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The other day CNN ran an article, "The song that inspired a nation of remixes," about a trend of which I had been completely unaware. Apparently, ever since Jay-Z and Alicia Keys put out Empire State of Mind, rappers in virtually every state of the nation have been doing their own remixes of it. The story caught my eye for two reasons: perhaps most significantly was CNN's decision to do a story with a positive, or at least neutral, spin on the subject of hip hop, and almost as significantly, the article constituted a piece of actual, original journalism as I hadn't seen any other news outlet picking up on the trend in the several months since the song first came out.
CNN still doesn't seem to have fully grasped the concept of "New Media," however, failing to include links to any of the songs that were discussed in the article. They were helpful enough, though, to include the instructions to "simply type in the keywords 'empire' and 'state of mind,' paired with the name of your city, into Google or the search function on YouTube to see if some enterprising rapper and mezzo-soprano have tailored the blockbuster single to your city, town or borough." I did just that, and found dozens of such remixes. The lyrical quality on many of them, as you might imagine, was subpar, but I found just as many that were far more interesting than Jay's version. After all, having lived most of my life just across the river from Manhattan, I'm already well familiar with the Empire State. The version for a place like New Holland, however, offers up a view into a town I'm likely never to visit in my life. What follows is a few of the more interesting remixes that I found on YouTube. It's far from a comprehensive list, but chances are someone's recorded a version for your own city, or at least your state.
The best of the bunch, somewhat surprisingly, comes from Stephen Colbert who did his take of the song when Alicia Keys appeared on The Colbert Report:
CNN made a point of mentioning the following video, a hyper-regional version for New Holland, Pennsylvania:
Matthew Besson - New Holland State of Mind
Cali gets a version with a slightly remixed beat from the Bay Area's UpperClassmen, perhaps my favorite of the remixes that don't feature Alicia Keys in some capacity:
Upperclassmen featuring Camille Zapanta - Golden State of Mind
Alabama rappers Yung Killa Mane and Milli M16 "remade the beat on some souf shit" to come up with this anthem for their home state:
Yung Killa Mane and Milli M16 - 'Bama State of Mind
The trend wouldn't be fully played out if we didn't have Trina up on it at some point:
Trina Ft. Nisha Rockstarr & Mona Lisa - Miami State of Mind
Nor would it be a proper discussion of the states if someone didn't take the opportunity to throw shade at Jersey:
Lizard King Films - Jersey Shore State of Mind
Here's a more legit entry from New Jeru, courtesy of Malcolm Shabazz High alumnus Diggs:
Diggs - Garden State of Mind
And finally, as an example of how widespread the trend has become, there are even international versions of the song. Here's one from Canada, where, it should be pointed out, they don't actually have states, they have provinces:
KISS 92.5 - T Dot State of Mind
This all begs the question, if YouTube were around back in the day when Illmatic first dropped, would this same trend have happened for the far superior NY State of Mind? Probably not.
CNN still doesn't seem to have fully grasped the concept of "New Media," however, failing to include links to any of the songs that were discussed in the article. They were helpful enough, though, to include the instructions to "simply type in the keywords 'empire' and 'state of mind,' paired with the name of your city, into Google or the search function on YouTube to see if some enterprising rapper and mezzo-soprano have tailored the blockbuster single to your city, town or borough." I did just that, and found dozens of such remixes. The lyrical quality on many of them, as you might imagine, was subpar, but I found just as many that were far more interesting than Jay's version. After all, having lived most of my life just across the river from Manhattan, I'm already well familiar with the Empire State. The version for a place like New Holland, however, offers up a view into a town I'm likely never to visit in my life. What follows is a few of the more interesting remixes that I found on YouTube. It's far from a comprehensive list, but chances are someone's recorded a version for your own city, or at least your state.
The best of the bunch, somewhat surprisingly, comes from Stephen Colbert who did his take of the song when Alicia Keys appeared on The Colbert Report:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down | ||||
| ||||
CNN made a point of mentioning the following video, a hyper-regional version for New Holland, Pennsylvania:
Matthew Besson - New Holland State of Mind
Cali gets a version with a slightly remixed beat from the Bay Area's UpperClassmen, perhaps my favorite of the remixes that don't feature Alicia Keys in some capacity:
Upperclassmen featuring Camille Zapanta - Golden State of Mind
Alabama rappers Yung Killa Mane and Milli M16 "remade the beat on some souf shit" to come up with this anthem for their home state:
Yung Killa Mane and Milli M16 - 'Bama State of Mind
The trend wouldn't be fully played out if we didn't have Trina up on it at some point:
Trina Ft. Nisha Rockstarr & Mona Lisa - Miami State of Mind
Nor would it be a proper discussion of the states if someone didn't take the opportunity to throw shade at Jersey:
Lizard King Films - Jersey Shore State of Mind
Here's a more legit entry from New Jeru, courtesy of Malcolm Shabazz High alumnus Diggs:
Diggs - Garden State of Mind
And finally, as an example of how widespread the trend has become, there are even international versions of the song. Here's one from Canada, where, it should be pointed out, they don't actually have states, they have provinces:
KISS 92.5 - T Dot State of Mind
This all begs the question, if YouTube were around back in the day when Illmatic first dropped, would this same trend have happened for the far superior NY State of Mind? Probably not.
1/03/2010 5:00:51 PM posted by Fresh