Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind feat. Alicia Keys Reviews and Music Video

"Empire State of Mind" is a song by hip hop artist Jay-Z, featuring guest vocals of R&B and soul singer-songwriter Alicia Keys. The song was released as the third single from Jay-Z's eleventh studio album The Blueprint 3 on his Roc Nation label. The song is an anthemic ode to both artists' native New York City, featuring a sample of "Love on a Two-Way Street" by The Moments. Jay-Z and Keys performed the song at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, as well as the American Music Awards of 2009. It is also the plate music for New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, and it was used in the trailer for Sex and the City 2. The single has been commercially successful in the United States. The song received airplay from numerous radio stations and gained a huge number of downloads, specifically after the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The song was released as the third single from the album to Rhythmic Airplay on October 19, 2009, the same day as Alicia Keys's single "Doesn't Mean Anything". The song was featured on episode 12 of the third season of Gossip Girl titled "The Debarted". It was also featured on WWE Monday Night Raw for a Madison Square Garden episode shot there.

After the song was released, it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 50, with more than 40,000 downloads. Leaping from 23 to 1 on the Hot Digital Songs the following week, it hit number 5 on the Hot 100 in its second week on the chart. With that big jump, the song became Jay Z's sixteenth top 10 hit and Keys's ninth top 10 hit. This is Jay-Z's first single of his career as a lead artist to hit number one on the Hot 100, though he has had previous Hot 100 number ones as a featured artist. Overall, it is the fourth "Hot 100" number one hit for both artists. The song stayed at number one for five weeks, and was the final number-one single of the 2000s. On the UK Singles Chart, "Empire State of Mind" entered at #15 on 20 September, 2009. In the next week, it climbed to #3, and then one further place to #2 on October 4, 2009, held off the top spot by Taio Cruz with "Break Your Heart". The song also peaked at #2 on the UK R&B Chart based on downloads alone, no promotion and, at that time, no music video. As of January 31, it has spent 20 weeks inside the UK top 40. The song also reached number 2 in the Irish Singles Chart on September 25, 2009 with no official release. On its 20th week of chart-run, after the huge success of Keys' acoustic version, the song climbed back into the top 20. After the release of Keys's album, The Element of Freedom, the acoustic version of the song debuted at #55 in the U.S. The Song has so far sold over 3.000.000 units and remains in the Top 20 Digital songs

The music video was filmed on October 1, 2009, in Harlem, Times Square, and around Ground Zero of New York City, and shows Yankee Stadium, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and Ebbets Field. The video was directed by Hype Williams. It premiered on Jay-Z's official YouTube channel on October 30, 2009. It ranked at #6 on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown. You can watch the it below.