Empire State Of Mind: Hip Hop And R & B

“Empire State of Mind,” is a combination of both Hip Hop and R&B. It consists of spoken words, singing and instrumental music. It is immediately introduce with a clarity of strong beats, concise and sharp rhythm. Jay-Z begins the first segment with elaborating on his physical location in New York. I consider the lyrics as precise and rapid with such clear diction but with such a fast tempo. Due to the high pressure from the beats it is pretty challenging to focus on the words. Yet I’m hearing the piece in a more complete way. As the song progressed I realize that Jay-Z matches the instrumental rhythm with his verbal pattern. Which isn’t usually his style because he usually uses a spontaneous form of expression. In the instrumental segment of
the piece, I noticed they used different mechanical sounds. There was a relentless high pitched clanging of notes combined with a simple beat pounded by a lower blunter key. Jay –Z’s words become faster and with a higher pitch. The beat then increases in tempo as the song anticipates Alicia Keys solo vocal piece. This method flourished in alerting me of a variation in the piece because it evidently indicated the introduction of a new element. Alicia Keys higher pitched voice glides smoothly into the piece, enmeshing with the intensifying climax of the music and steadily overpowering Jay-Z’s words. His voice eventually fades entirely from her repetitive portions of the piece until in the background you can hear a single word repeated by him “Yeah,” from behind her singing.
Alicia’s lyrics are simple but repetitive and very dynamic. She elongates each word which gave it a sharp quality of sound with the altered manner of her voice. The piece continued its pattern of a distinct instrumental beat, with Jay-Z’s lyrics and Alicia’s vocal segments cycling in and out of both features and eventually polishes it off with a repeated version of the chorus and a climatic end in the form of a single lower pitched note. I perceived the song as deep and sophisticated and contained elements of Jazz, Rap, Hip Hop and R&B. The lyrics attempted to explain a feeling that New York is a place so inspirational and motivating that it makes its residents feel invincible and endlessly ambitious. I think the piece definitely succeeded in expressing its true meaning. It built anticipation of the city and emphasized on the physical features of the city. I also saw that the more abstract features of the piece (the New York feeling) was fixated more on the pitch and quality of Alicia’s voice, while the concrete portion such as the neighborhoods and landmarks, are said consistently in distinct jolts of
sound.