NME.com
said: “The city never sleeps, better slip you an Ambien” he spat, but this had a power way beyond pharmaceutical.

Spinner.com
said: New York icon? Check. Song about New York, riffing on another New York icon? Check check. Fellow New Yorker Alicia Keys helping out? Sure, why not. All these things make up Jay-Z's killer single, which serves as one of the best odes to the city that never sleeps in a long time.