With all due respect to “Empire State of Mind,” that’s a hook that should be as ubiquitously associated with New York elitism as Alicia Keys. That Jay-Z intro? “Welcome to the Empire State, home of the World Trade. Birthplace of Michael Jordan. Home of Biggie Smalls. Roc-A-Fella headquarters…Brooklyn…Harlem World: Stand the fuck up!” It’s enough to make you want to run the New York Marathon, or maybe run through a wall. It should have rung out at Yankees parades. How criminal is it that the song wasn’t performed live for the first time until 17 years later, at Jay-Z’s B-Sides 2 concert, where he formally buried the hatchet with Cam on stage at Webster Hall?
Jay and Cam’s issues stemmed from Jay’s larger friction with Roc-A-Fella cofounder Dame Dash, who’d spearheaded Cam and the Diplomats’ inclusion on the label. Even with that static, Jay agreed to hop on this thunderous Just Blaze beat—and the contentious energy actually spilled over. Jim Jones once recounted the session as if he were retelling an ancient myth, describing Cam and Jay literally going back and forth in the booth, hardly speaking in between and clearly trying to one-up each other after hearing their respective verses.
The result is Killa sounding as locked in as ever on what still reigns as his best album, and one of my favorite Jay-Z verses of all time: “I ain’t hard to find, catch me front and center/at the Knick game, big chain in all my splendor/Next to Spike if you pan left to right… once again if you pan left the device it be the man that write checks with the hand that don’t write.” BK Brawler ended up becoming my AIM screename.
In a recent episode of his TalkWithFlea podcast, Cam spoke to Roc stalwart Memphis Bleek, reflecting on their Roc days, how they both could’ve managed the tension better, and the higher heights they might’ve climbed if there wasn’t any. To wit, after the song was out and running radio, Cam excitedly asked Jay about shooting a video and got the cold shoulder. Bleek laughed, explaining that Jay-Z hated doing videos and only really committed to them out of necessity. Why would he do one for someone he might’ve felt a way towards?
At least we got the performance, even if it was nearly two decades later. With maturity and wisdom, clearer heads have since prevailed with Cam and Jay realizing they don’t have much of an issue worth still stewing over so who knows, maybe we’ll see it performed again one day. But a more likely proposition: Zohran should absolutely walk out to “Welcome to New York City” for his victory speech.