Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne: 5 Things to Know

Jay-Z and his protege, Kanye West, have joined forces to create The Throne. Here are a few things you may now know about their collaboration:

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1. Shortly after releasing "Otis," off their album "Watch the Throne," they announced plans for a 24-city "Watch the Throne" tour, which was supposed to kick off Sept. 22 in Detroit. But Live Nation presale tickets, which became available on Tuesday, showed the tour had been scaled back to 17 dates and would kick off on Oct. 29 in October.

2. Their "Watch the Throne" album will be available on iTunes on Aug. 8, and in stores on Aug. 12. Those who buy tickets online will receive a digital copy of their album.

3. The Watch the Throne album cover is designed by Ricardo Tisci of Givenchy. It was recorded in London and Bath in the UK, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Paris, and New York City.  

4. Independent retailers are up in arms about Jay-Z and West's plans to launch their album online first. In an open letter, they called it a "short-sighted strategy… Your decisions will be doing great damage to over 1,700 independent record stores -- stores that have supported you and your music for years."

5. There have been reports of tension between the two, which Jay-Z tried to downplay on NYC radio station Hot 97 this week. "Kanye's my brother," he said, before admitting, "Yes we get on each other's nerves. That's part of pushing each other. ... People don't like to be pushed. It's annoying. ... So of course there are times when we're in the studio, we're yelling, but that's about it."