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Jay-Z parody feat. Robert Frost

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 11:42 am Thu, Apr 15, 2010

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"Granite State of Mind" is a rap about the wonders of New Hampshire. As a lifelong Midwesterner, I think I'm missing a lot of the jokes. What I do get, though—and LOVE—is the sequence that starts around 2:33.

(Thanks, Shea Gunther!)

Special Granite State of Mind shout-out to Nathan C. and Sarah K.—two awesome people who just moved to New Hampshire—and to Max and Clay W., who've been rocking upper New England for a while now. Miss you all

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

Maggie goes places and talks to people. Find out where she'll be speaking next.

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  • Jer

    Holy crap. NH featured on Boing Boing! We are officially cool now. I wonder if NH Tourism is going to pick this up. This video spread like wildfire among New Hamshire-ites on Facebook a couple weeks ago. Big ups to the folks that produced it. “The Super Secret Project”, I think they’re called.

  • Grimnir

    I was born in the NH, grew up in the VT across the river from Dartmouth, family homestead in southern NH. Vermont has more rolling hills, better skiing, more maple syrup, more local craftsmen (made in vermont!), better food, better Senators, better health insurance for sick people, and better weed. NH has more jobs, more cheap places to shop (outlet stores!), more people (all in craptastic SE NH), more lakes (Squam in the hizzouse!), more epic mountains with more epic views, better roads (fuckin pot holes), and less taxes. Both are pretty fuckin swell places if you like winter and you’ve got money for new AWD every few years and a nice place in the woods. Boring, with crappy internet service, tons of mosquitos in summer, endless winters, but is the rest of rural America any different? At least it’s not packed with psycho fundamentalists who want to remake America into a theocracy. Probably the two best states to live in for the whole east coast. Don’t move there if you’re poor. Go somewhere with milder winters and public transit options instead. I like Portland, OR better.

    • Antinous / Moderator

      tons of mosquitos in summer

      We probably had mosquitoes, but they couldn’t make it through the black fly swarms to get to us.

  • Anonymous

    Funniest thing I have seen in long time.

    Also, been there, done that, and it was pretty good.

  • Wuss Brillis

    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…!

    Any chance we have the Wisconsin remix one day?

  • ill lich

    HA!! AL KAPRIELIAN!!! He somehow managed to get a Wikipedia page too!

    It’s a good thing they put the liquor stores right on the highway– I have been to that very store in the video, right outside Concord, very convenient.

    (And really, it’s “the KANC”, nobody bothers to say Kancamagus, too long.)

  • Wuss Brillis

    [SuperSecretProject Verse One]
    Ya, Ya, I’m at the Conway
    Now I’m down in Manchester
    Next to Adam Sandler
    But I’ll be woods forever
    I’m the new Salinger
    Cuz I could live anywhere
    But I choose to live here
    The middle of nowhere
    I used to shop in Salem
    Next to Rockingham Park
    Right there up on 28
    You’ll find Canobie Lake Park
    Bring me up to Portsmouth
    the saloon at State Street
    Catch me up at Gilleys after closing for some late eats
    Its not the kangamangus
    The Kancamagus
    Its a scenic byway
    That I like to drive in August
    Now I’m down at Bedford
    Home of Seth Meyers, yeah
    Also Sarah Silverman
    were funny motherfuckas here
    We like to say whatsup guy, its the way we say hi
    In February it is good to know a plow guy
    It is shaped like a key, also where I like to ski
    Tell by my belt buckle that I most definitely from…

    [Chorus - SuperSecretProject]
    NEW HAMPSHIRE
    LAND WHERE THERES NO INCOME OR SALES TAX
    THERE S NOTHING MUCH TO DO
    HERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
    THESE TREES WHERE LEAF PEEPERS DRIVE TO
    MAPLE SYRUP IS PRO-DUCED
    THIS IS NEW HAMPSHIRE, HAMPSHIRE, HAMPSHIRE

    [SuperSecretProject Verse Two]
    Catch me up at Loudon, at the Speedway for the race yo
    I made the flannel shirt more famous than a scarecrow
    Don’t drink and drive here, listen to what I say
    even though we put our liquor stores right on the highway
    You can drive Mount Washington
    hike up Mount Monadnock
    in 1787 we invented the alarm clock
    Concord Coach, Dartmouth Coach, DowneasterAmtrak
    On Squam Lake, Henry Fonda taught ya’ll how to act
    Derry’s Alan Shepard, first guy in a spaceship
    Its a pity Christa McCaulliffe didn’t make it
    Didja hear about the ice storm in December of 08
    I went without power for eleven straight days!
    You can buy a handgun
    You can buy some fireworks
    Sandwich Fair, Rest in peace Daniel Webster
    Americas Stonehenge, long live the dairy trade
    Long live the old man
    I’m from the Granite State that’s

    [Chorus - SuperSecretProject]
    NEW HAMPSHIRE
    PLACE WHERE STONYFIELD YOGURT IS MADE IN
    AND COW TIPPINGS SO COOL
    HERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
    DSL SERVICE IS BRAND NEW
    YOU MIGHT EVEN SEE A MOOSE
    HERE IN NE W HAMPSHIRE, HAMPSHIRE, HAMPSHIRE

    [SuperSecretProject Verse Three]
    Whose woods these are I think I know.
    His house is in the village though;
    He will not see me stopping here
    To watch his woods fill up with snow.
    My little horse must think it queer
    To stop without a farmhouse near
    Between the woods and frozen lake
    The darkest evening of the year.
    He gives his harness bells a shake
    To ask if there is some mistake.
    The only other sound’s the sweep
    Of easy wind and downy flake.
    The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep

    That’s some Robert Frost, hes our most famous poet
    It was actually written up in Vermont but its associated with
    The 603, where its a fact I
    Don’t know any Hispanics and just one black guy
    You can go to Bike Week that’s up in Laconia
    In the winter months hit the notch in Franconia, home of
    B-O-D-E our Olympic Ski Champion
    He faced high pressure like my man Al Kaprielian

    [Chorus - SuperSecretProject]
    NEW HAMPSHIRE
    IF YOU DONT WANT TO WEAR A HELMET
    THERES NOTHIN THEY CAN DO
    HERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
    MARKEYS VERSE BROWNS ON THE SEAFOOD
    TELL ME WHICH ONE WILL YOU CHOOSE
    WHEN YOU’RE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE HAMPSHIRE HAMPSHIRE

    NINTH STATE RATIFIED OUT OF ALL FIFTY
    IT CAN GET COLD
    BUT STILL THE AUTUMNS VERY PRETTY
    WHEN THIS SONG MAKES ME RICH,
    I’M A MOVE TO RYE
    EVERYBODY PUMP YOUR FISTS AND YELL
    LIVE FREE OR DIE! LIVE FREE OR DIE!

    IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
    STATE WHERE TRIPLE H THE WRESTLER HAILS FROM
    THAT GUY WOULD DESTROY YOU
    IF YOU KNOCK NEW HAMPSHIRE
    ITS JUST LIKE OLD HAMPSHIRE BUT NEW
    WERE OUT OF JOKES TO DO
    ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE, HAMPSHIRE, HAMPSHIRE

  • JayeRandom

    You had me smiling and nodding along up until “Don’t know any Hispanics and just one black guy”, and then I was like WTF? Ew. I prefer my regional pride anthems without the racism, kthx.

    • jere7my

      Where’s the racism, Jaye? That’s the facts of life in lily-white New Hampshire. It described my high school experience perfectly, and got a big guffaw from me. It’s not good satire if it glosses over the awkward truths.

  • frankieboy

    forget the Cape, I know where I’m going this summer!

  • Touched by FSM

    I think that got rid of my Plants vs. Zombies ear-worm. Many thanks

  • Anonymous

    As a Vermonter, I would like to contest this NH claim to Robert Frost! Keep your motorcycles and don’t go stealing our poets.

  • Anonymous

    Nelson, New Zealand has one too.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9KBLbLL-8

  • akbar56

    While this was well done and the inclusion of Robert Frost was the best part…I must point out that the iambic pentameter of Frost’s poem has already been beauitfully put to music…by the muppets.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGoZNjNgcP0

  • Anonymous

    Left me teary for my old home. Thanks.

  • Wuss Brillis

    New Hampshire is the third “whitest” US state, only beaten by its neighbors so the rap is quite spot on.

    http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=GCT0201&-ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_&-_lang=en&-mt_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_GCT0201_US9T&-format=US-9T

  • timmaah

    >>As a Vermonter, I would like to contest this NH claim to Robert Frost! Keep your motorcycles and don’t go stealing our poets.<<

    And Maple syrup. We put out about 10 times the amount they do.

    Not to mention they are upside down. Who puts the larger part of the state on the bottom??

    • Anonymous

      Lots of states do that–Texass, Pennsylvania is sort of wider near Philadelphia than it is up north, Idaho, Utah, North Carolina. I’ll stop now.

  • plousia

    I lived in New Hampshire for two years, and I can assure you, this is pretty epic. I’m glad to see that even peeps who haven’t can appreciate it.

  • jmzero

    I also enjoyed the Star Wars version of the song – here

  • Anonymous

    I also liked this one about Minnesota http://ducksimagesandwords.posterous.com/empire-state-of-mind-parody-minnesota-state-o

    • benher

      Just when I thought everyone had finally forgotten about “Fargo.” The accent will live on forever in the tubes…

  • Anonymous

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V-HZqzx3Y0

    Some friends of mine did a similar parody about my home town Peoria, IL. A bit esoteric and strange, but I find it pretty amazing.

    Maybe it can work as a follow up post!

  • Lobster

    Look out, birds. It’s Roooobert Frooooost.

  • Anonymous

    @ #5 and #7

    Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening wasn’t originally published in a volume called “Vermont”, was it?

  • slideguy

    You realize, of course, that “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” works perfectly well over a rap track.

  • Armitage75

    lol JayeRandom…I like my boingboing comments without the white guilt kthx.

  • Anonymous

    Robert Frost went to Dartmouth, so that makes him a New Hampshire-ite. 603 Represent!

  • jere7my

    Portsmouth High School grad in the hizzie, yo. Man, this made me miss greasy 3AM burgers at Gilley’s Diner.

    I’m with you on Al Kaprielian, Ill Lich. Sadly, he broadcast his last “GWEEVENING, evvybody!” on the last day of 2009, when MyTV phased out the local programming on channel 50.

  • romulusnr

    Canobie Lake FTW, I went there plenty of times as a kid, even had Physics Day there in high school. Likewise Funspot. Plenty of good name dropping here even for a non-NHer.