The New York Knicks’ 2026 NBA Championship win has reignited a sense of pride across New York unlike anything the city has experienced in decades. As fans prepare to flood the streets for the championship parade, there may be no more fitting soundtrack for the celebration than Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ enduring ode to the city, “Empire State of Mind.”
The anthem, released as the third single on Jay-Z’s 2009 album The Blueprint 3, is a love song to both Jay-Z and Keys’ hometown of New York City. Born Shawn Carter, the rapper grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Similarly, the singer, born Alicia Cook, was raised in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. The title alludes to Billy Joel’s, “New York State of Mind,” and Nas‘ “N.Y. State of Mind.”
“Empire State of Mind” is one of Jay-Z’s most successful singles of all time. It was the first Jay-Z-lead single to ever top the Billboard Hot 100, sitting at number one for five consecutive weeks. The track was nominated for three Grammy Awards, two of which it won. Produced by Al Shux, the song features a piano sample of the 1970 song “Love on a Two-Way Street” written by Sylvia Robinson and Burt Keyes and performed by The Moments.
The song was written by fellow New York City natives Angela Hunte and Janet “Jnay” Sewell-Ulepic in February 2009. Coincidentally, Hunte grew up in the same Brooklyn building as Jay-Z. The pair wrote the ode as a way to combat their own homesickness while staying in London. The track was submitted to Roc Nation a month later but rejected and later saved by EMI Music Publishing’s Jon “Big Jon” Platt and submitted to Jay-Z.
Jay-Z then rewrote the verses to be rapped instead of sung, keeping Hunte on the song’s hook. But in deciding who would give the song its iconic vocal refrain, the rapper almost went in a different direction. In an interview with Digital Spy in 2010, Jay-Z admitted that he initially considered R&B singer and New York City native Mary J. Blige, but went with Keys for her sound and piano talent. Keys also gave the song a new bridge.
In the week of its release, “Empire State of Mind” sold 250,000 copies. By August of 2012, sales had reached over 5 million. It is an officially RIAA-certified Diamond single with over 10 million copies sold in the U.S. as of July 2024. It also landed in the top 10 charts in Australia, France, U.K., Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The Blueprint 3 itself was also a massive success, with five of its songs in addition to “Empire State of Mind” earning spots on the Billboard Hot 100. The album became Jay-Z’s eleventh number one album after charting on the Billboard Hot 200 and sold 476,000 copies in its first week alone. The Blueprint 3 made several 2009 best album of the year top-ten rankings including Billboard, MTV and Rolling Stone.
“Empire State of Mind” cemented itself as a classic theme for New York City not just for its anthemic sound, but also for its numerous references to life in the city. In the opening lines, Jay-Z pays homage to both the place that raised him and the artists who came before him. When he says he is “right next to De Niro, but [he’ll] be hood forever,” he emphasizes his lasting connection to his Brooklyn roots despite his success. These nods to his upbringing continue throughout the song as he mentions the name of the neighborhood and even the street he grew up on. He also directly references Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” with the line “since I made it here / I can make it anywhere.”
But the most powerful descriptions of New York City come in the chorus where Keys sings that the city is “where dreams are made of / there’s nothin’ you can’t do.” The lyrics of the chorus characterize the city as it has been known since its inception — a place where anyone can be anything and accomplish anything with determination and a willingness to hustle. It matters less whether these lyrics are reflective of reality and more the way this dream makes people feel about the city and its endless opportunities.
And now more than ever, following the Knicks win, that dream matters to New Yorkers. The championship victory is not just a basketball title, but a reminder of the resilience, ambition and belief that have long defined both the team and the city it represents. As hundreds of thousands of fans gather in the streets to hear Alicia Keys perform “Empire State of Mind,” the song remains the perfect soundtrack, capturing New York at its most hopeful, triumphant and unapologetically proud.
“Empire State of Mind” Lyrics
Yeah
Yeah, I’m out that Brooklyn, now I’m down in Tribeca
Right next to De Niro, but I’ll be hood forever
I’m the new Sinatra, and since I made it here
I can make it anywhere, yeah, they love me everywhere
I used to cop in Harlem, hola, my Dominicanos (dímelo)
Right there up on Broadway, brought me back to that McDonald’s
Took it to my stashbox, 560 State Street
Catch me in the kitchen like a Simmons whippin’ pastry
Cruisin’ down 8th Street, off-white Lexus
Drivin’ so slow, but BK is from Texas
Me, I’m out that Bed-Stuy, home of that boy Biggie
Now I live on Billboard and I brought my boys with me
Say what up to Ty Ty, still sippin’ Mai Tais
Sittin’ courtside, Knicks and Nets give me high five
Nigga, I be Spike’d out, I could trip a referee (come on, come on, come on)
Tell by my attitude that I’m most definitely from
In New York (ayy, ah-ha) (uh, yeah)
Concrete jungle (yeah) where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do (yeah) (okay)
Now you’re in New York (ah-ha, ah-ha, ah-ha) (uh, yeah)
These streets will make you feel brand new (new)
Big lights will inspire you (come on) (okay)
Let’s hear it for New York (you’re welcome, OG) (uh)
New York (yeah), New York (uh) (I made you hot, nigga)
Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game
Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can
You should know I bleed blue, but I ain’t a Crip though
But I got a gang of niggas walkin’ with my clique though
Welcome to the melting pot, corners where we sellin’ rock
Afrika Bambataa shit, home of the hip-hop
Yellow cab, gypsy cab, dollar cab, holla back
For foreigners it ain’t fair, they act like they forgot how to add
Eight million stories, out there in the naked
City is a pity, half of y’all won’t make it
Me, I got a plug, Special Ed, “I Got It Made”
If Jeezy’s payin’ Lebron, I’m payin’ Dwyane Wade
Three dice Cee-lo, three-card Monte
Labor Day Parade, rest in peace Bob Marley
Statue of Liberty, long live the World Trade (come on, come on, come on)
Long live the king, yo, I’m from the Empire State that’s
In New York (ayy) (uh, yeah)
Concrete jungle (yeah) where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do (that boy good) (okay)
Now you’re in New York (uh, yeah)
(Welcome to the bright lights, baby)
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you (okay)
Let’s hear it for New York (uh)
New York (yeah), New York (uh)
Lights is blinding, girls need blinders
So they can step out of bounds quick, the sidelines is
Lined with casualties, who sip the life casually
Then gradually become worse, don’t bite the apple, Eve
Caught up in the in-crowd, now you’re in style
Into the winter gets cold, en vogue with your skin out
City of sin, it’s a pity on a whim
Good girls gone bad, the city’s filled with them
Mommy took a bus trip, now she got her bust out
Everybody ride her, just like a bus route
“Hail Mary” to the city, you’re a virgin
And Jesus can’t save you, life starts when the church end
Came here for school, graduated to the high life
Ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight
MDMA got you feelin’ like a champion (come on, come on, come on)
The city never sleeps, better slip you an Ambien
In New York (ayy, oh) (uh, yeah)
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do (okay)
Now you’re in New York (uh, yeah)
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you (okay)
Let’s hear it for New York (uh)
New York (yeah), New York (uh)
One hand in the air for the big city (uh)
Street lights, big dreams, all lookin’ pretty (uh)
No place in the world that could compare (nah)
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say
“Yeah, yeah” (come on, come on, come on)
“Yeah, yeah” (I’m from New York)
In New York (uh, yeah) (ohh)
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do (okay)
Now you’re in New York (uh, yeah)
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you (okay)
Let’s hear it for New York (uh)
New York (yeah), New York (uh)
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