On a smaller, personal scale, this song reminds me of the late DJ Mehdi, who was never better than when playing these 'full on', block-party oriented hip-hop and funk sets, with a huge smile, booty-shake and hand-clapping, and would never fail in including "Empire State Of Mind" (in the last 2 years that is). And who cares the songs sounds like the very definition of OTT, who cares Jay-Z sounds like a pacha barely catching his own flow because as with all good (hip-) pop songs, magic is still here. DVD-Album: Hot Video Classics Best Of 2009 Vol.1 Release: 2012, Music genre:: Urban DTVideos Club Remixes Vol.01. And yes sometimes you wish you were Jay-Z and Alicia Keys leaving the studio that day and going like "well I guess we did a bit of a blast today". Empire State Of Mind - Jay-Z And Alicia Keys. This song, an instant classic rivalling Sinatra's "New York, New York" as a triumphant soundtrack for one of the world's most imperial cities of its times, is "Empire State Of Mind", and will be played on radios and at weddings for the generations to come.
A song that would have any listener actually feel like he's a mdma-fuelled SUV driven diamonded-hoes-surrounded self-satisfied self-centered overpowered superstar billionaire cruising the streets of New-York (symbol here!) with the city at his feet, yet totally in love with it (a non new-yorker couldn't have made this song). It was all about showing-off, and developping even further musically an inner feeling of supremacy, overpower, omniscience, both to conjure inexorable decline, and show the demanding masses you were part of the few, dominant, superrich chosen ones. 'Popaganda', somehow.Īrtistically it was most of the time dreadful and fast sleep-indulging, but then, among a very few others (including certain Timbaland x Nelly Furtado songs imo) came a song which was the epitome of that 00s myth, yet transcending it to actually sound like the real thing, its credible official soundtrack. Im from the empire state thats Chorus Welcome to the bright light. With a context of war, back-to-basics and economic recession, the years 00 were paradoxically in US and occidental mainstream pop the climax of celebrating blingish supersuccess, 'winner attitude', simplified/childish 'cool' (or rather : signs of it), and somehow dissing nuance, subtlety, humor and culture as excuses for the weak and loser.