"The City Is Mine" is the second single from

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Jay-Z's second album '' In My Lifetime, Vol. 1''. It was released on February 3, 1998. It features vocals from

Blackstreet Blackstreet (often stylized as BLACKstreet) is an American R&B group founded in 1991 by record producers Chauncey "Black" Hannibal, and Teddy "Street" Riley. The group has released four albums with Interscope Records until 2003. They achieved ...

and production from Blackstreet member

Teddy Riley Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing genre. Riley credits Barry Michael Cooper with giving the genre its name.Hogan, Paul. "Tedd ...

. Riley samples "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else" by

The Jones Girls The Jones Girls were an American R&B vocal trio of sisters from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Consisting of Brenda, Shirley and Valorie Jones, the Jones Girls first signed and recorded for GM Records in 1970. The trio were best known for th ...

for the song's beat, while Blackstreet interpolates "

You Belong to the City "You Belong to the City" is a song written by Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin, and recorded by Frey during his solo career. It was written specifically for the television show ''Miami Vice'' in 1985. The song peaked at number two on the US ''Billboa ...

" by

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. Frey was the co-lead singer and frontman for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don H ...

and

Jack Tempchin Jack Tempchin is an American musician and singer-songwriter who wrote the Eagles song "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and co-wrote " Already Gone", "The Girl From Yesterday", "Somebody", and "It's Your World Now". Career During the Eagles' breakup per ...

for the song's chorus. In addition, a young

Chad Hugo Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. With close friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has prod ...

plays

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

on this song. The first verse is dedicated to the memory of his friend,

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

Reception

"The City Is Mine" was a moderate commercial success reaching #52 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #38 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It was panned by critics for its commercial nature and poor interpolation of Glenn Frey and

's "You Belong to the City.".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's John Bush considers the beat to be the "most commercial" beat on ''In My Lifetime, Vol. 1'' and the interpolation to be "unfortunate." Steve Juon o
RapReviews.com
describes that track as "some cotton candy sugary rap FLUFF" and its interpolation as a mistake, but still considers the lyrics to be "vintage Jigga."

Music Video

The video directed by Steve Carr was inspired by the 1995 film

The Usual Suspects ''The Usual Suspects'' is a 1995 neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwait ...

with actor

Michael Rapaport Michael David Rapaport (born March 20, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. Beginning his career in the early 1990s, he has made over 100 appearances in film and television. His film roles include ''True Romance'' (1993), '' Higher Learning ...

portraying the detective interrogating Jay-Z.

Formats and track listings

US CD

# "The City Is Mine (Radio Edit)" # "The City Is Mine (

TV track A TV track is usually a song or a sequence used as accompaniment during a scene or visual sequence on television (i.e., commercials or television show). If a song has vocals, part of the vocals may be removed for voice-over or dialogue, while th ...

)" # "A Million and One Questions (Radio Edit)"

UK CD

# "The City Is Mine (Radio Edit)" # "Intro / A Million And One Questions / Rhyme No More (Premier Radio Edit)" # "The City Is Mine (Album Version)" # " Dead Presidents II"

US Vinyl

A-Side

# "The City Is Mine (Radio Edit)" # "The City Is Mine (LP Version)"

B-Side

# "The City Is Mine (TV Track)" # "A Million and One Questions (Remix)" # "A Million and One Questions (Remix) (TV Track)"

UK Vinyl

A-Side

# "The City Is Mine (Radio Edit)" # "The City Is Mine (Dirty Version)" # "The City Is Mine (Instrumental)"

B-Side

# "Face Off (Dirty Version)" # "Face Off (Instrumental)"

Charts

Weekly charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:City Is Mine, The 1998 singles Blackstreet songs Jay-Z songs Songs written by Leon Huff Songs written by Kenny Gamble Songs written by Jack Tempchin Songs written by Glenn Frey Song recordings produced by Teddy Riley Songs written by Jay-Z Songs written by Teddy Riley 1997 songs Roc-A-Fella Records singles Def Jam Recordings singles Jazz rap songs

Reception

Music Video

Formats and track listings

US CD

UK CD

US Vinyl

A-Side

B-Side

UK Vinyl

A-Side

B-Side

Charts

Weekly charts

See also

References