Where were you the first time you heard "Empire State of Mind"? For most New Yorkers, it was in the fall of 2009, a time that signaled the promise of better days ahead. Earlier that year, a charming state senator from Illinois, who had campaigned on messages of hope, became the first African American president of the United States. The Great Recession, which caused 8 million Americans to lose their jobs and 2.5 million businesses to close their doors, was ending. And on November 4th, the new Yankee Stadium was christened with the team’s first World Series win in nearly a decade. The city was buzzing with pride, and seemingly every cab, bodega, radio station, and bar was bumping the same infectious song: “Empire State of Mind."

Jay Z and Alicia Keys’s cinematic record impacted New York like no hometown anthem had in years. After its release earlier that fall, the instant hit ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 by November 26th, and remained there for five consecutive weeks. It was a victory for its creators, and for the city it repped. “It just sounds like a victory,” says Carl Chery, Head of Urban Music at Spotify. “What song has come out in the past 10 years that feels more celebratory, more like an anthem, or more aspirational than ‘Empire State of Mind’”?

“Empire” was actually written and produced nowhere near the five boroughs. New York songwriters Angela Hunte and Janet “Jnay” Sewell Ulepic were feeling homesick the day they went to Al Shux’s London studio, on what Ulepic calls a trip of faith. “It started in a very humble situation, with a shitty computer, little equipment and very few contacts in the industry. It was early days for all of us,” says Shux. Hunte and Ulepic immediately responded to one of Shux’s beats in particular, because it reminded them of home. “That track is some raw New York hip-hop shit. It isn’t overcomplicated or overproduced; it’s just simple elements done well and a big chorus,” says Shux. Four hours later, the new team had a demo.

Within months, it wound up in Jay Z’s hands. “We knew we had created something that would outlast us,” Ulepic says. “That’s why we were so particular about where it went. Jay Z understood it and was able to take it to the moon.” The track resonated with the born and bred New York rapper, who began working on it right away. Jay Z writes in his 2010 biography, Decoded: “When I first heard the track… I was sure it would be a hit. It was gorgeous. My instinct was to dirty it up, to tell stories of the city’s gritty side, to use stories about hustling and getting hustled to add tension to the soaring beauty of the chorus.”