{"id":2211,"date":"2010-01-24T21:37:53","date_gmt":"2010-01-25T02:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/?p=2211"},"modified":"2010-01-26T05:21:01","modified_gmt":"2010-01-26T10:21:01","slug":"new-york-new-mythology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/2010\/01\/24\/new-york-new-mythology\/","title":{"rendered":"New York, New Mythology"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I must admit I’ve been a bit intrigued by the Jay-Z song, “Empire State of Mind<\/a>” featuring Alicia Keys, <\/span><\/strong>which is a perfect example of a crossover hit complete with musical hooks, orchestral pop grandeur, and an anthemic quality that goes beyond mere shout-outs. On my other blog, I have a link to a mashup showing the places the song is referring to<\/a><\/strong>. The comparisons to “New York, New York”<\/a><\/strong>, which Frank Sinatra made famous, are obvious and Shawn Carter<\/a><\/strong> makes it explicit::<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m the new Sinatra
\nand since I made it here
\nI can make it anywhere
\nyeah they love me everywhere”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What strikes me about this song is how it embodies an American mythology that’s perfect for the Great Recession<\/a> <\/strong>and has the potential to transcend place. In contrast to the lyrics of “New York, New York”<\/a><\/strong>, “Empire State of Mind” crafts a narrative that contextualizes the American dream with its darker elements. Here’s a link to the lyrics<\/a><\/strong>. Granted, it’s just a song and not ethnography, but I think it offers up a revised mythology that’s from a different point of view and one that resonates in these times of uncertainty. The song makes references to being from\u00a0Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn<\/a><\/strong>, but with characteristic bravado showing the upside of success::<\/p>\n

“now I live on Billboard
\nand I brought my boys with me
\nSay what up to Ta-ta
\nStill sipping Mai Tais
\nSitting courtside
\nKnicks and Nets give me high-5
\nNigga, I be Spiked out
\nI could trip a referee”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“I made you hot nigga,
\nCatch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game,
\nshit I made the Yankee hat
\nmore famous than a Yankee can”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The soaring chorus sung by Alicia Keys reinforces this part of the mythology, which may well be what listeners “hear” the most::<\/p>\n

“New York!!!!
\nConcrete jungle where dreams are made of,
\nThere’s nothing you can\u2019t do,
\nNow you’re in New York!!!
\nThese streets will make you feel brand new,
\nthe lights will inspire you,
\nLet’s hear it for New York, New York, New York”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The overt and subtle drug references, e.g<\/em>., “MDMA” and “If Jeezy’s payin’ LeBron, I\u2019m paying Dwayne Wade” {a reference to Jeezy’s song, “Kobe and Lebron” that uses the players’ numbers as code for cocaine prices per kilo},\u00a0and cautionary tales of smashed-up dreams and getting addicted to the limelight, serve to juxtapose possibilities with the darker elements of modern life. A modern life increasingly “hard knock”<\/a><\/strong> for many in 2009-10. Falling prey to the limelight may not be a life lived by most, but serves as a metaphor. The public consumes through a thirst for the entertainment spectacle, pointing to our collective culpability with respect to what is valued.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure how closely people are paying that attention to the lyrics, but I think it’s the simultaneous depiction of what “can be” and “what is” that resonates with listeners. It captures how many see the mythology of the American dream, in the wake of financial meltdowns, bailouts, and double-digit unemployment, which is now 10.6% in NYC<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Twitterversion::<\/strong> DDoes Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind create perfect depiction of the American dream, warts&all? Life in the great recession @Prof_K <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I must admit I’ve been a bit intrigued by the Jay-Z song, “Empire State of Mind” featuring Alicia Keys, which is a perfect example of a crossover hit complete with musical hooks, orchestral pop grandeur, and an anthemic quality that goes beyond mere shout-outs. On my other blog, I have a link to a mashup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3881,2150,98,3880,3882],"class_list":["post-2211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-empire-state-of-mind","tag-big-recession","tag-capitalism","tag-jay-z","tag-mythology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2227,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions\/2227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}