Jay-Z Surprises Tonys Crowd to Sing ‘Empire State of Mind’ With Alicia Keys

Jay-Z is out that Brooklyn and down to the David H. Koch Theater for the 2024 Tony Awards for a special duet with Alicia Keys.

Keys, 43, joined the cast of Hell’s Kitchen for a live performance at the Sunday, June 16, awards show. Hell’s Kitchen, loosely based on Key’s life story growing up in New York City using her discography, performed a medley on the awards show. The number also featured Keys and Jay-Z singing “Empire State of Mind.”

Keys rocked a black two-piece with an oversized Gucci coat and gold jewelry as she belted the track. After encouraging the audience to put their hands in the air, she added, “Are we in New York City at the Tony Awards?”

Keys further noted that she needed to “do something crazy” since the Tonys were held in her hometown of NYC. Jay-Z, 54, then walked out on the stage to perform his portion of the rap, rocking a Louis Vuitton jacket and backward cap.

“Brooklyn, New York City in the Tonys, tonight,” he quipped at the end of the number.

Jay-Z and Keys originally released their duet in 2009 as an ode to New York City.

“ [Jay-Z] had the record. He was reaching out to me to do the record for a minute. And for whatever reason, the people that represented me did not tell me about the record,” Keys recalled of the recording process during a December 2021 appearance on the “Drink Champs” podcast. “I don’t know why. It created a whole new thing for me to make sure I was in front of my s–t. Because so many people, you trust them to handle your stuff and do their thing for you and you don’t know what’s coming back to you or what’s not coming back to you. Could you imagine if ‘Empire’ never got to me?”

“Empire State of Mind” is one of Keys’ songs in Hell’s Kitchen, which opened on Broadway in April, alongside “No One,” “Fallen” and “Girl on Fire.” The musical is the most nominated production of the 2024 season, scoring 13 nods for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography. Actors Maleah Joi Moon, Brandon Victor Dixon, Shoshana Bean and Kecia Lewis were all honored for their individual performances.

Throughout Hell’s Kitchen’s journey to the Great White Way, Keys has been vocal about her involvement.

“I’ve been freaking out. It’s incredible [and] I’m so grateful,” Keys gushed of the show’s 13 Tony nominations during an appearance on Today With Hoda and Jenna last month. “This is wild! The team and the creative partnership that is involved in this show [are] spectacular. … There is so much expertise in this. You walk in there, you see a full, beautiful story and you are swept away.”

Keys also wrote a slew of new songs specifically for Hell’s Kitchen, telling Today cohosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager that the experience was “really cool.”

“There were such specific parts [and] moments where it was like, ‘We know we want a song that encapsulates this moment,’” she recalled in May. “I find that when I’m writing, I write like that. It’s a moment, it’s a feeling and [creating new songs for the show] was similar in that way.”

Keys and the Hell’s Kitchen cast celebrated the show’s success at the Tonys on Sunday, which was held at the Lincoln Center theater in NYC and airing live on CBS and Paramount+. Skylar Astin hosted the American Express “Broadway Fanfare” simulcast event just outside the venue in Damrosch Park.