Jay-Z - Empire State Of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)

Leaving for NYC tomorrow night! In 2012, when one thinks of New York, Jay-Z often is the first person to come to mind. The self-proclaimed King of New York (personally, I think Derek Jeter is) rose from the depths of the streets to the top of the charts. Jay-Z has been in the game for a long time and continues to put out hit singles and albums. His Blueprint III album was a massive hit (which features this track) as well as his collaboration with Kanye West for Watch The Throne. And those were just the past few years. I mean, for Fuck's sake, the dude has retired and unretired already! He's married to and has a kid with Beyonce, the hottest chick in the game. Jay-Z is dope, nuff said!

"Empire State Of Mind" is the new anthem for the Big Apple. For the longest time it was an old classic by Ol' Blue Eyes (see: below) but the smooth flow of Jay and killer hook sung by fellow New Yorker Alicia Keys made this the new classic anthem. I love the line "Made the Yankee cap more famous than any Yankee  did". This is kinda funny because Jay-Z is good friends with Derek Jeter, the King of New York for the sports world, and he actually missed several important business meetings and critic listening sessions in order to be there to watch DJ hit his 3,000th. Yet for everything that Jeter has done for the city and the team, Jay has a stranglehold on pop culture, which will always be bigger than the sports world.

Now for the classic NYC anthem:

Frank Sinatra - New York, New York

The classic New York anthem. I love Sinatra but honestly have not listened to as much of his stuff as I'd like to. This is one of my faves but his best imo is "That's Life"; just a classic kick-in-the-pants type of song that you can listen to after any incident that seems huge at the time but really isn't a big deal at all. His reign over the city lasted a long time and he did it in style. Booze, women, mafia (come on, he was in on it, but who cares!?!!?!?! That's some epic gangsta shit!). But, most of all, Frank had the voice. That Voice! Holy fuck what a singer. That is all.

Some thoughts...

- Super Stoked for the NFL Fantasy Draft for the Boundary Park Bowl happening at Baby Nate's in a little over an hour. Last year The Brave Lobsters just missed out on a playoff spot in the inaugural season. Poor trades, injuries, and just pure fail showings ended up being my downfall. This year, The KEE to Winning is back with a vengeance, looking to learn from past mistakes and take these suckas down!

- Planning to go cruisin' for burgers tomorrow to Five Guys, where I've never been and now really want to go, mostly cuz of this video posted by a friend:

Mmmmm. I'm hungry now! Peace out everyone! Hope your long weekend is EpiclyUnreal!