Jay-Z and Kanye West‘s 2011 hit Ni**as in Paris is being turned into an illustrated children’s book called Friends In Paris after a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign achieved its goal of putting the story of undying friendship into print.
The project of Sydney illustrator Bianca Bosso and the team at The Interns, Friends In Paris tells the story of Jay-Z and Kanye’s Parisian holiday escapades in 32 colourful pages, featuring cameos from Beyoncé and someone who looks a helluva lot like Taylor Swift.
Jay-Z and his BFF Kanye obviously make for great subject matter when it comes to friendship. I mean, looks at these facial expressions:
Launched on 19th September, the Friends In Paris Kickstarter reached its goal of raising $3000 in only three days, and has since gone on to raise over $5500 at the time of writing.
The Interns co-editor and Music Feeds writer Sam Murphy says the idea for the project came from the longevity of Ni**as in Paris, which has now been altered for a new audience.
“The version that usually gets played is heavily bleeped, so we wondered what it would be like if we cleaned the lyrics up and dug a story out of it,” Murphy says.
“[Illustrator] Bianca’s initial plan was to just illustrate the lyrics, but it quickly turned into a book and led to a children’s book.
“We never intended to print it but people started asking if it was available and we ran with it. It reached the target so quickly, we really can’t believe it. Now we’re just happy we’ll get to read our kids one day a book about Kanye and Jay.”
Murphy says there are no plans for a sequel to Friends In Paris, but he and his team “have entertained the thought of a 99 Problems counting book”. Genius.
Catch the first few pages of Friends In Paris below, and read the whole saga over at The Interns.
To contribute to the project, visit its Kickstarter page, where a pledge of $30 will get you the book, and even larger pledges can land you stickers and even Kanye and Jay-Z stuffed toys!
That shit cray.
Watch: Jay-Z & Kanye West – Ni**as In Paris (Explicit)
Friends In Paris Opening Pages
