ALPHABETCITY

from Not Too Busy To Hate by Hakim Jamal

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about

Track 5 on 'Not Too Busy To Hate.' This song was inspired by the 'dramatic' passage in Stevie Wonder's 'Living For The City:' the 'New York: just like I pictured it' bit, where the character arrives and is immediately whisked into street life.

It's about belonging to a place that previously didn't exist. Alphabet City, at the intersection of Avenues A,B,C and D, is located just above the Lower East Side ('Loisada' in the lyric). It was so-named by a former NYC mayor as recently as 1984.

lyrics

You take A,B,C or D
And you know where you’re gonna be
Alphabet City
It’s the place where the poets go
And everybody in the know
Loves Alphabet City
Got a bad reputation
But I’ve got relations
In Alphabet City
If you’re honey or if you’re G
You’re drawn like a honey be-e
To Alphabet City

Take a ride down 2nd Street
All the people that you meet
Know Alphabet City
You can deal, you can take a chance
If you squeal there’s a consequence
In Alphabet City
If you’re feelin’ adventurous
Crazy or brave or bourgeois
Go Alphabet City

All the way to the riverside
Brooklyn’s just a subway ri-ide….
Everything that I say and do
Is dedicated to you
Cos Loisada stays in my heart and my mind
Ain’t leavin’ you behind

credits

from Not Too Busy To Hate, released July 9, 2020

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about

Hakim Jamal Manchester, UK

The music created by Paul Ashley Wheatcroft is inspired by 70s artists such as Gil Scott-Heron, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. English musician Paul signed for Big Life/Polygram and is published by Universal Music.His new incarnation is a collective called The Mint 400. ... more