Empire State of Mind

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Empire State of Mind
Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
publication October 20, 2009
length 4:37 (album)
3:16 (radio)
Genre (s) Hip-hop , R&B
music Angela Hunte, Alicia Keys , Alexander Shuckburgh, Burt Keyes, Jane't "Jnay" Sewell-Ulepic, Shawn Carter , Sylvia Robinson
Publisher (s) Roc Nation , Atlantic Records
Award (s) Grammy Award for Best Rap Song ,
Grammy Award for Best Rap / Sung Collaboration
album The Blueprint 3
Cover version
2011 Glee

Empire State of Mind is a song by US rapper Jay-Z and singer Alicia Keys . It was first published on October 20, 2009 and reached number one on the charts in the United States and the Czech Republic . It was released as the third single from Jay-Z's eleventh studio album The Blueprint 3 on his own Roc Nation label. The song was originally written by Brooklyn-based songwriters Angela Hunte and Jane't "Jnay" Sewell-Ulepic. After an EMI Music Publishing employee persuaded them to do so, they sent the song to Jay Z.

At first Mary J. Blige was planned as a feature guest for the chorus, but then it was decided on Alicia Keys , because her singing fit better with the piano loop of the title. The song addresses - partly also in vulgar language - different parts of New York, famous residences there and the abuse of drugs .

The song was voted one of the ten best songs of the year by many music critics and magazines, including the New York Times and Rolling Stone . It won two Grammy Awards for Best Collaboration - Rap / Vocal and Best Rap Song .

Keys released a sequel to the song entitled Empire State of Mind (Part II): Broken Down on her fourth studio album The Element of Freedom , which she said she wanted to use to express her personal feelings about New York.

backgrounds

Empire State of Mind was originally written by singer-songwriters and producers Angela Hunte and Jane't "Jnay" Sewell-Ulepic. Born in Brooklyn, Hunte grew up in the same building where rapper and hip-hop artist Jay Z lived: at 560 Brooklyn State Street . This address is also mentioned in the song. The idea for the song came on a trip to London where the two of them were very homesick. Hunte said in an interview:

“We said to ourselves, 'we complain so much about New York — about the busy streets, about the crowds and the pushing, about the subway system — but I would trade that for anything right now.' Before we left the hotel that night, we knew we would write a song about our city. ”

“We said to ourselves: 'We complain so much about New York - about the crowded streets, the crowds and the jostling, about the subway - but I wouldn't want to trade that for anything.' Before we left the hotel that evening, we knew that we wanted to write a song about our city. "

- Angela Hunte :

Though Sewell-Ulepic and Hunte wrote the song merely to express their feelings for their hometown, they sent it to Roc Nation the following month in hopes that Jay-Z would like and record it. When they finally got negative reviews, at first they thought it would never be recorded. That summer, however, EMI Music Publishing's Jon "Big Jon" Platt heard the song. He liked the song and was convinced it was a perfect match for Jay-Z.

Jay-Z

However, Hunte and Sewell-Ulepic hesitated because they had already received the title back several times with negative feedback. When they heard the song again, however, a small figure from Notorious BIG fell over, which they had placed near the computer. They took this as a good omen and then sent the track to Jay-Z after all. He liked the track and is said to have recorded it that same night.

Hunte commented:

“We were just so happy he wanted to honor our work and our production. Two female producers / writers, and for him as a rapper to take our song - that's not a combination you see a lot. For him to be so open-minded about it, we just couldn't be any more grateful and thankful. "

“We were so happy that he appreciated our work and our production. Two producers / songwriters and that as a rapper he takes our song - you don't get that kind of combination very often. We can't be thankful enough that he's so unbiased. "

- Hunte

The actual song was more for singing than rapping about it. So Jay-Z had to write new verses for the song, but was inspired by the original song. He modified the original lyrics, but stayed with the old chorus of the song. When asked which singer they thought was best for the chorus, Hunte and Sewell-Ulepic replied to Alicia Keys . That was actually Jay-Z's second choice, originally going to ask Mary J. Blige . But he too realized that Alicia Keys was a good choice and finally let her sing in the chorus.

Hunte said:

“She's never done a record with him and she also has my same vocal tone. She made the song sound so close to the original, She just nailed it and brought it home. It was a great choice. "

“She has never made a record with him and also has the same voice color as me. She made the song so similar to the original, she just got to the point and successfully implemented it. It was a very good choice. "

- Hunte

Keys also wrote a new reconciliation for Empire State of Mind .

“Obviously, I'm very grateful to [Jay-Z] for reaching out to me and for that type of ability to represent my hometown, like, that was crazy. So we went to the studio. I went to the studio, and […] I fell in love [with the song] from the jump ”

“I'm definitely very grateful to [Jay-Z] for reaching out to me and giving me the opportunity to represent my hometown in this special way, that was crazy. So we went to the studio. I went to the studio and [...] was in love with the song from the start. "

In December 2009, Hunte said the original title would be released sooner or later, adding that the original was so powerful that it was only a matter of time before it was heard.

composition

Katy Perry – Zenith Paris.jpg
Snoop Dogg Hawaii.jpg


The song received a response from American pop singer Katy Perry and rapper Snoop Dogg in the number one hit California Gurls , a tribute to California.

Empire State of Mind consists of rap verses by Jay-Z and the chorus sung by Keys, who is named as the featured artist. It's a hip-hop song with influences from electropop and orchestral pop . The piece also has pop-rap influences and contains some samples of Love on a Two-Way Street by The Moments from 1970. The song is 84 fps and is written in F sharp major . It also contains a sequence of F –C / B – B – F as a progression . During the song, Keys' voice also changes from A 3 to C 5 . Stephen Dalton of The Timesg described it as an "orchestral rap ballad", Mariel Concepcion of Billboard as a "simple piano pattern".

The song begins with descriptions of various buildings in New York, but then also deals with other topics such as the New York Knicks basketball team . Jay-Z also describes himself there as the new Sinatra . One line of text in the song is "since I made it here I can make it anywhere", which comes from Frank Sinatra's hit New York, New York . The text passages "the Yankee has more famous than a Yankee can / You know I bleed blue / But I'm not a crip, though" is both an allusion to the famous baseball team and a reference to gang culture, since the crips are mentioned there. It's also about drugs and vulgar language is used, the word " nigga " appears in three places in the song , while Jay-Z uses the word "shit" twice. The song contains numerous allusions to famous New Yorkers, including Robert De Niro , Run DMC , Afrika Bambata and Edward Archer . A large part of the allusions can only be understood if one is familiar with Jay-Z's life in Harlem and his social rise up to Tribeca , in the neighborhood of DeNiro, and also if one is familiar with the gang and hip-hop culture the United States brings.

reception

Music critics praised Alicia Keys for her singing and her effect on the song.

Empire State of Mind has received critical acclaim, especially Alicia Keys for her singing. Allmusic's Jon Bush called the song the highlight of The Blueprint 3 . He described the song as "the king of crossovers and a hymn to New York". He also highlighted Alicia Key's role in the song. NME's Pete Cashmore described Alicia Key's vocals as a "roar of lust".

Honors

Empire State of Mind helped Jay-Z get his first number one hit in the US as a lead artist.

Empire State of Mind has been featured in many US music critics' best lists. MTV named the song one of the eight best songs of 2009, Rolling Stone named it the second best- selling song of the year, and The Village Voice named it the best song of the year. Jon Pareles of The New York Times placed Empire State of Mind on place of three of the best songs of 2009.

Empire State of Mind and another Jay-Z song, Run This Town , were played at various New York Yankees home games , Jay-Z said it was "incredible" to hear his songs at the Yankees' stadium. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the Empire State of Mind would be "one of the Yankees' newest hymns. At the Grammy Awards 2010 , the song won a Grammy in the categories Best Rap / Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song . It was also nominated in the Record of the Year category. In October 2011, NME placed the song on number 13 of the “150 Best Songs of the Last 15 Years”.

Chart success

Empire State of Mind became a commercial success worldwide. In the United States, the song stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks , from November 28 to December 26, 2009. From November 28 to December 26, 2009, the song stayed at the top. It took Owl City's Fireflies off the top. For Jay-Z it was his first and so far only number one hit in the USA with a song with him as the main artist, after he had already reached the top of the charts with 3 songs as a featured artist . In the US, the song was the last number one hit of the 2000s. According to Billboard , the song was the fifteenth most successful duet of all time.

In its first week, the song sold 205,000 times in the United States. Five months after its release, Empire State of Mind was awarded a triple platinum record for over 3,000,000 units sold in the United States . To date, the song has sold over 4,000,000 times there. Empire State of Mind was listed in the German single charts for 55 consecutive weeks after its release in 2009/10 . In the following years the title (or the successor version of Alicia Keys) developed into a popular song in appearances in casting shows , which meant that the title was briefly placed in the charts. With currently 70 chart weeks (as of January 18, 2013) , Empire State of Mind is the longest-recorded song by Jay-Z in the German charts and occupies position 21 of the long-running hits in the German charts.

Chart placements

Annual charts (2009) placement
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 91
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom 30th
United StatesUnited States United States 62
Annual charts (2010) placement
AustriaAustria Austria 47
GermanyGermany Germany 64
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 10
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom 78
United StatesUnited States United States 21st
Charts (2009) Top ranking
GermanyGermany Germany 11
AustriaAustria Austria 13
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland 4th
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom 2
United StatesUnited States United States 1
country Award
AustriaAustria Austria gold
GermanyGermany Germany platinum
United StatesUnited States United States 3 × platinum

Music video

The skyline of New York City, which is shown in the music video.

The music video for Empire State of Mind was filmed by Hype Williams . The video shows black and white scenes of the New York City skyline, as well as color scenes in which Jay-Z and Keys perform in front of Times Square . Filming for the music video began on September 29, 2009 in Tribeca around Ground Zero and was released on October 30, 2009. Keys praised the music video, saying it had all the key elements in paying homage to her hometown. She said of the Empire State of Mind music video:

“It's an excellent music video. It shows life in New York City. You are introduced and you understand. It's artistic. It is nice. It's all. Playing with the piano in the middle of Times Square and being there with Jay-Z is a triumph. It was amazing. [...] You have to see the skyline, otherwise it's not New York City, the same with the Empire State Building. This is what New York is. Here you see New York. It is nice."

content

The music video begins with black and white images of various locations in New York City. These images are interrupted with a scene from Jay-Z. He raps the song on the street in front of a skyscraper. Jay-Z later raps Empire State of Mind in different towns with other outfits.

Below you can see the black and white clips of Keys, who is wearing a black shirt and black leather jeans. She plays the song on a Yamaha piano and sings her part on a busy street at night. Key's appearance is then interrupted with the skyline scenes, showing Yankee Stadium , the New York Police and NYPD cars and logos. Keys and Jay-Z both wear sunglasses at night. At the end of the music video, both performers rap and sing the song in front of Times Square , where Keys is posing for the camera.

Jay-Z's lifestyle blog also published an alternative music video in which various supermodels make an appearance.

Live performances

Empire State of Minds sang Jay-Z and Alicia Keys for the first time live at the Answer the Call benefit concert at Madison Square Garden on September 11, 2009. All ticket receipts from the concert went to the New York Police and Fire Widows and Children's Fund. Both performers also sang the song at the MTV Video Music Awards (MTV VMAs) on September 13, 2009. Shaheem Redi of MTV News said of the performance: “Their set was elegant and 'hood at the same time, and it was such a powerful moment". Ryan Brockington of the New York Post wrote: "alicia's buttery voice and Jay-Z's impeccable stage presence made for an audio adrenaline overload" and placed the appearance in 6th place of the best appearances on the MTV VMAs.

Jay-Z should have performed "Empire State of Mind" with Keys during the opening of the Baseball World Series in early October 2009, but it was canceled due to bad weather. So they ended up playing the song live at Yankee Stadium before Game 2 of the 2009 World Series in the middle of October. MTV News' Jayson Rodriguez commented on the performance, "If the Yankees were looking to change their tune heading into Game 2 of the World Series, they couldn't have picked better musical guests." Most of the live performances of the song will use the occurring Vulgar language included; however, it was omitted from the baseball game. On November 5th, 2009 Jay-Z and Keys sang Empire State of Mind at the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) in Berlin in front of a large New York cityscape. Jay-Z and Keys continued to sing the song after the Yankees won the World Series at the ceremony at New York City Hall on November 6, 2009.

Jay-Z and Keys made an appearance with the song at the American Music Awards (AMAs) on November 22, 2009. They began with Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York". At the end of the play, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys walked up to the front of the stage with a large sign with the text "I love you". On November 29, Keys sang the chorus for the song and two more of her songs, Doesn't Mean Anything and No One , on season six of the television show The X Factor . During one of Keys' " Freedom Tours " concerts, Jay-Z came on stage to perform the song with her in front of images of New York that were shown around the arena. Jay-Z also appeared with the song on Saturday Night Live on May 9, 2010.

Aftermath

In January 2010, Keys planned to release a second version of Empire State of Mind the following month . The song, titled Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down , eventually appeared on Key's fourth album The Element of Freedom . The original version, Empire State of Mind Part 2 , originally featured vocals from Keys and rap from Jay-Z. Commenting on her recording, Keys said, "The music is really strong and the drums are very aggressive, but my voice is vulnerable and delicate."

“I definitely wanted to release my version of New York City with my own vision. I wanted to do it for my style - more degraded, more on piano, voice, and more intimacy - that's what I did. I imagined, 'If I were able to sing this whole song, how would I do it?' So I just sat down at my piano and started singing about New York the way I see it, which turned out to be great. "

- Keys on recording Empire State of Mind. (Part II) Broken Down

Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down received critical acclaim. The song was not as successful as Empire State of Mind , but placed in the British charts at number 4. In the American Billboard Hot 100 , the song was at number 55 without ever being officially released.

In the years that followed, Alicia Keys' version became a very popular song on casting shows . As a result, the song (as well as the version with JAY-Z) repeatedly made it into the charts and with currently 53 chart weeks (as of January 2013) is Alicia Keys' single most frequently listed in the charts.

Cover versions

Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)

Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)
Alex Warren, Terema Wainwright
publication 2010
length 3:37
Genre (s) Hip-hop, R&B

One of the cover versions was the song Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) , which is not about New York , but about the smaller Welsh city of Newport ( Ymerodraeth is Welsh for English empire ). This version was produced by MJ Delaney and raped by Alex Warren and sung by Terema Wainwright. Delanley said a few days after the publication: "I hope Jay-Z and Alicia get to see the video as long as their publishing people don't force us to take it offline. It's only tongue in cheek. ”(German:“ I hope Jay-Z and Alicia see it before their administrators force us to remove it. It's just a little parody. ”) The contributors were invited to the Appeared on television and featured in regional magazines. That's why they were even invited to the reopening of the Newport Transporter Bridge in Wales . The music video went viral after being viewed nearly a million times in three days. In August 2010 it had almost 3.5 million views. In July, Warren and Wainwright met with people from Universal Records to discuss whether Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) should be released as a standalone single. However, the 7 co-copywriters of "Empire State of Mind" did not give permission, whereupon the video was removed on August 10th.

Glee

Empire State of Mind
Glee
publication September 21, 2010
length 4:37
Genre (s) Hip-hop, R&B
Publisher (s) Fox Film Corporation

Among other things, the song was also covered by the television series Glee in the first episode of the second season. There the William McKinley High School Glee Club sings it in hopes of attracting attention. MTV's Kyle Anderson said the performance "excused any awkwardness." Aly Semigran, also from MTV, reported that the seriousness of the song left a lot to be desired. Keys themselves but kept the song for amazing ( great ). Lisa de Moraes of The Washington Post said that the interpretation “maybe a little too tempted” seems. Entertainment Weekly's Tom Stack gave it a very positive review, gave it the top grade A and said it was “spectacular” and “elating” (“spectacular” and “inspiring”). The version reached number 21 on the Billboard Top 200 and also reached number 20 on the Australian charts.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i j Mariel Concepcion: 'Empire State of Mind' Co-writer In Disbelief Over Song's Success. In: Billboard. December 11, 2009, accessed May 25, 2010 .
  2. Marcell Minaya: Jay-Z: 'Keys was second choice on Empire'. In: Digital Spy . Digital Spy , February 20, 2010, accessed May 3, 2010 .
  3. Gerrick D. Kennedy: Grammy Awards: 'Empire State of Mind' producer Al Shux knows hip hop - and the metric system. In: Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company , February 13, 2011, accessed July 7, 2012 .
  4. Jocelyn Vena: Alicia Keys 'Grateful' To Jay-Z For 'Empire State of Mind'. In: MTV. Viacom , October 29, 2009, accessed May 19, 2010 .
  5. a b c Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z Digital Sheet Music (Download). In: MusicNotes.com . EMI Music Publishing , accessed April 30, 2010 .
  6. ^ Gary Trust: Chart Beat Thursday: Bon Jovi, Jay-Z, Bad Lieutenant. In: Billboard. November 19, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2012 .
  7. Stephen Dalton: Jay-Z: The Blueprint 3 . In: The Times. Times Newspapers Ltd., September 11, 2009, accessed May 1, 2010 .
  8. ^ Mariel Concepcion: Jay-Z, "Blueprint 3". In: www.billboard.com. September 11, 2009, accessed May 1, 2010 .
  9. Jayson Rodriguez: Mary J. Blige Looking Forward To 'Huge' Jay-Z And Alicia Keys VMA Performance. In: MTV. Viacom, September 11, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  10. Steve Jones: Jay-Z's 'Blueprint 3' proves to be a different kind of original. In: USA Today. Gannett Company, Inc , September 2, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  11. Glenn Gamboa: Jay-Z's' Blueprint 3 'shows' em how it's done. In: Newsday. Terry Jimenez, September 7, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  12. Jayson Rodriguez: Jay-Z Dedicates 'Young Forever' To Betty White On 'SNL'. In: MTV. Viacom, May 9, 2010, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  13. Jayson Rodriguez, Shaheem Reid: Jay-Z 'Excited' For Fans To Hear Blueprint 3 On 'The Leak'. In: MTV. Viacom, September 1, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  14. ^ A b Peter Freese: Jay-Z and Alicia Key, Empire State of Mind. A New Anthem to New York City . In: Nils Grosch, Fernand Hörner (Hrsg.): Song and popular culture - Song and Popular Culture 56 (=  yearbook of the German Folk Song Archive Freiburg ). Waxmann Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8309-7616-5 , p. 169-197 .
  15. a b Dan Gross: Dan Gross: Jay-Z to tone down his act . In: The Philadelphia Inquirer . October 29, 2009.
  16. a b Song Lyrics Cleaned Up For World Series . In: Morning Edition . October 29, 2009.
  17. Jacqueline Rupp: "Empire State of Mind" (CD single) , Common Sense Media, accessed on July 29, 2012 (English).
  18. The Blueprint 3 at Allmusic (English)
  19. Pete Cashmore: Album review: Jay-Z - 'The Blueprint III'. In: NME. September 18, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  20. James Montgomery: The Best Songs Of 2009, In ​​Bigger Than The Sound. In: MTV. Viacom, December 9, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  21. The 25 Best Songs of 2009 , Wenner Media LLC. 
  22. Singles - All Votes. In: The Village Voice . Village Voice Media , accessed May 3, 2010 .
  23. ^ Jon Parales: Reggae and Rock Operas, Intimacies and Anthems . In: New York Times , December 17, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2010. 
  24. ^ Pitchfork Staff: The Top 100 Tracks of 2009. In: Pitchfork Media. Pitchfork Media Inc, December 14, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  25. Shaheem Reid: Jay-Z Says It's 'Incredible' Hearing His Music At Yankee Stadium. In: MTV. Viacom, October 30, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  26. a b Shaheem Reid: Jay-Z Performs 'Empire State of Mind' At Yankees Parade . In: MTV , Viacom, November 6, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2009. 
  27. ^ Billboard Staff: Grammys 2011 Winners List. In: Billboard. February 13, 2011, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  28. [1]
  29. Silvio Pietroluongo: Jay-Z, Keys' 'Empire' Tops Hot 100 For Fifth Week. In: Billboard. December 17, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  30. Pietroluongo Silvio: Jay-Z Jumps To No. 1 On The Hot 100. In: Billboard. November 18, 2009, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  31. THE 40 BIGGEST DUETS OF ALL TIME. In: Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2012 .
  32. a b Paul Grein: Week Ending May 16, 2010: Battle Of The Home-State Anthems. Yahoo! Inc, May 19, 2010, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  33. Digital Songs: Week of October 3, 2009. In: Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2012 .
  34. ^ Radio Songs: Week of November 28, 2009. In: Billboard. November 28, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2012 .
  35. R&B / Hip Hop Songs: Week of November 28, 2009. In: Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2012 .
  36. Rap Songs: Week of January 9, 2010. In: Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2012 .
  37. a b Jay - Z Certifications (Page 2). Recording Industry Association of America, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  38. Week Ending Oct. 3, 2010: America's Most Popular Inmate - Chart Watch. Yahoo! Inc, October 6, 2010, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  39. List of long-running hits in the German charts since 1956 ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on chartsurfer.de; Retrieved January 18, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chartsurfer.de
  40. 2009 Year End Swiss Singles Chart . In: Hitparade.ch . Hung media. 2009. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  41. Charts Plus Year end 2009 (PDF; 391 kB) Charts Plus. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
  42. Charts Year End: The Billboard Hot 100 . In: Billboard . Retrieved April 27, 2010. 
  43. Austriancharts.nl - 2010 hit parade . In: AustrianCharts.at . Hung media. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
  44. VIVA Single Annual Charts 2010 . Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 24, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.viva.tv
  45. ^ Hitparade.ch - Swiss hit parade of the year 2010 . In: HitParade.ch . Hung media. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
  46. UKChartsPlusYE2010 (PDF) Retrieved August 28, 2011.
  47. ^ Billboard Year-End 2010 - Hot 100 songs . In: Billboard . Archived from the original on December 12, 2010. Retrieved on December 18, 2010.
  48. Empire State of Mind in the German charts at OfficialCharts.de
  49. Empire State of Mind in the Austrian charts on AustrianCharts.at
  50. Empire State of Mind in the Swiss charts on Hitparade.ch
  51. a b Jay-T ft. Alicia Keys: Empire State of Mind in the Official UK Charts (English)
  52. Empire State of Mind on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts
  53. Gold & Platinum. International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, accessed July 8, 2012 .
  54. [2]
  55. a b c d Jocelyn Vena: Jay-Z, Alicia Keys Shoot 'Empire State of Mind' Video Near Ground Zero . In: MTV . Viacom. November 2, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  56. Shaheem Reid: Alicia Keys Calls 'Empire State of Mind' Video With Jay-Z A 'Triumph' . In: MTV . Viacom. October 1, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  57. [3]
  58. a b Simon Vozick-Levinson: Jay-Z 'Answers the Call' in NYC with help from Rihanna, Beyonce, Kanye West, John Mayor and the rest of his Rolex ( English A ) In: Entertainment Weekly . Time Warner Inc. September 29, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  59. Exclusive: Lil Mama Apologizes For Crashing Jay-Z's VMA Performance . In: MTV . Viacom. September 14, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  60. Jayson Rodriguez: Jay-Z, Alicia Keys Close VMAs With Ode To New York . In: MTV . Viacom. September 14, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  61. Shaheem Reid: Jay-Z Continues His Hip-Hop Reign As No.2 Man Of The Year . In: MTV . Viacom. December 17, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  62. ^ Ryan Brockington: Top six performances from the 2009 VMAs . In: New York Post , Paul Carlucci, September 14th, 2009. Archived from the original on June 6th, 2011 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved May 3, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nypost.com 
  63. Shaheem Reid: Jay-Z Joins Alex Rodriguez At New York Yankees Victory Parade . In: MTV . Viacom. November 6, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  64. a b c Jayson Rodriguez: Jay-Z And Alicia Keys Pump Up World Series Crowd In NYC . In: MTV . Viacom. October 29, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  65. Brittany Ghiroli: Jay-Z, Keys take center stage in Bronx: Duo performs 'Empire State of Mind' prior to Game 2 . Major League Baseball . October 29, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  66. a b James Dinh: Jay-Z And Beyonce Join Alicia Keys During New York Concert . In: MTV . Viacom. March 18, 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  67. a b 2009 American Music Awards performances: Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Janet Jackson, Alicia Keys & more . In: New York Examiner , Clarity Digital Group LLC, November 22, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2010. 
  68. Shaheem Reid: Jay-Z, Alicia Keys Rock American Music Awards With 'Empire State of Mind' . In: MTV . Viacom. November 23, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  69. ^ Caitlyn Millat: Betty White, Jay-Z Celebrate Golden Years on “SNL” . In: NBC . NBCUniversal Media, LLC. May 9, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
  70. Michael Langston Moore: Jay-Z rocks the SNL stage with Mr. Hudson, Bridget Kelly in tow (video) . In: The Examiner , Clarity Digital Group LLC, May 9, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2012. 
  71. a b David Balls: Keys to release solo version of 'Empire' . In: Digital Spy . Digital Spy Limited. January 13, 2010. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  72. Jocelyn Vena: Jay-Z and Alicia Keys Record 'Empire State of Mind Part 2' . In: MTV . Viacom. November 5, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  73. Jem Aswad, Vena, Jocelyn: Alicia Keys Collabos with Beyoncé, Drake Hit the Net . In: MTV . Viacom. December 4, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  74. ^ Gary Graff: Interview: Alicia Keys, singer . In: The Scotsman . Johnston Press Digital Publishing. February 1, 2010. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved on April 28, 2010.
  75. ^ Robert Christgau : The Element of Freedom . In: Consumer Guide . Robert Christgau. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  76. Ben Radlift: ALICIA KEYS: "The Element of Freedom" . In: The New York Times , December 14, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2010. 
  77. Mike Ragogna: HuffPost Reviews: Alicia Keys, Robin Thicke, Avatar, and Pixies, Plus Conversations with Julian Lennon and Precious Composer Mario Grigorov, and more . In: The Huffington Post . HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. December 14, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  78. Allison Stewart: 'Element' is another safe, uninspiring album from R&B star Alicia Keys . In: The Washington Post , The Washington Post Company , December 15, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2010. 
  79. ^ Empire State of Mind (Part II) Billboard , Nielsen SoundScan , accessed July 8, 2012.
  80. ↑ Chart history for Alicia Keys ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on chartsurfer.de; Retrieved Jan. 18, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chartsurfer.de
  81. James McCarthy: Jay-Z video rap spoof set for its millionth hit . In: Western Mail . Media Wales Ltd . July 25, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  82. a b c d Andy Bloxham: Newport State of Mind parody removed over copyright issues . In: The Daily Telegraph . Telegraph Media Group Limited. August 11, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2011.
  83. ^ Newport State of Mind removed amid copyright claim . In: BBC News , BBC, August 10, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2011. 
  84. ^ Empire State of Mind (Glee Cast Version) on iTunes, accessed July 14, 2012
  85. Kyle Anderson: 'Glee' Season Two Premiere Embraces Hip-Hop Via Jay-Z And Travie McCoy . In: MTV . Viacom. September 22, 2010. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 22, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / newsroom.mtv.com
  86. Aly Semigran: 'Glee' Season-Two Premiere Gets Into 'Empire State of Mind' . In: MTV . Viacom. September 22, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  87. Lisa de Moraes: 'Glee' premiere: The music . In: Washington Post . The Washington Post Company. September 22, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  88. Tim Stack: 'Glee' recap: Let's Hear It for New Dorks . In: Entertainment Weekly . Time Warner Inc. September 22, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  89. Hot 100: Week of October 09, 2010 (Biggest Jump) . In: Billboard . September 30, 2010. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  90. Empire State of Mind in the Australian charts on Australian-Charts.com