3 of the Best Rap Songs About New York City To Make You Feel Big Apple Pride

New York City is the birthplace of hip-hop. It was there in the parks where the beat-making, rapping, and breaking was invented in the late 1970s. Ever since then, hip-hop has quickly grown into the dominant creative expression around the world, from K-Pop music to fashion in your favorite department store.

So, it’s only right that there should be several rap songs that hold up New York City in the best of ways and represent the city. Here below, we wanted to explore three examples of that. A trio of tracks that celebrate New York City. Indeed, these are three of the best rap songs about New York City to make you feel Big Apple pride.

[RELATED: The Top 15 Jay Z Songs]

“Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys from The Blueprint 3 (2009)

One of the most celebrates songs of the 21st century, this track, which is from the Brooklyn, New York-born Jay-Z’s 2009 LP The Blueprint 3 and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, combines one of the greatest rappers ever with one of the best modern singers of her generation. Two iconic New York artists blend their forces to create this propellant, boisterous, and declarative love note to the Big Apple. And on it, Jay-Z raps about his hometown and the moves he had to make to get from poverty to power,

Yeah, I’m out that Brooklyn, now I’m down in Tribeca
Right next to De Niro, but I’ll be hood forever
I’m the new Sinatra, and since I made it here
I can make it anywhere, yeah, they love me everywhere
I used to cop in Harlem – hola, my Dominicanos (Dinero!)
Right there up on Broadway, brought me back to that McDonald’s
Took it to my stash spot, 560 State Street
Catch me in the kitchen, like a Simmons whipping pastry

“N.Y. State of Mind” by Nas from Illmatic (1994)

Featuring indelible production from DJ Premier, this song appears on Nas’ incredible 1994 debut LP Illmatic, which remains one of the greatest rap albums of all time even though it was released more than 30 years ago. And on the track, the Queens Bridge-born rapper spins lyrics about the New York he knows, the one he grew up in, the one that shaped him and even hardened him. Indeed, Nas raps,

Or either on the corner betting Grants with the cee-lo champs
Laughing at baseheads trying to sell some broken amps
G-packs get off quick, forever niggas talk s–t
Reminiscin’ about the last time the Task Force flipped
Niggas be running through the block shootin’
Time to start the revolution, catch a body, head for Houston
Once they caught us off-guard, the MAC-10 was in the grass and
I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin

“South Bronx” by KRS-One from Criminal Minded (1986)

The New York City-born KRS-One is one of the godfathers of rap music. He was one of its first solo stars and did his best to teach about the real world in his raps as much as entertain. And this song both highlights the region where rap music took its proverbial first steps and showcases one of the first rap beefs (between KRS and MC Shan). And on the song, “The Teacher,” raps,

Beat boys ran to the latest jam
But when it got shot up they went home and said “Damn
There’s got to be a better way to hear our music every day
B-boys getting blown away but coming outside anyway”
They tried again outside in Cedar Park
Power from a street light made the place dark
But yo, they didn’t care, they turned it out
I know a few understand what I’m talking about
Remember Bronx River, rolling thick
With Kool DJ Red Alert and Chuck Chillout on the mix
When Afrika Islam was rocking the jams
And on the other side of town was a kid named Flash
Patterson and Millbrook projects
Casanova all over, ya couldn’t stop it
The Nine Lives Crew, the Cypress Boys
The real Rock Steady taking out these toys

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