Empire State of Mind Lyrical Review.

Member those book reviews from high school when you had to break down the literary elements? I thought it would be fun to break "Empire State of Mind... let's see what Jay-Z has...


yeah (nice attention getter)
Yeah I'm out that Brooklyn. (yeah followed by another yeah, repetition for emphasis)
Now I'm down in Tribeca. (ok)
Right next to DeNiro (I guess this is Robert, and he must live there)
But I'll be hood forever (doubt it)
I'm the new Sinatra (he was Italian with blue eyes, and could sing)
And since I made it here (you sold drugs)
I can make it anywhere (o wow, a Sinatra reference, although not a metaphor)
Yeah they love me everywhere (that's because you wrote Big Pimpin)
I used to cop in Harlem (doubt it)
All of my Dominicanos (Your not Dominican)
Right there off of Broadway (Dominicans I know live in the bronx)
Brought me back to that McDonald's (yes, yes they do love Micky d's)
Took it to my stash spot (stash spot= alliteration)
560 State Street (I guess that is where he lives)
Catch me in the kitchen like Simmons whipping Pastry (WT???)
Cruising down 8th street (obviously you have forgotten what driving in NYC is like)
Off-white Lexus (the dirty streets are a white car nightmare)
Driving so slow (NYC duh)
(but BK, it's from Texas!!) (AWWW a reference to his girl friend, or burger king?)
Me I'm out that BedStuy (WT?)
Home of that boy Biggie (biggie smalls i assume)
now I live on Billboard (one or two bedroom?)
and I brought my boys with me (illegitimate children)
Say what up to Ta-ta (WHO?)
Still sipping Mai Tais (girl)
Sitting court side ($1000 a seat)
Knicks and Nets give me high-fives (0-18 Nets)
N**ga, I be Spiked out (baseball reference for sliding into second)
I could trip a referee (you could rhyme that with a penalty)
...tell by my attitude that I'm MOST DEFINITELY FROM...(the dmv?)

New York!!!! (holla)
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, (the only animals are rats)
There's nothing you can’t do, (how about afford it?)
Now you're in New York!!! (holla)
These streets will make you feel brand new, (cus there 100 years old)
the lights will inspire you, (agree)
Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York (holla)

I made you hot n-gga, (who, me???)
Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game, (x is a bar, OG is urban for original gangsta)sh-t I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can, (that was Fred Durst)
you should know I bleed Blue, but I ain't a crip tho, (so he must be a blood)
but I got a gang of n-ggas walking with my clique though, (good for you)
welcome to the melting pot, (not the resturant)
corners where we selling rocks, (drugs, not diamonds)
Afrika bambaataa sh-t, (WTF?)
home of the hip hop, (holla)
yellow cab, gypsy cab, dollar cab, holla back, (all driven by terrorists)
for foreigners it ain't fitted act like they forgot how to act,(holla)
8 million stories out there and they're naked, (herpes is rampant)
city it's a pity half of y’all won’t make it, (rent is a chubi)
me I gotta plug a special and I got it made, (thanks daddy)
If Jeezy's payin LeBron, I’m paying Dwayne Wade, (I thought Miami was)
3 dice cee-lo (a game his Dominicans play)
3 card marley, (idk)
Labor Day parade, rest in peace Bob Marley, (don't know how these are related)
Statue of Liberty, long live the World Trade, (amen)
long live the king yo, (Lebron? Jesus? Aurthur?)
I’m from the Empire State thats…(...???)

In New York!!!! (holla)
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, (only animal is a rat)
There's nothing you can’t do, (pay rent)
Now you're in New York!!! (holla)
These streets will make you feel brand new, (there old remember)
the lights will inspire you, (i guess)
Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York (holla)

Welcome to the bright light..(God?)

Lights is blinding, (turn off your brights)
girls need blinders (is this a horse reference?)
so they can step out of bounds quick, (yes)
the side lines is blind with casualties, (yea the Jets)
who sip the lite casually, then gradually become worse, (Blue lite I hope)
don’t bite the apple Eve, (she did already)
caught up in the in crowd, (peer pressure is a Chubi)
now you're in-style, (hopefully not wearing a sweater)
and in the winter gets cold en vogue with your skin out, (wear a coat idiot)
the city of sin is a pity on a whim. (I thought that was Vegas)
good girls gone bad, the city's filled with them, (holla)
Mommy took a bus trip and now she got her bust out, (MOM!)
everybody ride her, just like a bus route, (ew)
Hail Mary to the city your a Virgin, (middle school reference)
and Jesus can’t save you life starts when the church ends, (huh?)
came here for school, graduated to the high life, (gross beer)
ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight, (Arod, Tiger,)
MDMA got you feeling like a champion, (also known as X)
the city never sleeps better slip you a Ambien (not as many as Heath please)


One hand in the air for the big city, (right or left?)
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty, (holla)
no place in the World that can compare, (Toronto?)
Put your lighters in the air, everybody say yeaaahh (How bout cell phones?)

Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York (HOLLA!)