Jay-Z, Alicia Keys Perform ‘Empire State of Mind’ at 2024 Tony Awards
The song is featured in the Tony-nominated Hell’s Kitchen loosely based on Keys’ early life and music
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys joined forces to perform “Empire State of Mind” live at the 2024 Tony Awards on Sunday. The track — from the rapper’s 11th studio album, 2009’s The Blueprint 3 — is also featured in the Tony-nominated musical Hell’s Kitchen, which is vying for 13 awards at this year’s ceremony.
“We at the Tony Awards tonight,” Keys said as she walked down a set of stairs from the stage at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. “Had to do something crazy. It’s my hometown,” she added as she walked through the audience while dancers performed on stage. Then, Jay-Z appeared on a large screen that served as a stage backdrop while he rapped from the lobby outside of the venue. Keys later joined him to perform the song together.
“Empire State of Mind” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks the year it was released and the following year, it won two of three Grammys for which it was nominated — Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
The song is also featured in the Tony-nominated Hell’s Kitchen; the musical is loosely based on Keys’ early life growing up in Hell’s Kitchen in New York and features her score that includes a mix of her hits and several new songs written for the musical. The musical inspired by the life of Keys tied for the most nominations this year with Stereophonic, which loosely draws on the story of Fleetwood Mac. Both received 13 nominations.
Hell’s Kitchen is nominated for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (for Kristoffer Diaz), Best Direction (Michael Greif), and Best Choreography (Camille A. Brown) — Justin Pecke took the award home for Illinoise. Meanwhile, its stars Maleah Joi Moon, Shoshana Bean, and Kecia Lewis each received acting nods. However, Keys herself is not nominated for Best Original Score.
