How Music Shaped the Knicks’ Title Run
Alicia Keys performs during the New York Knicks Championship parade on June 18th. Credit: Getty Images
For the first time in more than 50 years, the New York Knicks are NBA champions. After defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games to secure the team's first title since 1973, the franchise’s long-awaited victory has transformed New York City into a sea of blue and orange. However, the celebration transcends far beyond merchandise and crowded streets. The championship run has reminded fans that no team is more closely tied to the sound of its city than the Knicks.
New York sports have always been intertwined with music, but the relationship between the Knicks and the city’s culture is particular. The team's home, Madison Square Garden, is known as “The World’s Most Famous Arena”: both basketball and decades of iconic music performances give MSG its prestige. From Elton John and Billy Joel residencies to legendary performances by Madonna and Beyoncé, generations of artists have treated a sold-out Garden show as a career milestone, while Knicks players step onto the same stage on any given night.
The sounds of Knicks basketball are instantly recognizable. There is the low hum of anticipation before tip-off, the organ riffs that play through timeouts, the crowd chanting “Defense!” in unison, and, of course, the opening notes of “Go New York Go.” Introduced during the early 90s by songwriters Jesse Itzler and Dana Mozie, the anthem has become inseparable from the team’s identity.
Wu-Tang Clan, Mary J Blige, and Fat Joe at the New York Knicks Victory Parade. Credit: Getty Images
Every era of Knicks basketball has had its own soundtrack. The championship teams of the 1970s played alongside soul, funk, and disco as New York established itself as a global music capital. By the 1990s, the rise of New York hip-hop unfolded alongside the Patrick Ewing era. Artists like Jay-Z, Nas, and the Wu-Tang Clan turned the city’s team into a central figure in their music, creating songs that captured the same grit found in Knicks basketball. More recently, the rise of drill artists such as Pop Smoke and Fivio Foreign has reinforced hip-hop’s role in immersing fans into a different sonic side of the city.
As social media and streaming platforms transform how people experience music and sports, the relationship has only deepened in this year’s playoff run. Outside Madison Square Garden after every win, thousands of fans spilled on the streets shouting, singing, and blasting music from portable speakers. Tracks like “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys became collective victory anthems while New York drill, classic hip-hop, and old school songs continued echoing across the boroughs. Videos of packed subway cars singing Frank Sinatra’s “Theme From New York, New York” and chanting “Knicks in Five” spread across Tiktok and Instagram, forming a citywide playlist.
Knicks fans celebrating their Game 4 win at the Radio City Music Hall in New York. Credit: Getty Images
Courtside regulars like Spike Lee and Timothee Chalamet might be fixtures at the Garden, but musicians have always occupied a special place within Knicks Culture. Countless New York artists such as Fat Joe and Cardi B have embraced the team as fans and as representatives of the city itself. The Knicks might’ve just won a title, but alongside music, they created a rare sense of collective experience in a city where millions of people move at different speeds.
Long after the ticker-tape confetti is swept from the streets and the historic season fades into memory, the songs associated with the moment will remain. Fans will replay “Go New York Go” and “Empire State of Mind” and think of crowded subway cars filled with celebrations when the final buzzer sounded, remembering when the city finally had something to celebrate all together.
