Empire State of Mind

Whenever I listen to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys's "Empire State of Mind" song, I find myself singing it because it is catchy and I actually like New York. However, after singing "If Jeezy's paying LeBron, I'm paying Dwyane Wade" one times too many I started to wonder what that meant and why this NBA owner is talking about the top two free agents in the 2010 free agent market in a song about how wonderful New York is?

Is this tampering I wonder, considering Jay-Z is a visible part owner of the New Jersey (soon to be Brooklyn) Nets?

First things first, I found out what that Jeezy/LeBron/Dwyane Wade thing was about according http://rapgenius.com/3668 ...Young Jeezy has a song called 24/23 where he repeats "I used to pay Kobe now I pay LeBron" as code for he used to pay 24K for a kilo of cocaine and now he pays 23K using their jersey numbers. So Jigga man says if this guy pays 23K, I pay 3K... cute. However, I have to side with rapgenius.com on their next point that it is a "preposterous hyperbole" to say that he pays 1/8th the price and that using Carmelo's name (15) would make a more credible boast. The fact that the claim makes no sense points to the fact that this was just an excuse to name drop the top 2 2010 free agents in his attempt to recruit them to New York. He's saying to these guys and the rest of the 2010 free agents "think Brooklyn, not New Jersey".

I'll give Jay credit, he makes it sound fun to play for the Nets, he also raps:

Sitting courtside Knicks and Nets give me high fives

N*gga I be Spiked out, I can trip a referee

Tell by my attitude that I'm most definitely from

(Alicia Keys sings the hook) New York

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of

There's nothing you can't do

Now you're in New York

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you

Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York

Another tidbit of his genius recruiting:

Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game

Sh*t I made the Yankee cap more famous than a Yankee can

It is well known that LeBron is a huge Yankees fan, so that boast, which I believe to be true, should really help LeBron feel brand new. Leaving Cleveland behind and catching Yankee games with Jay-Z sounds great... more so probably than playing for the Knicks where he could be hanging out with Spike Lee?

So, in essence I believe that he is most definitely raping to LeBron and Dwyane about getting an "Empire State of Mind" and joining him in "Tribeca right next to DeNiro", but is there a case for tampering under league rules?

None whatsoever. Tampering is when a player or team directly or indirectly entices, induces or persuades anybody (player, general manager, etc.) who is under contract with another team to negotiate for their services.

Jay-Z speaks about paying Dwyane Wade, but it is a metaphor... he found a way to give a shout out to LeBron and Dwyane Wade without being reprimanded by the league - totally hip hopped around the rules.