Empire State of Mind: The Song That Became New York’s Anthem

By Dan Cohen · Published 2026-06-27

Empire State of Mind, Jay-Z’s 2009 collaboration with Alicia Keys, did something few songs manage: it became the definitive modern anthem of an entire city. New York has thousands of songs written about it, but this one — with its sweeping ambition and Keys’s skyscraping piano hook — became the one that plays at ballgames, on rooftops and in every movie trailer that wants to say “New York” in three seconds.

The whole city in one song

Its power is that it refuses to sand off the city’s edges. Jay-Z’s verses move through glamour and grit, dreams and danger, the version of New York that makes you and the version that can break you. It’s a hometown boy’s clear-eyed love letter — proud, specific, aware that the same streets that offer everything can also chew you up. That honesty is why New Yorkers embraced it rather than rolling their eyes.

A hook that lifts off

And then there’s the chorus. Alicia Keys’s soaring delivery turns the song from a great rap track into a genuine anthem — the part a whole stadium sings, the part that makes the hair stand up. It’s the sound of a city believing in itself, which is exactly what an anthem is for.

What it measures like

On our measurements it’s a building, anthemic track — propulsive verses rising into a huge, intense, piano-driven chorus. Full profile on its song page.

Empire State of Mind appears on Jay-Z’s 2009 album The Blueprint 3 and features Alicia Keys. Readings of the lyric are presented as interpretation. No lyrics are reproduced.