Top 20 Brooklyn Songs of All Time
Ah I love
20) KRS One (f/ Bounty Killa, Buckshot, Cam'Ron, Keith Murray, Killah Priest, Prodigy, Redman, Rev Run and Vigilante)- "5 Boroughs"
Ok so this song is not totally about Brooklyn, which is why it comes in at number 20, but Buckshot's verse is definitely hot:
Head back to Brooklyn in the Expo
Back on the block, I see the cops everybody clockin
Buckshot, when you see the rocks, me I got you shocked
Why not? You see the recipe
Buckshot, I represent
19) Jetho Tull- "First Snow on
Those of you who were here yesterday can really feel this one, a Christmas song from the British blues/rock band:
Some things are best forgotten... some are better half-remembered.
I just thought that I might be there on your, on your Christmas night.
And the first snow on
cold crunch steps that echo as the blizzard bites.
8) Death Cab for Cutie- "Coney Island"
Sometimes I forget with all the wonderful stuff packed into BK that Coney Island is here, too.
I can hear the Atlantic echo back,
rollercoaster screams from summers past.
and everything was closed at Coney Island
and I could not help from smiling
and everyone will go except me.
17) Stetasonic- "Go Stetsa (Go
You can't really go wrong with early hip-hop. It's positive, it's original, it's just for fun. Loves it.
That is the place we always go down
And every night a party goes down
And when it starts, it never slows down
We boogie to the DJ's non-stop
To the sound of the
This ode to the MTA announcements (and to my friend Laney who dressed as a suspicious package for Halloween), is definitely list-worthy.
A trap to the east
Marking miles of martyrs
With better men, with better men than me
And I wanted to tell you, I just didn't know
Genuine and unprepared
If you, you see something then you should say something
I always think of Neil Diamond as something I could do without, save "Sweet Caroline". But, the man is from
I'm wonderin'
What's come of them
Does some other young boy
Come home to my room
Does he dream what I did
As he stands by my window
And looks out on those
Brooklyn Roads
This mellow groove reminds me of the seemingly deserteness of BK. Never knew much about this guy or his band, but he has a cool website.
at 5:15 the sky has changed
from black to blue
still hardly day
these brooklyn stars are small and strange
This was higher on the list, but got demoted when I realized although ODB is an icon, this song still isn't very good. Still, with a catchy hook, it makes the list.
Shame on you, when you step through to
The Ol' Dirty Bastard,
12) Frank Sinatra- "The
Now what would NY songs be without Sinatra? I love this little excerpt from this song causes it teases Manhattanites:
'cause they look at her and wish they had
The good old
11) Digable Planets- "Flyin High in the
From the makers of "I'm cool like that" comes this chill song with nice beat, creative lyrics and repping
fly to travel the cosmos as pure black thought
i travel the world with my chronic pimp walk
i travel through brooklyn in constant lounge mode
yeah but all i seeing doodlebug supreme being
simply g'in, bein the best that i can be in
a world of negativity, i stay true
from brooklyn to uptown
see no place to background
Jean Grae's verse alone puts this one on the list. The best female hip hop artist out there. I am still trying to find some printed lyrics from this one, but from listening to it a couple times, here goes:
Not Brooklyn I was born/But In
Not Brooklyn I was raised/But
With them
When my mind slipped
9) Crooklyn- "Crooklyn Dodgers"
The first in this series that was released in conjunction with Spike Lee's movies. It features a clip from a radio broadcast of a Dodgers game with Jackie Robison which is definitely cool.
Peace to C.I. and the Bush
Might even see Ruck
And the Rock giving the push
Straight from Crooklyn
Better known as Brooklyn
Never taking shorts
Cause Brooklyn 's the borough
8)
Bring on the funk, baby. I love this song because it has so much drunk-singing potential. And it's a gives me the perfect reply for anything I will want to write off to the fact I live here. Also, check out the Smif-N-Wessun remix to this song...
We try to make it baby
We live in
We gonna make it baby
I'm definitely sad I missed the Beastie Boys in my backyard (aka McCarren Park Pool) last summer. I'm ready for this summer in BK for sure! This play on the word's of Motorhead's rock song by a similar name comes in at number seven.
With dice in the front and
Ahh this song is soooo hot. I love the reggae style hook reppin the "Brooklyn walk, and the
It sounds so out of sight I got the blind people lookin
So check out the sound from the Flatbush underground
Mr. Man the Acrobat/ I ride the "B" downtown
Aight you knew I was coming. Jay takes 3 of the top five spots on my list. First lets start off with his collabo with late great Biggie. Biggie would be shot later that year, but left us with this an many other lyrical masterpieces.
My Bed-Stuy flow's malicious, delicious
F*ck three wishes, made my road to riches
from 62's, gem stars, my moms dishes
From the new "American Ganster" un-o-fish soundtrack. This song personifies
But I ain't mad at you, look at my attitude
It says my life too real, check out my ice grill
Baby I'm cold as ice, like I'm from
But my Bed's in the Stuy so I won't I Flatten your Bush
Till we smoke a C.I. what up to the boy B.I.
You know I handle B.I. I dont half step on a Kane
Ask the dreads 'bout I, how you gwaan so?
She like it hardcore, So I grind slow
Iller than Albee Square Mall back in the 9-0
My fine hoe we got some victims to catch
So in a couple years baby I'm a bring you some Nets
Few people love BK as much as Mos Def. You can see his
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, is beautiful Brooklyn
Long as I live here believe I'm on fire hey
Cuz it's the B-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
L-Y-N is the place where I stay
The B-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
Best in the world and all USA
It's the B-to-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
L-Y-N is the place where I stay
The B-to-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
Place where I rest is on my born day
And it's felt by anybody that come here
Out of towners take the train, plane and bus here
Must be something that they really want here
One year as a resident, deeper sentiment
Shoutout "Go Brooklyn!", they representin it
2) Lil Kim- "Lighter's Up (Welcome to
You gotta love all 4 feet of Lil Kim. I much prefer the BK version of this where she shouts out only the neighborhoods including of including Lottie, Dottie, and Everybody.
Ya know who ya f*ck with
Brooklyn don't run we run sh*t
Roll up and just bum rush sh*t
We don't play that out in B.K not at all
4 pound leave ya face on the wall
R.I.P in memory of
Never show thy enemies love
We get it on where we live
Better have a pass when you cross that bridge
1) Fabulous f/ Jay Z & Uncle Murda- "
If the first five seconds of this song don't tell you that it is all about love for Brooklyn, I don't know what will...I mean they don't even make a hook, they just say Brooklyn 20 times. This song comes in first because it offers us a myriad of products all reppin BK: being Bed-Stuy Fly, or Bushwick Sick, Coney Island Stylin, Crown Heights Tight, Canarsie Flawsy OR having the Fort Greene Lean, the Williamsburg Swerve (that's mine), The Clinton Hill Chill, The Flatbush Push, The Red Hook Look, the Cypress Hill Feel or The Park Slope Dope. Priceless!
I'm Right here Big
Ya Boy Sit'n On Top Like A Hair Wig
Bed-Stuy Fly, Bushwick Sick
The
You see I got a
Clinton Hill Chill
Red Hook Look, maan
Aint no shook hands In Brook-lyn
Son, your life could get took man
Threw off bridges
One hard top
Two soft b*tches
Ride through the borough with two .4-fizzes
I'm makin change To
From 718 to 187/ Da 212 to 211
Ya boy's back with a new one son
