I’ve been a big fan of Jay-Z for a while. What? Huh? Yeah, I’m a closeted rap lover…deal with it. So when I heard he was coming out with The Blueprint III I was a bit interested to see who he was collaborating with and if there would be a new sound. I haven’t actually heard much of it yet, but from the tracks I did listen to these ones stuck out for me. I’m sure everyone heard “Empire State of Mind” on the MTV Awards (Lil Mama, watcha doin up on that stage!?!) and most anything that Alicia Keys does is fantastic, so I thought they came up with a pretty great song here. Anytime I hear a song about NYC it makes me want to pack up and move there…someday I will, but until then I can put on this song and feel like I’m walking the streets.

The other song I’ve posted is basically a huge sample of “Forever Young” by Alphaville. One of my favorite things to hear is when a rap song samples a style that is 180 degrees from it’s roots. Very few rappers can pull it off without sounding like they just cut and pasted their verses into another song. But when it works it’s very, very cool.


mp3: Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)

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mp3: Jay-Z – Young Forever (feat. Mr. Hudson)

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Tags: Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Mr. Hudson