Author: Alicia
5081190220418941
Music Posting Assignment: “No Faith in Brooklyn”
“No Faith in Brooklyn” by Hoodie Allen ft. Jhameel
“No Faith in Brooklyn” is song by independent American Rapper Hoodie Allen featuring singer Jhameel. This song expresses the way New York City, or specifically Brooklyn, draws a person in and makes it hard to leave. The music video revolves around a young couple living in Brooklyn that starts to argue over whether or not they should move. The woman wants to move and get out of Brooklyn, but the man, played by Hoodie Allen himself, doesn’t want to move out of Brooklyn. This is conveyed in the line “But I don’t wanna leave this place/ No faith in Brooklyn” repeated with the rest of the chorus.
The chorus reads as follows:
“We should take a walk someday
Dream about what we could’ve been
But I don’t wanna leave this place
No faith in Brooklyn
If I move out one day
It will make me a better man
But I don’t wanna leave this place
No faith in Brooklyn”
In this chorus the first two lines expresses Allen’s openness to traveling outside of Brooklyn so long as they always come back. He also addresses the idea that the couple would have a better future outside of Brooklyn, or if he just agreed with his partner in the line “Dream about what we could’ve been”. This also is reference to Allen himself which is more clearly stated in the second half of the chorus where the lines are swapped to say “ If I move out one day/it will make me a better man” Again he addresses the opportunities outside of Brooklyn. In both cases however he follows it up with the line about staying in Brooklyn.
In the last verse of the song the words “come back to Brooklyn”, replace the line “No faith in Brooklyn” All of this emphasizes the all-encompassing need to stay in Brooklyn. It exhibits the way New York City captures a person’s heart and their mind making it impossible to leave. It implies that once you’ve moved to New York City, for better or for worse, there’s no going back. It is a matter of emotional attachment as well as the fact that there isn’t any other place like it.
Allen personally moved to New York to start his rapping career after working as a Google executive in San Francisco. Before becoming a rapper, he was University of Penn alum with a highly coveted job but he had always dreamed of having a full time career making music. He initially gained popularity on the internet and when he decided finally to make rapping his full time job he decided to move to the Mecca of rap music itself, New York City. Clearly he has become enamored with the city and as expressed in this song “No Faith in Brooklyn” has no intention of leaving anytime soon. Even he goes on tour around the world someday he will always “come back to Brooklyn”.