SONG OF THE WEEK: Jay-Z Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)

I have two things in common with Jay-Z: we’re both from Brooklyn and have the same birthday (Dec 4th). I’ve always really liked the HOVA—his unplugged album is still one of my favorites—though I have to admit that the love was a little lost with this new work, Blueprint 3. His voice isn’t what it once was, but still I gave the album (featuring Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, and Drake) a shot and found the gem.

A tribute to NYC, Empire State of Mind drops references up and down Manhattan and Brooklyn, and reads as a definitive cheerlead- and yet it somehow it doesn’t strike as sappy-probably because another NYC native, the wonderful Alicia Keys, provides the chorus.

The best thing about the song is definitely Keys’ voice- always gorgeous, she hits lucid, pretty notes that swell with poignance.  The chorus is so engaging that its interplay with the verses—in which Jay-Z’s performs the familiar oration of his ladder-climb to the top of Metropolis—seam together for a motivational hymn for all of us who continue to brave these gritty streets.

—Fucci