So I know I'm not the only person with a great love of Jay Z's song "Empire State of Mind." The only problem is I didn't really know/understand half of the lyrics (although that didn't stop me from singing along). I'm not from New York City and most of the references went right over my head. However, I put in much research to figure everything out and found this website and thought it was too good not to share with other non-New Yorkers who didn't know what a dollar cab was either. oh and when you get a chance you should check out the other songs on Rap Genius. Enjoy!
http://rapgenius.com/lyrics/Jay-z/Empire-state-of-mind
Verse 1 - Jay-Z]
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
Hola my Dominicanos
Right there up on Broadway
Brought me back to that McDonalds
Took it to my stash spot
560 State street
Catch me in the kitchen like a Simmons whipping pastry
Cruising down 8th street
Off-white Lexus
Driving 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 sipping mai tais
Sitting courtside Knicks and Nets give me high fives
Nigga I be Spiked out, I can trip a referee
Tell by my attitude that I most definitely from
[Hook - 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
Big lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for New York
[Verse 2 - Jay-Z]
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 walking with my clique though
Welcome to the melting pot
Corners where we selling rocks
Afrika Bambaataa 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
8 million stories out there in the naked
City, it's a pity half of y’all won’t make it
Me I gotta plug Special Ed "I Got It Made"
If Jeezy's paying LeBron, I’m paying Dwyane 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, that's:
[Hook]
Welcome to the bright light
[Verse 3 - Jay-Z]
Lights is blinding
Girls need blinders
So they can step out of bounds quick
The side lines 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
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 you're a Virgin
If 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
[Hook]
[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 "yea!"
Joe
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