Al Shux is a UK producer who produced the Empire State of Mind beat for Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 album.
He’s also worked with Lupe and UK rapper Sway (I believe he produced “Little Derek”)
VIBE: Tell me about the making of “Empire State of Mind.” How’d you get it into Jay-Z’s hands?
Al Shux: I had the basic backing track that I made about a year ago. Then I worked with two writers who wrote a song over the beat. We didn’t write a bridge and were thinking it would be great to get a rapper on that part. Obviously, Jay-Z seemed like the perfect guy to do something like that. After playing the track to a few people in the industry it got to a guy called Big Jon [Platt], who is head of EMI Publishing and a close friend of Jay-Z. He took it to Jay-Z and he used the hook and re-wrote his own verses.
Read the rest of the interview HERE
Thanks to Vibe
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Its the song that closed out the MTV VMA’s this year and the song that reached number 3 in the UK pop charts a month before its release, but a rep for Alicia Keys has confirmed that there will be an Empire State Of Mind Part 2.
Jay-Z has sold out yet another London concert in record time.
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