The 2009 EGGIES...Day 10

We're into double figures, which is more than can be said for the next catgeory; Best Dance/Urban Single. Another victim of 2009's bare cupboard syndrome, even finding a handful of viable nominations nearly proved too strenuous a task. Next time around, this award will probably be quietly dispatched into a bling-filled sunset.

What could be the final winner of this award, then, is:

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND, Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys



Just when it seemed all was lost in Hip-Hop and (what used to be) Soul, along came this wonderful track. Rap's glory days - in the opinion of yours truly, of course - are long gone; even Outkast's finest hour was several years ago, and Public Enemy and their ilk seem an eternity ago. Jay-Z's an adequate rapper and a passable lyricist...well, sometimes...but what raises Empire State Of Mind to the realm of the sublime is the chorus, provided on record by Alicia Keys but even when performed live on Later With Jools Holland by a different vocalist the effect was much the same.

This single proved to be my final #1 of the year, and therefore of the decade. Not a bad way to see out the Noughties.


ALSO NOMINATED:

POKER FACE Lady Gaga
RIGHT HERE (DEPARTED) Brandy
SWEET DREAMS Beyonce
THE GIRL AND THE ROBOT Royksopp ft. Robyn