The Bronx, New York

Everything The Bronx is known for

18 songs mention this city 9 artists from here

The Bronx, New York, is widely recognized as the birthplace of hip-hop music. This northernmost borough of New York City has a rich musical heritage that also includes jazz, Latin music, doo-wop, and R&B. Nine artists, including hip-hop pioneers DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa, call The Bronx home. The borough is also mentioned in eighteen songs, such as "Mad Crew" by KRS-One.

Music in The Bronx

Songs About The Bronx

Rose Conley
Grayson
100%
"I'm coming straight out the Bronx"
Harlem Is Heaven
Fergie Baby
98%
"We was stealing bitches in front of Cardinal Hayes"
Rose Conley
Grayson Jenkins
53%
"I'm coming straight out the Bronx"
Mad Crew
KRS-One
52%
"Is the Bronx in the house?"
5 Boroughs
KRS-One
49%
"Yo Kris, set it for The Bronx"
Breakadawn
De La Soul
25%
"I was born in the Boogie Down cat scan"
9-24-11
Action Bronson
21%
"special fuckin' shoutout to all my family out there in that BX borough, man"
House of Pain
The Notorious B.I.G.
19%
"In the second such case in recent memory, a Bronx woman being charged with murder in the shooting death of her daughter over her crack habit"
No Frauds
Nicki Minaj
8%
"Lil Boogie down basic bitch thinkin' she back"
I’ll Be There for You / You’re All I Need to Get By
Method Man
7%
"Mary J. Blige"
9.24.13
Action Bronson
7%
"Shouts to the motherfucking Bronx, man"
Run It Up
Lil Tjay
7%
"Youngest out my city, keep it smooth just to sum it up"
Wrath of Kane
Big Daddy Kane
6%
"Slick Rick's a friend of me / And Doug E. Fresh, Stet, KRS and Public Enemy"
Deli
Ice Spice
6%
"Go 'Ku and I'm just gettin' started"
Demons and Angels
A Boogie wit da Hoodie
4%
"I'm from the West Side, know not to play with us, yeah"
Uproar
Lil Wayne
4%
"Swizzy, he the chef, I like my lunch gross"
P.I.M.P. Remix
Snoop Dogg
4%
"Puerto Ricans from the Boogie Down"
Return of the Boom Bap
KRS-One
2%
"Now Boogie Down, Boogie Down, Boogie Down, Boogie Down, Boogie Down Produc'"

Artists From The Bronx

I
Irene Cara
pop
C
Carly Simon
pop
B
Boogie Down Productions
hip-hop
B
Bobby Darin
pop
D
DJ Kool Herc
hip-hop
E
ESG
rock
C
Craig Mack
hip-hop
A
Afrika Bambaataa
hip-hop
A
Ace Frehley
rock

Rivers & Roads in Song near The Bronx

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near The Bronx.

Interstate 95 19 songs Hudson River 11 songs New Jersey Turnpike 7 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.

10.8 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.

17.2 mi away

History of The Bronx

Sylvia's Restaurant RoadyGoat

Sylvia Woods opened her soul food restaurant on Lenox Avenue in Harlem in 1962 with a small loan and big ambition. She became known as the Queen of Soul Food, serving smothered chicken, collard greens, and candied yams to everyone from Muhammad Ali to Nelson Mandela. The restaurant survived Harlem's toughest decades and became a symbol of Black entrepreneurship and cultural pride.

5.0 mi away

White Manna RoadyGoat

White Manna in Hackensack, New Jersey started as a building at the 1939 World's Fair. After the fair, it was moved to River Street and has been griddling sliders ever since. The tiny burgers — smashed thin on a flattop with onions — come six or eight at a time. The building is a perfect little Art Deco cube. The griddle hasn't cooled down in over 80 years.

9.6 mi away

McSorley's Old Ale House RoadyGoat

McSorley's has been pouring in the East Village since 1854, making it New York City's oldest bar. Abraham Lincoln drank here. Woody Guthrie drank here. The menu is light ale or dark ale — that's it. Sawdust covers the floor. Wishbones hang from the gas lamp, left by soldiers heading to World War I who never came back. Women weren't allowed until a 1970 court order.

10.6 mi away

Harlem - Lenox Avenue

1920

Lenox Avenue in Harlem was the cultural epicenter of the Harlem Renaissance, the flowering of African American art, literature, and music in the 1920s and 1930s.

5.0 mi away

Apollo Theater

1934

The Apollo Theater at 253 West 125th Street has been the most important venue for Black performers in America since 1934.

5.2 mi away

Tin Pan Alley

1885

The stretch of West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue where the American popular music publishing industry was born.

9.6 mi away

Central Park

1858

Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Central Park was the first major public park in America and reshaped urban planning worldwide.

6.9 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 Immigration Station

1892

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

13.8 mi away

Things to Do in The Bronx

historical 14.5 mi away
Statue of Liberty

Give me your tired your poor. 305 feet of copper freedom since 1886.
historical 5.2 mi away
Apollo Theater

Amateur Night launched Ella James Brown and a young Michael Jackson. Harlem's crown jewel.
food 10.6 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.
food 10.9 mi away
Katz's Delicatessen

I'll have what she's having. NYC's legendary pastrami since 1888.
food 10.9 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 11.2 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 16.3 mi away
Di Fara Pizza

One man hand-cutting basil and drizzling olive oil on every pizza since 1965 in Brooklyn.
food 19.9 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.

Everything Near The Bronx

377 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore The Bronx on the Map
All music from New York → · Browse more cities