With New York City gearing up to celebrate its first men's basketball championship in 53 years, hometown native Alicia Keys will be there to perform on the big day.
During a Wednesday (June 17) appearance on FOX 5 New York, MSG Network chairman James Dolan confirmed that Keys will perform her 2009 Jay-Z collaboration, "Empire State of Mind" at the New York Knicks’ ticker-tape parade tomorrow.
In an Instagram post, Keys and her oldest son with Swizz Beatz, Egypt, had a video call with Knicks small forward OG Anunoby.
“The city’s been asking for you. Are you pulling up?” Anuoby asked Keys.
“How could I not?” the singer replied. “This is my city and the city’s on fire.”
The song appeared on Hov’s eleventh studio album, The Blueprint 3, and for years, it’s been considered the unofficial anthem for the Big Apple. The song’s resurgence in popularity comes nearly 2 decades after it won Grammys in categories Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Following the Knicks’ win over the San Antonio Spurs last Saturday (June 13), “Empire State of Mind” surged 615% on Spotify, per Yahoo! Sports.
The parade kicks off at 10 a.m. on Thursday (June 18) at Battery Park and heads north along Broadway through the Canyon of Heroes before its completion at City Hall. Attendance is free and requires no ticket.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called the upcoming parade an event that "may well be the largest parade in New York City history," is set to present the Keys to the City to the Knicks at the City Hall ceremony. "For more than 50 years, New Yorkers have waited for this moment," the mayor said in a statement. The Knicks' previous championship in 1973, where the team defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, did not receive a ticker-tape send-off.
Keys concluded the Tribeca Film Festival, where her documentary, Alicia Keys: Girl From Hell’s Kitchen, was showcased, with a live rendition of “Empire State of Mind.” In 2024, the 17-time Grammy winner reunited with Jay-Z to perform a pre-taped version the classic at the 77th Tony Awards.
