Staten Island, New York

Everything Staten Island is known for

22 songs mention this city 9 artists from here

Staten Island, New York, the southernmost borough of New York City, has a distinct musical identity, particularly in hip-hop. Many influential artists, such as RZA and the legendary Wu-Tang Clan, call Staten Island home. The borough is also mentioned in songs like "Can It Be All So Simple / Intermission" by Wu-Tang Clan.

With 22 songs in our collection mentioning Staten Island and 9 artists hailing from there, the borough has contributed significantly to various genres, including hip-hop, R&B with Eamon, and Americana with Becca Mancari.

Music in Staten Island

Songs About Staten Island

Rose Conley
Grayson
80%
"Water whip, feel like GZA"
Can It Be All So Simple / Intermission
Wu-Tang Clan
25%
"started off on the Island, A.K.A. Shaolin"
I Can’t Go to Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
24%
"Havoc on the streets of Staten"
Rose Conley
Grayson Jenkins
22%
"Water whip, feel like GZA"
The What (Unreleased Version)
The Notorious B.I.G.
19%
"Yo, I'm from Shaolin Island and ain't afraid to bust somethin'"
wolves of new york
luke callen
19%
5 Boroughs
KRS-One
18%
"5 Boroughs of death we rep to death"
Say
Method Man
8%
"Wu-Tang, if this is where the hip-hop is"
How High
Method Man
8%
"I represent yo' Shaolin, my nigga"
Bring the Pain
Method Man
8%
"Of course it's the Method, Man from the Wu-Tang Clan"
Eazy
The Game
7%
"Just so I can beat Pete Davidson's ass"
The Mask
Fugees
6%
"My crew on the Isle wear the mask"
Tearz
Wu-Tang Clan
6%
"Every girl from Shaolin dissed her respect"
What’s Happenin’
Method Man
5%
"Shaolin (Come on)"
Protect Ya Neck
Wu-Tang Clan
5%
"Here comes my Shaolin style"
Tuscan Leather
Drake
5%
"I sip the Pora and listen to Cappadonna"
I’ll Be There for You / You’re All I Need to Get By
Method Man
5%
"Method Man"
Method Man
Wu-Tang Clan
4%
"From the slums of Shaolin, Wu-Tang Clan strikes again"
The Games We Play
Pusha T
4%
"To all of my young niggas, I am your Ghost and your Rae"
What the Blood Clot!?!
Method Man
3%
"Yo, Shaolin running this shit, son"

Showing top 20 of 22 songs

Artists From Staten Island

R
RZA
hip-hop Pop: 68
M
Method Man
hip-hop Pop: 67
W
Wu-Tang Clan
hip-hop Pop: 67
G
Ghostface Killah
hip-hop Pop: 63
R
Raekwon
hip-hop Pop: 63
E
Eamon
r-n-b Pop: 52
K
Knox
rock Pop: 42
I
Inspectah Deck
hip-hop Pop: 30
B
Becca Mancari
americana Pop: 22

Rivers & Roads in Song near Staten Island

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Staten Island.

Interstate 95 13 songs New Jersey Turnpike 4 songs Hudson River 8 songs

Musical Heritage

CBGB — Birthplace of American Punk RoadyGoat

1973

The narrow storefront at 315 Bowery was CBGB, the grimy club where American punk and new wave were essentially born. Hilly Kristal opened it in December 1973, and the name is one of music's great ironies: CBGB & OMFUG stood for 'Country, BlueGrass, Blues, and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers' (Kristal meant a 'voracious eater' — of music). Almost no country or bluegrass ever played there. Instead the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith and Television cut their teeth on its tiny stage through the 1970s. CBGB closed on October 15, 2006 over a lease dispute, and Kristal died of lung cancer the following year. The space later became a John Varvatos clothing boutique (opened April 2008), which kept some of the club's graffiti and posters; 'CBGB 73' is still etched in the cement at the entrance.

13.7 mi away

Holsten's — The Sopranos' Cut-to-Black Diner RoadyGoat

1939

Holsten's Brookdale Confectionery sits at 1063 Broad Street in Bloomfield, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and candy shop that has been making its own chocolate and ice cream since 1939 (and is still open). It earned a permanent place in TV history on June 10, 2007, when 'Made in America,' the series finale of HBO's 'The Sopranos,' filmed its last scene in one of Holsten's vinyl booths. Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, ordered onion rings and punched up Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' on the jukebox before the screen abruptly cut to black for roughly ten seconds — an ending so sudden many viewers thought their cable had failed. The original booth became a fan shrine, but it was actually sold at auction in March 2024 for about 82,600 dollars; the shop welcomes fans to sit in its place today.

16.4 mi away

History of Staten Island

Nathan's Famous RoadyGoat

In 1916, Nathan Handwerker quit his job at a competing hot dog stand and opened his own on the Coney Island boardwalk, undercutting the competition at five cents a dog. Doctors from nearby Coney Island Hospital ate there in their white coats to make the place look respectable. Every Fourth of July, the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest draws millions of viewers. The original stand still anchors the corner of Surf and Stillwell.

8.4 mi away

Ellis Island - The Border Runs Through the Building RoadyGoat

1892

For over a century, everyone assumed Ellis Island was in New York. It appeared on New York maps, New York politicians claimed it, and twelve million immigrants who passed through between 1892 and 1954 were told they had arrived in New York. But the original Ellis Island was just three acres of mud and oyster shells. An 1834 compact between the two states placed this tiny island under New York's jurisdiction, even though it sits clearly on New Jersey's side of the harbor. Here is the twist. Between 1891 and 1934, the federal government massively expanded the island with landfill, growing it to over twenty-seven acres. All that new land was built in waters that the 1834 compact had explicitly granted to New Jersey. In 1997, New Jersey sued. The Supreme Court ruled six to three in 1998 that the original island remains New York territory, but all the landfill belongs to New Jersey. The border between the two states now runs through the middle of buildings on Ellis Island, following the ghost of the original shoreline. Roughly eighty-three percent of Ellis Island is in New Jersey. The main building where millions of immigrants were processed sits mostly in New Jersey. The gift shop where you buy the Statue of Liberty magnet that says New York is in New Jersey.

10.9 mi away

Junior's Restaurant RoadyGoat

Harry Rosen opened Junior's on the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb in Brooklyn in 1950. The cheesecake — dense, creamy, on a sponge-cake base — became so famous that Junior's ships thousands nationwide every holiday season. The neon sign and vinyl booths are Brooklyn institutions. When downtown Brooklyn gentrified around it, Junior's held firm.

12.0 mi away

Ellis Island Immigration Station

1892

From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

10.8 mi away

World Trade Center / Ground Zero

2001

Site of the September 11, 2001 attacks that destroyed the Twin Towers and killed 2,977 people.

12.3 mi away

Ellis Island (New Jersey Side)

1892

In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that most of Ellis Island's landmass belongs to New Jersey, not New York.

10.8 mi away

Edison Memorial Tower, Menlo Park

1876

At his Menlo Park laboratory, Thomas Edison invented the practical incandescent light bulb and the phonograph, earning the nickname the Wizard of Menlo Park.

11.2 mi away

Brooklyn Bridge

1869

The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, was the first steel-wire suspension bridge and the longest suspension bridge in the world for twenty years.

12.4 mi away

CBGB

1973

CBGB at 315 Bowery was the birthplace of American punk rock, launching the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Television.

13.7 mi away

Things to Do in Staten Island

historical 10.1 mi away
Statue of Liberty

Give me your tired your poor. 305 feet of copper freedom since 1886.
food 8.4 mi away
Nathan's Famous (Original)

The Coney Island hot dog stand that started it all in 1916. Home of the July 4th eating contest. Mustard not ketchup.
food 10.3 mi away
Di Fara Pizza

One man hand-cutting basil and drizzling olive oil on every pizza since 1965 in Brooklyn.
food 13.4 mi away
Lombardi's Pizza

America's first pizzeria opened in 1905 on Spring Street in Manhattan. Coal-fired oven. The original New York slice started here.
food 13.6 mi away
Katz's Delicatessen

I'll have what she's having. NYC's legendary pastrami since 1888.
food 13.8 mi away
Peter Luger Steak House

Brooklyn's legendary porterhouse palace since 1887. Cash only. The steak sauce is iconic. Zagat's top steakhouse for 30 straight years.
food 13.9 mi away
McSorley's Old Ale House

NYC's oldest bar since 1854. Lincoln drank here. You get light or dark — that's it. Sawdust floors and wishbones on the gas lamp.
historical 19.8 mi away
Apollo Theater

Amateur Night launched Ella James Brown and a young Michael Jackson. Harlem's crown jewel.

Everything Near Staten Island

318 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore Staten Island on the Map
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