Which Otis Redding song is sampled in Jay-Z and Kanye West's Otis?

Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Otis samples Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness.”

The 2011 track appears on Watch the Throne, the collaborative album by Jay-Z and Kanye West. Kanye West produced the song by chopping and reshaping Redding’s powerful vocal recording into a short, forceful loop. The sample gives the track its title and supplies the soulful vocal bursts heard beneath the rappers’ verses.

“Try a Little Tenderness” was written in the early 1930s by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods. Otis Redding’s celebrated version was recorded in 1966 with musicians associated with Stax Records, including Booker T. & the M.G.’s. His arrangement gradually intensifies from a restrained opening into a dramatic, shouted finale.

A common misunderstanding is that “Otis” samples the entire original song or merely references Redding by name. It specifically uses Redding’s recording, and Redding receives featured-artist credit because his performance is sampled. The track was released in 2011 and became one of Watch the Throne’s signature songs.