Jay-Z, Alicia Keys Tour New York in "Empire State of Mind" Video

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Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 single "Empire State of Mind" is inescapable in New York, blaring from car stereos and even Yankee Stadium, where the hometown hero performed the track with Alicia Keys last week. Now the pair have debuted the video for their NYC love letter on MySpace Music. The clip was filmed in early October at several landmark sites around Manhattan, notably Harlem, Times Square and Ground Zero.

Music video vet Hype Williams directed the video, with an obvious nod to black-and-white films like Woody Allen's Manhattan and Jules Dassin's Naked City, two films that perhaps best photographed and documented New York City. The "Empire State of Mind" video goes full color in its final minute to capture the full awe of Keys performing in Times Square and the Manhattan skyline. For a little bonus fun while you watch, check out this Google map tracking the locations Jay rhymes about, from State Street to Tribeca.

Jay debuted the song live at his "Answer the Call" concert at Madison Square Garden on September 11th and performed it again two days later (with Keyes) at MTV's Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall. With the Yankees one win away from winning the championship, their next set might be a victory parade route down 6th Avenue.

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Song Stories

“V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.”

Fishbone | 1985

Quite a few musicians have utilized initials for song titles -- Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.," Abba's "S.O.S.," Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y.," etc. But the more curiously initialed tune has to be "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.," short for "Voyage to the Land of the Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts." Fishbone's original guitarist, Kendall Jones, explained to Rolling Stone, "When Norwood [Fisher] wrote it, he introduced it to the band saying, 'Man, I've been hearing about all these Nazi right-wing groups on the news saying the Holocaust was staged. So what if America said it never dropped two atom bombs on Japan, that it was actually Godzilla popping a couple off?' Only Norwood would come up with something that out." The same year "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F." was released, the film Godzilla 1985 appeared in North America.

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