The American Dream

The American dream is a national idea that every person born in America are first and foremost born equal, but also that they are able to get success and prosperity, and that everyone has the the ability to move upwards in the social classes. The American dream is described by James Truslow Adams in 1931, ‘’life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement’’. The American Dream is influenced by the classic liberalistic ideology, that says every person is born free and equal, but also that ‘’you reap what you sow’’, so if you are poor it’s basically your own fault.

Jay-Z's Empire state of mind is a ‘’Rags to Riches’’ story. In the song, Jay Z sings about how he has gone from the hood and selling drugs, to an entirely different lifestyle, with alot of material riches. In the first three lines, he tells about the journey from his childhood in Brooklyn, with bad conditions, to the Lower Manhattan TriBeCa, with extreme amounts of money and luxury. “?Yeah, I’m out that Brooklyn, now I’m down in TriBeCa?”?. Alicia Keys sings the chorus, about how New York is very connected to the American Dream ideology ‘’?Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in New York’?’. It’s a place where you can make your dreams come true, where anything can happen. It states that New York is "the home of the hip hop". Afrika Bambaataa, a DJ from the South Bronx, who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop is mentioned in the second stanza: “?Afrika Bambaataa sh-t, home of the hip hop?”) Jay-Z wants to tell where “the birth of the hip hop” founds its place, because he is proud of that being in New York. Although Jay-Z has moved upwards to an entirely different social and economic class than the one in which he grew up, he also states that money won’t change who he really is and how he grew up, no matter how much money he is getting, or how famous he is? (?‘’?But I’ll be hood forever’’.) In verse 3, line 4, Jay sings ‘’Don’t bite the apple Eve!’’, referring to the apple represented in the Bible, drawing Eve to sin, similar to the Big Apple (New York City), where perfectly nice young ladies turn into material obsessed girls, only focused on riches. At last, Jay Z makes a reference to Frank Sinatra's song ‘’New York, New York’’ rapping that ‘’?The city never sleeps, better slip you an Ambien’’. ?Ambien is a very powerful sleeping pill. So The American dream in New York that Jay-Z is singing about is full of drugs, ladies, different ethnicities and lifestyles, luxuries, but also has a downside, because it might just be an idealized, flashy dream.