Exercise 3 - Part 2

Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind is a story of rags to riches, as one Shawn Carter's (Jay-Z) departure from Brooklyn opens the doors to the "concrete jungle where dreams are made of." The first verse alone, "yeah i'm out that Brooklyn, now i'm down in Tribeca, right next to DeNiro, but i'll be hood forever" reinforces Whitehead's notion that New York is not a city but a realm exclusive to the perceiver. No matter where Jay-Z will go, he says that his heart will always be in Brooklyn, as he is sticking to his roots. Similarly, my childhood belongs to winters in Central Park (among other things) which dictates my perception of city life. Jay-Z's interpretation sculpts an image that Brooklyn is a hood and Manhattan is a place where dreams become reality, however I see New York as the latter plus a chunk of nature smack-dab in the center. This further establishes Whitehead's theory as two residents don't share a unified interpretation of their own home.