborate production.
In the US, the song charted at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 24 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It also attained top-50 positions in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland, and the United Kingdom. The song was certified gold in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America. Jay-Z and West performed the song for Vevo's South by Southwest show in March 2011, two months before performing it at the Museum of Modern Art's annual party. West used it as his introductory song at festivals during 2011, including Coachella, Splendour in the Grass, and The Big Chill. In early 2011, Busta Rhymes shared a remix of "H.A.M." and Lupe Fiasco delivered a freestyle over the song. The song was used in the teen comedy film Project X (2012).
Background and recording
Jay-Z and Kanye West are both American rappers who have collaborated on several tracks together, such as singles like "Swagga Like Us" (2008), "Run This Town" (2009), and "Monster" (2010). In 2010, the two began production and recording together for a collaborative record titled Watch the Throne. One of the album's tracks, "H.A.M." includes additional vocals from opera singer Aude Cardona, who also sings on "Illest Motherfucker Alive". Cardona explained that she once woke up to a message asking if she was an opera singer and did not initially realize it was from West's manager, who was recruiting her for the album. The team knew of Cardona because a friend from Jive Records recommended her to the owner of Electric Lady Studios and she was surprised to record at the location of The Mercer Hotel in SoHo, Manhattan, only meeting West there and thought he was very nice. Cardona found that despite West being clear in his vision, he was willing to listen to other ideas and allowed the singer to improvise for much of her solo parts. She appreciated the song for mixing hip-hop with opera and spent seven hours recording her vocals, delivering many takes in high C notes as she aimed for West's desired combination of gospel and R&B to offer a modern sound.
On January 10, 2011, "H.A.M." leaked via Facebook at midnight and was played over 43,000 times within nine hours, being shared online as an MP3 too. West subsequently tweeted that the song "crashed facebook", attaching the link to a screenshot of an error on the leak's page. From the position of a Watch the Throne contributor, Swizz Beatz said he felt highly positive about Jay-Z and West collaborating "on such a high caliber level" for the song and felt the music industry would be better if more acts did this. In an August 2011 interview with 99 Jamz, Jay-Z described "H.A.M." as a "super intense" song that is difficult to listen to on its own, yet can be experienced differently in the context of Watch the Throne. He called the song a "massive hit record", intending for it to be played at concerts rather than inside homes.
In January 2011, record producer Lex Luger disclosed that Jay-Z and West had recruited him for production on the album. He was not fully certain about this position initially, despite appreciating the opportunity of collaborating with the two. Lex Luger sent them the track for "H.A.M." during recording sessions for West's fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in November 2010, standing as one of the two beats the rapper requested to use. He originally provided around eight beats to West when recording in New York, where they worked on the album track "See Me Now". Lex Luger predicted "H.A.M." would be "aggressive and hard", continuing the style of his previous production work in rap from Rick Ross's "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" (2010) and Waka Flocka Flame's "Hard in da Paint" (2009). After receiving the track, West added his production work that included a choir and did not allow Lex Luger to listen until it was finalized for the premiere in January 2011. The producer attributed this to West's perfectionist approach, feeling he required his material to be "10 times greater than everything". Sections of the song were kept from recording sessions at Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire that started in November 2010, after much of Jay-Z and West's material from these sessions had been scrapped. Lex Luger was the lead producer of "H.A.M." and West served as a co-producer, while Mike Dean contributed additional production and three of them wrote it alongside Jay-Z.
Composition and lyrics
Musically, "H.A.M." is a hip-hop, electro, and orchestral song, with elements of techno. It has an aggressive electronic beat, which incorporates a double-time bounce. The song features an icy, rising synth line that contains staccato stabs, combined with Lex Luger's fast snare drums. It also includes hi-hats and cello; the latter was contributed by Christopher "Hitchcock" Chorney. West contributes a verse first and Jay-Z later delivers one, while they perform the chorus once each. Crashing drums appear on the blaring chorus, which features a wailing choir. The song breaks down into an electro-opera coda at around three minutes in, featuring a full-string symphony orchestra, military drums, and the choir singing in an alto-soprano vocal range. Cardona sings over a gospel piano progression, being accompanied by additional vocalist Jacob Lewis Smith at points. The song builds up towards the end, featuring an extended outro. Jay-Z and West both rap in double-time, with the former appearing on a downbeat and semi-singing many of his lines.
West begins his verse on "H.A.M." with a boast that everything was good until a week ago, then "Watch the Throne drops/they kill themselves". He sexualizes white girls in the verse, depicting them as making up for having "asses flat as shit" by giving him head. West emphasizes on the chorus that he is going to go HAM, serving as an acronym for "hard as a motherfucker". Jay-Z addresses critics by presenting himself as above them and discusses upbringing in his verse, referencing family such as his deceased father and nephew. He addresses fellow rapper and label executive Birdman's 2009 comments of his colleague Lil Wayne being a better rapper and richer than him, rapping that he has half a billion and "niggas ain't got my lady money".
Release and promotion On January 7, 2011, West tweeted the song's black-and-white cover art, which was created by Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy and shows crowns alongside a vicious barking dog. He also announced "H.A.M." would be released as a single on January 11. It was released for digital download in the United States as the album's lead single on the scheduled date, through Jay-Z and West's labels Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. Def Jam issued the song to contemporary hit and alternative radio stations in Australia on January 17, 2011. Eight days later, it was released to US urban contemporary radio stations in the US by Def Jam and Universal. On August 23, 2011, Def Jam, Roc Nation, and Roc-A-Fella released the deluxe edition of Jay-Z and West's album Watch the Throne, including "H.A.M." as the 14th track.
Following its release, the song was held off the top spot of the iTunes chart by singer Britney Spears's "Hold It Against Me". West tweeted to her "I'm really happy for you and I'mma let you be #1", but insisted "H.A.M." was one of the best songs of all time with "LOL" at the end; this was a reference to his incident with singer Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The rapper subsequently responded to criticism of his tweet and called out MSNBC for apparently saying he "tried to start a twitter war" with Spears, further tweeting that the media lies about him daily and he was surprised at the song having been able to even reach number two. During a private listening event at The Mercer Hotel on July 7, 2011, Jay-Z said that the song was reflective of the album having been scaled back from its earlier iterations that were more dramatic and intricately planned. Jay-Z and West were reluctant to release the song; the former felt the first single should have featured the two rapping back and forth for three minutes with no hook.
Controversy After West played "H.A.M." to Lil Wayne in March 2011, the rapper declared that from his wit and personality he "would probably play off of" Jay-Z's lyrics alluding to him. Lil Wayne strayed away from competing with Jay-Z on the subject to not "box with the god", while refraining from asking West about these lyrics since they were not his. He later rapped a response to Jay-Z on the single "It's Good" in the summer of 2011, telling him he does have his "baby money". Lil Wayne threatened to kidnap his wife Beyoncé as he rapped, "Get that 'how much you love your lady?' money."
Reception
"H.A.M." was met with mixed reviews from music critics, with split assessments of the performance styles of Jay-Z and West. In a highly positive review at The Village Voice, Rob Harvilla commented that West focuses on white girls and Jay-Z "plays chicken with a Mack truck", further lauding the chorus' loudness and the ensuing "electro-opera breakdown". Kevin O'Donnell of Spin commended the song's elaborate orchestral production that lives up to the rappers' "outsized baller status" and features a "brash, electronic beat"; he felt West's ambitions continue from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on the "weirdest sounding opera ever" from Cardona. The Guardians Michael Cragg saw it as "an audacious, OTT banger" where echoing drums and icy synths accompany "frantic raps", succeeded by a coda from opera singers with a string section as it seems like "a kitchen sink [is] strummed for good measure". Similarly, Martin Caballero from the Boston Herald expressed that the song meets the expectations set by positive comments from Jay-Z about his work and highlighted the "sense of grandiose decadence" from its beat, which sees West letting his ego go astray "over the Southern-esque double-time bounce" and also appreciated Jay-Z's verse. Caballero observed that the backing switches "to a symphony of crashing drums" and a choir on the chorus, finalizing the song is "dark, weird, bombastic and unapologetically indulgent" like West's album.