Empire State of Mind Jay-Z Song Meaning?

Published February 25, 2014

Question by Jen P: Empire State of Mind Jay-Z song meaning?
i wanted to know what everything hes referring to in his song…
i know a little bit 🙁

Yeah I’m out that Brooklyn.
Now I’m down in Tribeca.
Right next to DeNiro
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
All of my Dominicanos (Hey yo)
Right there off of Broadway
Brought me back to that McDonalds
Took it to my stash spot
560 State Street
Catch me in the kitchen like Simmons whipping Pastry (vanessa simmons from runs house new shoe line?)
Cruising down 8th street (?)
Off-white Lexus
Driving so slow
(but BK, it’s from Texas!!) (??)
Me I’m out that BedStuy (?)
Home of that boy Biggie (Biggie Smalls?)
now I live on Billboard
and I brought my boys with me
Say what up to Ta-ta (?)
Still sipping Mai Tais (?)
Sitting courtside
Knicks and Nets give me high-5
N**ga, I be Spiked out (?)
I could trip a referee (?)
…tell by my attitude that I’m MOST DEFINITELY FROM…

[Alicia Keys]
New York!!!!
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York!!!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York

[Jay-Z]
I made you hot n-gga,
Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game, (is the x a nightclub?)
sh-t I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can,
you should know I bleed Blue, but I ain’t a crip tho,
but I got a gang of n-ggas walking with my clique though,
welcome to the melting pot,
corners where we selling rocks,
Afrika bambaataa sh-t, (?)
home of the hip hop,
yellow cab, gypsy cab, dollar cab, holla back, (?)
for foreigners it ain’t fitted act like they forgot how to act,
8 million stories out there and they’re naked, (?)
city it’s a pity half of y’all won’t make it,
me I gotta plug a special and I got it made,
If Jeezy’s payin LeBron, I’m paying Dwayne Wade,
3 dice cee-lo (?)
3 card marley, (?)
Labor Day parade, rest in peace Bob Marley,
Statue of Liberty, long live the World Trade,
long live the king yo,
I’m from the Empire State thats…

[Alicia Keys]
In New York!!!!
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York!!!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
the lights will inspire you,
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York

Welcome to the bright light..

[Jay-Z]
Lights is blinding, (?)
girls need blinders (?)
so they can step out of bounds quick, (?)
the side lines is blind with casualties, (?)
who sip the lite casually, then gradually become worse, (?)
don’t bite the apple Eve,
caught up in the in crowd ,
now you’re in-style,
and in the winter gets cold en vogue with your skin out,
the city of sin is a pity on a whim.
good girls gone bad, the city’s filled with them,
Mommy took a bus trip and now she got her bust out,
everybody ride her, just like a bus route,
Hail Mary to the city your a Virgin,
and Jesus can’t save you life starts when the church ends, (?)
came here for school, graduated to the high life,
ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight,
MDMA got you feeling like a champion, (?)
the city never sleeps better slip you a Ambien (?)

[Alicia Keys]
One hand in the air for the big city,
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty,
no place in the World that can compare,
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeaaahh
come on, come,
yeah,

Best answer:

Answer by Jef M
I’m pretty sure that song was sponsored by the New York Chamber of Commerce.

Add your own answer in the comments!

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