Oceans

Album: Magna Carta... Holy Grail (2013)
Charted: 83
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Jay ponders the generational effects of the transatlantic slave trade on this cut as he contemplates the lives of his ancestors who traversed the Atlantic Ocean. The aptly named Frank Ocean joins Hova on the song. The R&B singer previously appeared alongside Jay on two Watch the Throne tracks "Made In America" and "No Church in The Wild."
  • Jay also condemns colonialism. On one line he succeeds in both dissing Christopher Columbus and lauding The Notorious B.I.G:

    "I'm anti-Santa Maria
    The only Christopher we acknowledge is Wallace."

    (Christopher Columbus's ship was called the Santa Maria and Biggie Small's real name was Christopher George Latore Wallace).
  • Jay-Z explained the meaning behind the song in a video preview of the album. "It sounds like a celebration of where we are now on some big yacht, throwing champagne in the water," he told Rick Rubin. "But the undertow of the thing is that this is the same water that brought us here originally as slaves, so it has this whole duality and even how we re-write history, the stories we were told about the history of America."
  • This was the first song that Jay recorded for Magna Carta… Holy Grail. Ocean and Hova laid it down in 2011.
  • Kanye West wanted this and "Magna Carta…Holy Grail's title track" to be part of his and Jay-Z's joint album Watch The Throne. "[There were] no lyrics on 'Holy Grail' and I recorded 'Oceans' and I played those records for Kanye," Jay explained in an interview with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe. "And he was like, 'No those have to go on Watch The Throne, so we spent four days arguing about those records and I was explaining to him why it wasn't right for this project and I had a whole idea for making this album called Magna Carta... the Holy Grail [part of] the name came after."

    Jay added that the argument never really turned nasty, describing it as "four days, four days literally arguing... not like fighting. Well, there was some pushing at one point but not between us, just everyone else got a little excited."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

Donny Osmond

Donny OsmondSongwriter Interviews

Donny Osmond talks about his biggest hits, his Vegas show, and the fan who taught him to take "Puppy Love" seriously.

The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal Tap

The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal TapSong Writing

Based on criteria like girlfriend tension, stage mishaps and drummer turnover, these are the 10 bands most like Spinal Tap.

Cy Curnin of The Fixx

Cy Curnin of The FixxSongwriter Interviews

The man who brought us "Red Skies" and "Saved By Zero" is now an organic farmer in France.

Richie McDonald of Lonestar

Richie McDonald of LonestarSongwriter Interviews

Richie talks about the impact of "Amazed," and how his 4-year-old son inspired another Lonestar hit.