For all of BP3‘s supposed shortcomings, “Empire State Of Mind” ranks close to Nas’ “N.Y. State Of Mind” trilogy, which happens to include an Alicia collabo as well. The song gives a tourist an encapsulated view of the city while riding atop one of those “hop-on, hop-off” double-deckers chauffeured by Jiggaman. With a Yankees cap low tugged down to his eyebrows, Jay takes you on a ride that reminds everyone that the city of bright lights & lowly gutters have produced many a star that managed to rise while others never made it. Regardless of NY’s status in the current state of Hip-Hop, it’s that original five borough attitude of “me versus the city vs. the world” that inspires every artist from Myspace to Montana when they step into the booth.
It’s the city’s image personified by Jay’s words, which manage to tap the core of those still wearing Timbs because, deep down, everyone wants to reach the level of opulence that Jay has…he just beat us there & seemingly left us behind. Yet, he reminds that he’s still connected to the city that never sleeps by going back & describing the life that lives there day and night.
Now, I fully expect Jay to bring out the big joker or at least go spade for spade with the Answer The Call performances. By that I mean Alicia better be bangin’ on the piano keys in tight jeans during tonight’s VMA performance.
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Download — Jay-Z Feat. Alicia Keys – “Empire Of State Of Mind”
Previously Posted — Video: Jay-Z’s Answer The Call Concert | “On To The Next One” – Review Of Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3
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“Empire State Of Mind” = Best song on the album.
co-sign TC. that shit gets me motivated and I’m not even from NY LOL
New York State Of Mind
So as I’m driving around at work on Friday afternoon September 11th, the eight year anniversary of one of the worst terrorist attacks our country has ever witnessed my Blackberry alerts me that I have a
message. “Xtra ticket for game I think if they play- U in to see the record?” I had no plans but I wasn’t that into it at first. But in the back of my mind all I could think was, “How could I watch it happen on TV knowing I could have been there?” To make me seem more sane keep in mind it’s pouring rain and all accounts by the people that are paid to know the weather (weathermen and weather women) say it’s not going to get any better. Also, keep in mind, Derek Jeter has been one of my idols since 1996 but sitting in Yankee Stadium in the rain is something I’ve done one too many times over the years (including Roger Clemens 300th win and 4000 strikeout game) and learned that it can often be worse than being hungover from an acid trip in the dentist’s office, something I’m also familiar with. After mulling it over in my head I call my father who is my one true voice of wisdom in this world and he says, “Go to the game, the weather will clear up…” That’s all I needed to hear, I reply to the offer “I’m in.”
We all know what happened from here Jeter became the all time hits
leader of the New York Yankees and I got to witness history, we never had to question whether or not Jeter would break the record if the game was played because it all made too much sense, the date 9/11, the rain, the delay (hour and a half), and the fact that Jeter ain’t putting up an 0 for on a night like that it was a given even if we didn’t know it at the time. All though there were a lot of details left out between point A and point B including an always interesting ride to Yankee Stadium with two friends who pop pills like they are lab rats at Pfizer, a third friend we picked up in the the Bronx who argued with his girlfriend through Blackberry Messenger when we weren’t arguing over “The Blueprint 3″ and an exchange of phone numbers between one of my friends with one of the “How can I Help you?” girls at Yankee Stadium as well as an exchange with some early fifties Staten Island and Brooklyn bred Yankees fans asking us, “Where the weed at?” in between them telling us how much it sucks to get old and getting the “How can I help you girl” to fetch them Advil and coffee like she was there personal slave/ nurse/ waitress (She took a $20 for there coffee then disappeared but I don’t know if she came back, I’m hoping for her sake she pocketed the Andrew Jackson with some possible cocaine residue and dipped to another section, maybe my boy who got her number will be able to find out for me). This all leads me to my point in a roundabout way…
What city is better than New York or even comes close? Where else
could two historic venues be holding events where history is being
made simultaneously? (Jay-Z was playing a sold out concert in Madison Square Garden for the 9/11 families at the same time that Derek Jeter was breaking a 70+ year old record held by Lou Gehrig) While we were at Yankee Stadium cheering for Jeter and the Yankees who look like they could make it out of the first round of the play offs for the first time in what seems for us yankee fans longer than 70+ years between Gehrig and Jeter’s record, fans in the garden were chanting “Hova” and watching as he tore through a catalogue of hits where the crowd may know the words better than he does. Is there any place on this planet where two things of that magnitude (at least in my eyes) could go on at the same exact time? Not to mention that there was
probably one or two other crazy things going on in NY at the same time that weren’t on my radar, and that less than 24 hours before that I was at a club called SOBs watching one of my all time favorite rappers do a sold out show to celebrate the release of a sequel to an album that is comparable to the Godfather Part 2 as far as sequels go(see Raekwon-Only Built For Cuban Linx 2) Sometimes me and one of my friends discuss the idea of moving out of New York to somewhere else where the rent is cheaper or the scenery is different but at the end of the day we always end up back where we started. We could never really leave NY for a long time because there ain’t nothing like it as cliche as that sounds… All I had to do when I got home was place the ticket stub into the box where I keep all my tickets for the various things I have been lucky enough to witness in the last decade and make sure to wake up early enough to get to the gas station (2pm) to buy the Post before it sells out so I can have documentation of what I was a part of…
R.I.P.-DJ AM and all the people we lost on September 11th as well as
all of the people we have lost fighting for our country since then…
Soundtrack to this post
Raekwon-Gihad feat. Ghostface on repeat…
Yo TSS!!! Wsup, Wsup?! haha TC u r prob right about it being the best song on the album. My personal fav, at least today, is So Ambitious. Lyrics and delivery remind me of the old Jay. On 2 the next 1 is so damn infectious though. Not to mention gutter. Damn Jay is going in on the whole damn album though. lol
Football on tonight.
@Gz Very true. NY is the center of everything. I hope to visit there one day. Don’t know if I could live there though. I love living in the peace and quiet where I am now. Still just around the corner from civilization. OB4CL2 is a great album, too. Great week, and month, for Hip-Hop any way you look at it.
NYC is one of those places everyone should visit @ least once for an extended few days.
Wsup Sir G? NY is on my list of places to see. Along w/ Spain, Turkey, Greece, Italy, China, Japan, LA…damn I have a lot of money to save still. lol
I’ve been there about 4 times. No place like it.
I stayed at the Hilton (I think it was called The MIllennium Hilton, I don’t know if it’s still there) across the street from the WTC at the end of August, right before 9/11.
BROOOOOOOKLYNNNNNNNN!
That is all.
Anyone else having trouble getting the new Nickel Nine song a few posts back?
Thank You, Already Home, Reminder are dope as well. Shit there ain’t a bad song on the album to me
Just so we’re clear:
New York State of Mind (Any Version) >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Empire State of Mind.
Just so we’re clear.
I feel better now.
Spain = official
Turkey= get ya haggle ready
Greece= over sexed
Italy= official
China= ???
Japan= Save a lot of money
LA= Sunset/Beverly Hill’s stay was wild official. Stay at the Montrose of Priceline 4 stars Beverly Hills.
@Chuck
Damn you get around more than Pac son. lol I forgot to throw France in there, too. Maybe just dreaming but it’s something to strive for. Nahmeen?
“A dream w/o goals is just a dream.”
Raekwon-Gihad feat. Ghostface on repeat…
so in repeat since more than 6 months cuz it was already leaked on the net a long time ago !!! people discover that shit this september damnn
jay-z’s new new york anthem produced by al shux. an english ? nah right
“rest in peace bob marley” – jz
‘distant relatives’ on the way. Nas losin’ out !
Wsup to the Greumsmith! Yeah you’re right Greumsy. Gihad leaked a minute ago. Think it was called Necro though.
What kinda cheeba you puffing on? Why you think Jay-Z asked Nas to get on Empire State of Mind? He knows this simple fact – he will never touch the original or any of Nas’ updates. Great, over-the-top (come on. over-the-top keys and strings, alicia keys belting in those tight jeans :) – but that’s beside the point) inspiration for the record but Nas at 18 and Primo at his peak captured the grimy, real energy and space of NYC.
Empire State of Mind is about honoring the grandeur bestowed upon New York by the world. It’s about wearing the hat, taking the tour of Manhattan, shouting out your borough affiliation and clutching to a collective pride.
New York State of Mind is about giving you the thoughts of a common/no so common teenager confronted with the reality of the biggest, most prosperous city in the world and live as one of the country’s (not to mention the city’s) most marginalized citizens. New York is about space, over-stimulation, the 95% at the bottom of the pyramid, crabs in a towering barrel, dreams.
I really cannot wait for Michael Eric Dyson’s breakdown of Illmatic.
For one, no one has said that Empire State of Mind is better than NY State of Mind. The exact quote from G is: ““Empire State Of Mind” ranks close to Nas’ “N.Y. State Of Mind” trilogy.” Two, Jay never publicly stated that Nas was on Empire State of Mind, or that he wanted him on it. Lastly, Jay has publicly stated that Illmatic is “the greatest Hip-Hop album ever.” He said that if anyone made a time capsule and had to put one album in it to convey the essence of Hip-Hop it would be Illmatic. At least for him. I’m a huge Hova stan, but even I acknowledge that he is probably right about that.
“I had the Illmatic on bootleg The shit was so ahead Thought we was all dead” Jay-Z on A Star is Born
original version May 14, 2008 and it was called “The G-Hide” in fact !
http://www.thefader.com/2008/05/14/freeload-raekwon-f-ghostface-the-g-hide/ OB4CL Pt.2 !!! Support The Chef !!! 100
Damn. That article says May 14th, 2008. I had no idea it’s been that long. Props Greumsy.
Yo for real for real. When can we get that Smoking Sessions w/ Jay-Z?
^
yeah @ tru school
TSS Presents 1.5 minutes with Jay-Z ! LOL
TSS: How’s it going man?
Jay-Z: I’m alright, just chillin’ in New York taking care of this BP3 album
TSS: Cool, I just want to start by letting you know I’m from Brooklyn too
Shawn Carter: So you know my struggle…
oh i got a fly like right now, sorrrey..(good riddance)
PEACE!
I’m not from New York but this song is just beautiful. Empire State of Mind is perfect in every way, beautiful.
@ Gruemsy I tried not to listen to any of the leaks from OB4CL2 before it dropped becasue I wanted to just marinate with the album when it finally came out… leaks ruin albums for me a lot of the time…
@Greums
LMAORN You’re probably right, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Jay has shown he has time for the little people w/ this press run. He did some radio show called the “Hot Boyz” and it was a really great interview. He also called into a local station in Tampa while he was promoting Kingdom Come. But seeing him point out the fans in the nosebleeds at the end of the concert Friday night was the cherry on top. If you can’t tell I’m loving all this Jay publicity. lol
since when is there a part three to ny state of mind?
I’m pretty sure he’s talking about the unreleased song Alicia did w/ him and Rakim.
^ ding.
Love this song!!!!!!!
EMINEM WOULD NEW YORK STATE OF MIND WITH 50 CENT. DETROIT WHAT DETROIT BABY.
U rock JayZ! And Alicia Keys
i love the song emiper state of mind it is the kick butt song ever