Jay-Z says he and Kanye West argued over ‘Magna Carta’ songs

Jay-Z and Kanye West argued for days over the songs “Holy Grail” and “Oceans,” Jay-Z said in a new interview with the BBC’s Zane Lowe.

“We had this whole plan when me and Kanye did [the] ‘Watch the Throne’ album that we would go right into our solos after that,” he said in the interview, referring to the rappers’ joint 2011 disc, according to Britain’s NME. “Soon as I thought we had wrapped up ‘Watch the Throne,’ I made two records -- I had ‘Holy Grail’ and ‘Oceans.’”

But once Jay-Z played the songs for West, the latter evidently insisted they go on “Watch the Throne.”

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“So we spent four days arguing about those records, and I was explaining to him why it wasn’t right for [that] project,” said Jay-Z, who added that the argument, which he won, never turned physical. “Well, there was some pushing at one point, but not between us,” he said. “Just everyone else got a little excited.”

Last month West debuted at No. 1 with his latest solo album, “Yeezus,” while Jay-Z is expected to hit the top spot later this week with “Magna Carta Holy Grail.”

On Saturday night Jay-Z brought Justin Timberlake to the stage at London’s Wireless Festival for the first live performance of “Holy Grail.” The two superstars are set to launch their so-called Legends of the Summer tour Wednesday night in Toronto; it will stop at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on July 28.

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Twitter: @mikaelwood