Archive for December 2nd, 2009

J.O.K.E. – “The New York Anthem Award”

Congrats for the #1 hit, and props, but best NY Anthem ever? Let's not get carried away...

K1ng Eljay - I really can’t believe this is an issue. I mean, the more I think about it the more I really can’t believe that people are debating this.

I understand people have to make a debate out of some things, like hoping Jay-Z responds to Beanie (nope), or wanting Young Berg to commit suicide (nope again), or even wanting Chris Brown to never advance in his career because of the teeth marks he left in his last mistake (once again…no dice), and that’s fine. If people aren’t talking about it, then it’s not important, and that should be an indicator for something.

Whatever it is.

But this topic that’s been brought to my attention… literally makes me laugh out loud. People are actually debating and saying that Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” is the NEW New York Anthem, replacing ALL other anthems that have come before it. I’m as unbiased as it gets, and I love when hip-hop even makes strides of becoming timeless but SERIOUSLY, this is where I have to call shenanigans.

Or BS. Whatever it is.

I got my reasons though, so hear me out. Firstly, New York is the birthplace of hip-hop. Because of THIS FACT ALONE, there are ALWAYS New York anthems being put out seasonally. It’s been that way since I first started listening to music. From the Hi-Tek track with Jadakiss and Papoose to the Ja Rule track with Fat Joe and (surprise, surprise) Jadakiss, there’s always tracks like these.

YES. I said it. I like Ja Rule's "New York, New York" anthem (which featured Fat Joe and Jadakiss) better than this song. I like the Hi-Tek track "Where It Started At (New York)" more than all of them.

By the way, I like BOTH of those tracks better than the Jay-Z one.

Secondly, when you make an anthem, I think the person’s character comes into play somewhat. I think of the two people in “Empire State of Mind” and I think of FOOD.

Seriously.

When I think of Jay-Z, I think of Beans, as in Beanie Sigel and how he and Jay fell out. When I think of Alicia Keys, I think of the HomeWrecker burger that Hardees used to have a couple of years back. Ironically, I think she had Swizz Beatz on her- no, I mean, I think IT had Swiss Cheese on it. I could be wrong.

However… I’m actually going to go a different route. If you checked the link up top to hiphopstateofmind.com, you see Rhymestyle posted a question about who had the best anthem or something (complete with nice interactive poll, yay).

Pretty much it asked… was it Jay-Z or Frank Sinatra?

Now personally, I can’t get upset at your decision on what you personally like better. I’m not saying that you’re wrong at all. I’m just saying that as a whole, in order to become an anthem for a city, you have to consider all of the facts and aspects there.

The Big Band and the Sinatra-style of music is pretty much still intact and appeals to a broader sense of people. One of my friends pointed out today in a conversation that it’s survived since the 1920s, and hip-hop hasn’t even been around that long to even compete as far as timelessness. As much as I love hip-hop, I have to agree. Hip-Hop has a long way to go before the term timeless comes into play.

I can't bring myself to say that Jay's new "anthem" is better than Frank Sinatra's. At least I can play Frank's version around my nephews and not have to explain what the phrase "Ride her like a bus route" means...

Secondly, if you look at how Big Bang/Sinatra-style music has passed on through the generations, it’s pretty much identical. It’s been a graceful transition. Hip-Hop however hasn’t had that graceful transition. There was a period where rap and hip-hop (arguably) split into two separate entities, rap beefs came into play, originality left the genre altogether for a time, pop began to infect it (but pop infects EVERY genre, so that’s a given) and some people even say it’s dead right now (which is dead wrong, but that’s another J.O.K.E.).

And lastly, and most importantly… rap anthems come a dime a dozen. Congrats to Jay-Z getting his first official #1 hit with the single, but even still I don’t see what sets this apart from other New York anthems.

I’ve said this earlier, but until someone explains to me what about this one makes it stand out from the other two I mentioned above and what makes it stand above Frank Sinatra’s classic song (you know, the one that STILL gets heavy burn after the Yankees win a game in their stadium? The one that doesn’t contain profanity? The one that doesn’t talk about girls being taken advantage of?) , then I’m thinking that overall, to each his own opinion, but no.

But by all means, if you can explain the other side of the coin, please do.

Whatever that is.

Later.