Last night, Jay-Z held a small listening party for Watch the Throne, his new collaborative album with Kanye West.

FACT were invited, but couldn’t attend due to promising Hugh Grant that we’d watch him on Question Time instead. Luckily, Billboard were present, and have provided the following information about the record via Twitter:

– Jay-Z and Kanye were always together while recording, with no emailed verses.
– Several tracks were scrapped due to sounding too “big and calculated”.
– The first steps of the album were rcorded in England, then Australia, New York, Los Angeles, Paris and finally New York again. Much of the recording took place in hotel rooms.
– One track features Beyonce, and is titled ‘Lift Off’. Although Jay-Z claimed that he’d prefer to release the album without a single, they’ll probbaly shoot a video for it.
– Odd Future affiliate Frank Ocean appears on two songs from Watch the Throne, and another song already recorded for Jay-Z’s next solo album.

Oh, and one journalist was thrown out for live Tweeting the event (Billboard waited until after the show).

As far as Watch the Throne’s release date, word from Jay-Z is still “coming soon”, though pre-orders are available on the WTT website, where you can also check out the artwork.