since I made it hereĮven the idea of a “new Sinatra” feels wrong to Jonathan Schwartz, a radio personality from New York with an encyclopedic knowledge of the singer. Like any good New Yorker, he has made no secret of his ambition to topple what came before him and since there are few left to take on, he’s trying to elbow aside the Chairman of the Board with an anthem reflective of a new generation.īut can any hip-hop song prove as universal and enduring as Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train” (written by Billy Strayhorn) or Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s " Manhattan”? Or, for that matter, that other easy-to-whistle “New York, New York,” by Leonard Bernstein and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green, which explains, “the Bronx is up and the Battery down, the people ride in a hole in the ground”?įrom the very start of “Empire State,” Jay-Z’s lyrics sum up his rise from street kid to celebrity as well as his vision of New York in line with anthems that precede him: Over the same three decades, hip-hop grew to be the dominant force in pop music and culture and Jay-Z one of its leading citizens.
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And if it wasn’t already ubiquitous, its beat blaring from the radio in almost every corner store, last month Keys issued her own version on her new album and has been regularly performing this salute to the aspirations of native New Yorkers.įor the last three decades, Frank Sinatra’s " New York, New York,” from the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb, has ruled as the city’s sentimental favorite - in ballparks, at weddings and to signal determination.
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The song “Empire State of Mind” was the biggest hit at Yankee Stadium this fall, and then, just days before Jay-Z turned 40, it gave the rap legend his first No. In addition, the original “Empire State of Mind” seemed to resonate in pop culture years after its release, as Tove Lo name-dropped it in her single “Not on Drugs.” Bono loved “Empire State of Mind” - and the world seems to have loved it as well.It has been nearly impossible lately to surf the radio without hearing Jay-Z rapping about his gritty-to-glamorous ascent in the big city as Alicia Keys swoons about the “concrete jungle where dreams are made of. On the other hand, its parent album, The Element of Freedom, was a bigger success, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 55 weeks.īeyond that, “Empire State of Mind” was apparently popular enough to warrant a sequel song: “Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down.” The sequel song wasn’t a huge hit, merely reaching No. In addition, its parent album, The Blueprint 3, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 30 weeks.
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This raises an interesting question: Did the public embrace “Empire State of Mind” as much as Bono did? The track reached No. RELATED: 1 John Lennon Song Inspired Very Different Reactions from Bono and Bob Dylan How the world reacted to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ ‘Empire State of Mind’