After waxing poetic on James Murphy’s ode to New York, it’s only fair that we do so for that city across the river, too.  Born and raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn, Jay-Z–the current King of Manhattan–still has a soft spot for the place he grew up.  But Jay-Z’s Brooklyn is a far cry from the tree-lined streets of Prospect Park or the brownstones of Carroll Gardens.  His is a Brooklyn of corner Bodegas, runny noses and the crack epidemic.  In this newly leaked track from the upcoming Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious, Jay teams with songstress-du-jour, and fellow Brooklyn native Santogold to tell us about life in Bed-Stuy (“I jack, I rob, I sin/A-men, I’m Jackie Robinson, except when I run base, I dodge the pen.)  Jay’s clearly come a long way from his days as a bonafied hustler, but as this typography-based music video suggests, it’s Brooklyn that made him who he is today–literally.

The tribute to the slain King of Brooklyn at the video’s end is an especially nice touch.

- Daniel Barna