Jay-Z and Kanye West prove again that they’re one of rap's all-time great tag teams — up there with Run-DMC, OutKast and EPMD — on this teaser from Watch the Throne (due August 8th). West twists a few seconds of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" into a Blueprint-style barrage, setting the stage for some slick collar-popping from Jay-Z ("Photo shoot fresh, looking like wealth / I’m about to call the paparazzi on myself"). Jay’s performance, in turn, inspires Ye to step up his wordplay ("Luxury rap, the Hermes of verses / Sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive"); the younger star sounds like he pulled an all-nighter trying to outdo his mentor’s rhymes. They keep trading punchlines for three minutes, opting not to interrupt the fun with anything resembling a chorus. When the verses are packed with this much wit and style, who needs one?

Listen to "Otis":

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“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”