According to Alicia Keys Daily, the songstress will join Jay-Z to perform “Empire State of Mind” at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards set to air live on September 13, 2009 from NYC. the song is taken from Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3.

How fitting, this is the return of the VMA’s to NYC and the song is basically an anthem to the city. On top of that it’s a much better performance song than “Run This Town”. I don’t think we can take another  stationary performance from Rihanna a la “Live Your Life”. Plus anything Alicia is good as she has been one of the few true talents of this decade.

In related news, Beyoncé will take the stage to perform “Sweet Dreams”. This will be a surprise for all audiences as she never performed this, not even on her I Am… tour. Hopefully the magnitude of her performance is along the lines of her VMA performance from ’03 and not ’06.