Jay-Z (feat. Rihanna and Kanye West) – "Run This Town" (2009)

Only thing that’s on my mind

Is who’s gonna run this town tonight? 

The last 2 or 3 lines presented the itinerary for day one of my perfect three-day New York City trip.  Now it’s time for day two.

Day Two

You’re in New York City, so you need to have a bagel for breakfast.  Modern Bread and Bagel is just a hop, skip, and jump from the Blue Angel, so it’s easy to chow down there.

If you’re a newcomer to New York City, the best way to get an appreciation of the physical layout of the city is to take a Circle Line cruise.  Get on the E train or a crosstown bus and head to Pier 83 and the Circle Line ticket booth.  You can circumnavigate the entirety of Manhattan island if you wish, but I recommend the shorter (and cheaper) “Landmarks” cruise, which takes you down the west side of Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty, up the East River – passing under the Brooklyn Bridge (as well as the less famous Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges) – and then does a U-turn and returns to Pier 83.  

The entire trip takes precisely 90 minutes, and gives you beautiful views of the Empire State Building, the new World Trade Center, and many other well-known skyscrapers in addition to Lady Liberty and the aforementioned bridges.

Click here to watch a video that shows the highlights of the“Landmarks” cruise.

For a quick and convenient lunch, just walk south to the brand-spanking-new Hudson Yards development, which includes a fancy-schmancy shopping center and lots of fast-casual restaurants.  Feel free to drop fifteen bucks on admission to the Vessel if you’d like – I was content to just look at that unique structure from the outside:

The Vessel

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After you’ve grabbed a bite, walk down the 1.5-mile-long High Line Trail, a linear park that follows the right-of-way of an abandoned elevated rail spur.  It abounds in interesting statues, murals, and other art works, and gives you a bird’s-eye view of the neighborhood and the Hudson River.

Here are photos of a few of those art pieces:

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From the end of the High Line Trail, it’s a short walk to Pier 57, where you can grab a quick drink before visiting Little Island, a place that proves that the world is a better place because of billionaires.

Little Island is a 2.4-acre artificial island that has a small amphitheater, short walking trails, and hundreds of different trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses.  It owes its existence to media mogul Barry Diller, whose foundation has contributed an estimated $380 million toward the construction and upkeep of the park.  (It’s hard for me to understand why Little Island should have cost that much, but I probably am underestimating the amount of baksheesh Diller had to spread around among the politicians, unions, etc.)

Little Island

Little Island is a short walk from Greenwich Village, which is full of interesting restaurants.  I stopped and got a drink at a cash-only neighborhood bar called the Corner Bistro – who knew there was still such a thing as a cash-only bar? – and took the subway back to my ’hood for dinner at the Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen restaurant, a Michelin Guide-recommended Chinese restaurant that’s next door to the Blue Angel.  

My dogs were barking at that point, so I put my feet up, cranked up the A/C, and watched the final innings of the Yankees-Blue Jays before going to sleep.

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“Run This Town,” which was named Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 52nd Grammy Awards, features three of hip-hop’s biggest superstars: Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West.

Unlike “Empire State of Mind,” which was also released on The Blueprint 3 in 2009, “Run This Town” isn’t chock full of references to New York City neighborhoods and sports teams.  But it still sounds very New York. 

Former New York City mayor Eric Adams got a lot of criticism for entering a 2023 press conference to “Run This Town.”

“Are you a politician or a professional wrestler?  I’m so confused,” one X/Twitter user quipped after that press conference.  

“Eric Adams having ‘Run This Town’ as his intro song will never not be funny,” wrote another.  “The man is deeply unserious.”

The year after that press conference, Adams was indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.  Prosecutors later dropped the charges, but that didn’t help Adams’ re-election campaign – he poll numbers were so poor that he dropped out of the race five weeks before the election.

Click here to listen to “Run This Town.”

Click here to buy “Run This Town” from Amazon.

Jay-Z and Kanye West – "Otis" (2011)

They ain’t see me ‘cause

I pulled up in my other Benz

Last week I was in my other other Benz

(Think about those Kanye West lines, boys and girls.  Imagine having a Mercedes-Benz that people are used to seeing you in.  But one day you pull up in your other Benz.  Which confuses everyone, because just last week you were in your other other Benz!)

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In case you haven’t been to a baseball game since the 1980s, you may not know that teams play brief snippets of popular songs before each player comes to bat.  

There are “walk-up” songs representing every music genre – from hip-hop to metal to country to Latin.

Some players choose new walk-up songs frequently, while others stick with the same recording.  (Bryce Harper has used Moby’s “Flower” for many years.)  

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Before the New York Yankees’ home opener last Friday, Empire Sports Media – an independent digital media company that covers New York’s professional teams – posted the team’s starting lineup, along with each player’s walk-up song:

The Yankees’ walk-up music runs the gamut.  Veteran sluggers Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton walk up to the plate to hip-hop recordings.  Ryan McMahon uses a song by the country artist Hardy while Jose Caballero prefers Dandy Yankee.  Trent Grisham goes with a contemporary Christian record.

My two favorite Yankee walk-up songs are Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” (which is favored by catcher Austin Wells) and “Otis,” the Kanye West/Jay-Z collaboration that samples Otis Redding’s recording of “Try a Little Tenderness” (which is the walk-up choice of second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.).

“Otis” is a silly-bazilly song – its lyrics will remind you just how clever and witty Kanye and Jay-Z could be when they put their mind to it.  (I did a deep dive into those lyrics in 2013.  Click here to read that post, which was published exactly 13 years ago today.)  

Kudos to Jazz Chisholm for choosing “Otis” as his walk-up music.

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The Spike Jonze-directed “Otis” video is one of my all-time favorites.

That video features Kanye and Jay-Z having the time of their lives cutting up a $350,000 Maybach sedan, filling the back seat with hot chicks, and then driving around much too fast.

Click here to watch the “Otis” video.

Jay-Z (feat. UGK) – "Big Pimpin'" (2000)

First time they fuss

I’m breezin’

There’s a memorable moment in episode two of season three of the wildly popular Hulu series, The Bear, when Jimmy “Cicero” Kalinowski greets Teddy Fak by saying “Hey, Teddy,” and Teddy replies with “’Sup, pimp?”

I used to greet people like Jimmy Cicero greets people – “Hey, [name].”  But effectively immediately, “‘Sup, pimp?” is the new official greeting of 2 or 3 lines.

I know that Jimmy Cicero – he’s the guy who put up the money for The Bear restaurant – is a serious dude.  (I get a very strong vibe that you definitely do not want to eff with him.) 

And I realize that Teddy Fak – like his brother Neil – is a dumb jerkoff whose role on the show is to provide comic relief.

But I like “’Sup, pimp?” much better than “Hey, [name],” so I’m going with the dumb jerkoff.

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“Big Pimpin’” is one of my favorite Jay-Z tracks due in large part to the distinctive instrumental sample taken from a 1957 Egyptian record titled “Khosara Khosara.”

The litigation over the use of that sample wasn’t finally resolved – in Jay-Z’s favor – until 18 years after “Big Pimpin’” was released.  (The mills of the American legal system grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.)

When Jay-Z was asked why he didn’t check out whether or not his producer had the legal rights to use the “Khosara Khosara” sample, he said, “That’s not what I do.  I make music.”

Click here to watch the official music video to “Big Pimpin’.”

Click here to buy today’s featured recording from Amazon.

Jay-Z – "Takeover" (2001)

Do not bark up that tree

That tree will fall on you

The entirety of “Takeover” is rapped over a sample taken from the Doors’ “Five to One,” which seems like a very unlikely record to use as the foundation of a hip-hop track.

Doors’ drummer John Densmore didn’t get it either when he first heard “Takeover” – in fact, he didn’t get rap generally.  “I was like, ‘What is this stuff? There’s no melody,’” Densmore told Rolling Stone magazine in 2013, sounding like every old white guy on the planet – except for 2 or 3 lines, of course, who bought a ticket on the hip-hop train decades ago.

Jay Z heard about Densmore’s comment, and got in touch with him. “Jay Z wrote me a letter saying, ‘Hey, we’re fighting the authority just like you guys did back then,’” Densmore said. The rapper also sent him a Def Jam T-shirt.

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“Takeover” is featured in the fifth episode of the fourth and final season of Succession, the HBO series that is ONLY THE GREATEST TELEVISION SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION SHOWS.  (As soon as I finish this post, I’m planning to watch the final episode of Succession.   I can’t tell you how depressed I’ll be when that episode ends – I wish they had made 40 seasons of the show instead of just four.)

The storyline of Succession features a number of attempted business takeovers, so it makes sense that the producers chose to use a snippet from this record on the show’s soundtrack.  

“Takeover” was released on Blueprint, Jay-Z’s sixth studio album, which was recorded while Jay-Z was awaiting trial for assault and gun possession.  It was released on September 11, 2001.  (Yes, that date is correct.) 

“Takeover” was one of the four tracks on the album that was produced by Kanye West.  (West was strictly a producer at that time.  He released his first solo album three years later.). It’s one of the most famous diss tracks in the history of rap music, responding to insults from Nas and Prodigy with a withering stream of invective.

Click here to listen to “Takeover.”

Click here to buy the record from Amazon.  

Justin Timberlake (feat. Jay-Z) – "Suit & Tie" (2013)

And as long as I've got my suit and tie

I'ma leave it all on the floor tonight

Shinesty is an online clothing retailer that claims to be “the #1 online destination for attention-grabbing apparel.”  

The company, which freely acknowledges that it is “not J. Crew” (and how), guarantees to sell only  “clothing your mom would hate.” 

I promise that your wife will hate it, too.  (Most girlfriends, too.)

I recently received a copy of Shinesty’s Christmas catalog in the mail.  (I wonder what this post would have been about if I hadn’t gotten that catalog.  Do you wonder about that, too?) 

Here are photos of some of the suits and matching ties that you can find in the current Shinesty holiday collection for men:

For our Jewish friends, here’s the Shinesty “Rock Star of David” suit:

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Shinesty doesn’t just sell tacky Christmas suits and ties.

It also offers “Pit Vipers” sunglasses.  (Slogan: “They want to sit on your face.”)

And then there’s the “Jeado” swim brief – a/k/a the “Daytona Dong Sarong,” a/k/a the “Ding-a-ling Sling,” a/k/a the “Miami Meat Tent,” a/k/a the “Portuguese Pud Purse.”  (Shinesty’s headquarters are located in Colorado, where recreational marijuana use is 100% legal.  That probably explains “Portuguese Pud Purse” and most of the rest of the copy in Shinesty’s catalog.)

The company also sells a lightweight, breathable, moisture-wicking, bulge-enhancing boxer brief, which it calls the “Ball Hammock.”
  

The red-white-and-blue, bald eagle-themed “Ball Hammock” is perfect for us patriotic types:

But you Democrats may prefer your undies to feature a camel, horse, snow leopard, snake, zebra, lion, or golden retriever:

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Here’s how MTV described its reality show about Shinesty, which aired this summer:

Mix 10 mediocrely-good-looking twenty-somethings with a major TV network, add some melodrama, and boom  you get reality TV.  This six-episode “docu-comedy” is not appropriate for all ages and features casual nudity, kidnappings, bikini waxes, irreverent clothing, countless weiner shaped food jokes, and a variety of other very strange incidents that actually do happen in the Shinesty office every week.

Here’s the trailer for the show:

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Right now, Shinesty’s stuff is selling like gangbusters.  But I don’t see the company being successful in the long run.  

I have to think that its typical customer is someone who orders after getting drunk at a Christmas party, and who will have a terrible case of buyer’s remorse when the clothing he orders arrives and he tries it on.  

The company’s investors include the Winklevoss twins (who co-founded Facebook), and they’re a lot smarter than I am, but I just don’t see guys ordering a Christmas suit from Shinesty more than once.  

Of course, most of the guys who will get drunk at a Christmas party this year will get drunk at a Christmas party next year, and the year after that, and the year after that.  So maybe Shinesty will do better than I think.

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“Suit & Tie” was the lead single from Justin Timberlake’s 2013 album, The 20/20 Experience.  It made it all the way to #3 on the Billboard “Hot 100.”

The music video for “Suit & Tie” was directed by David Fincher, the director of The Social Network, which starred Timberlake as Sean Parker, the man who co-founded Napster and who was the first president of Facebook.

Here’s “Suit & Tie,” which features Jay-Z:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: