Following the win of an astounding 27th World Series title beating out the Phillies, the New York Yankees alongside the mayor of the “Big Apple”, Michael Bloomberg, celebrated yesterday with a victory parade and an encore performance by rapper Jay-Z. The New York native emcee was invited by Bloomberg, who announced the “special treat” and labeled Jay, both a “great Yankee fan” as well as a “great New Yorker”. Hov joined Yankee third baseman Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez on one of the floats during the victory parade down Manhattan’s Canyon of Heroes and rounded out the celebration with a performance at City Hall.
Boasting with patriotic lyrics such as, “There’s nothing you can’t do / Now you’re in New York / These streets will make you feel brand new / Big lights will inspire you / Let’s hear it for New York”, Jay-Z’s, “Empire State of Mind”, from Blueprint 3 became synonymous with the Yankees, after an opening performance at game two of the World Series with singer Alicia Keys. Lil’ Mama is not the only fan who is moved by “Empire State of Mind”, as Yankee team captain Derek Jeter used the anthem to bat to and Rodriguez listened to that as well as “Already Home” while he played.
Flying in from Berlin after attending the MTV Europe Music Awards, where he won an award for Best Urban Artist, Jay-Z performed the New York anthem this time with his backup singer Bridget Kelly, whom he also performed with the prior evening in Germany.
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Even though Keys missed the performance overseas and at City Hall, she is currently working on a new version of the song which will appear on her upcoming LP, Element of Freedom. Again paying homage to their hometown of New York, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys decided to collaborate on “Empire State of Mind Part 2”. Element of Freedom is expected to drop next month.
Jay-Z also recently announced his tour dates for his 2010 North American extension of the Blueprint 3 tour.
