This song is amazing for the breadth of its appeal. Unlike other portraits of New York by myriads of hip hop artists through the decades, including Jay Z, this song isn't just for the tough guys living in poverty and resorting to crime in Bed Stuy, East New York, South Bronx, etc. It's also not just for those born and raised in New York, and it doesn't take an elitist stance against the hundreds of thousands of young, wide-eyed Americans looking to embrace an urban lifestyle and pursue their dreams. This song is for the natives, the transplants, the immigrants, the criminals, the good citizens, the poor, the middle class, the wealthy--everyone and anyone whose dreams have been made and fulfilled in this great city.
You hear this song played in the bars where young people gather to socialize. You hear it trickling from the boom box behind the counter at the corner deli, where you are served by a man or woman who left everything behind to make a new life in New York. You hear it coming out of the car windows of sixty-year-old men and women who, along with the rest of their family, have spent their entire lives in the city.
This song doesn't glorify the crime-ridden city of the 1970's (nor does it ignore the past). It is an all-encompassing, optimistic anthem for an ever-evolving city in the year 2009.
This song is amazing for the breadth of its appeal. Unlike other portraits of New York by myriads of hip hop artists through the decades, including Jay Z, this song isn't just for the tough guys living in poverty and resorting to crime in Bed Stuy, East New York, South Bronx, etc. It's also not just for those born and raised in New York, and it doesn't take an elitist stance against the hundreds of thousands of young, wide-eyed Americans looking to embrace an urban lifestyle and pursue their dreams. This song is for the natives, the transplants, the immigrants, the criminals, the good citizens, the poor, the middle class, the wealthy--everyone and anyone whose dreams have been made and fulfilled in this great city.
You hear this song played in the bars where young people gather to socialize. You hear it trickling from the boom box behind the counter at the corner deli, where you are served by a man or woman who left everything behind to make a new life in New York. You hear it coming out of the car windows of sixty-year-old men and women who, along with the rest of their family, have spent their entire lives in the city.
This song doesn't glorify the crime-ridden city of the 1970's (nor does it ignore the past). It is an all-encompassing, optimistic anthem for an ever-evolving city in the year 2009.