And when Jay-Z or GZA comes through our iPod headphones with tales of the borough 's criminal underworld -- '' I 'm from Brooklyn , a place where stars are born , streets are shot up , apartment buildings are torn and ripped up '' -- we strain to listen for familiar geographical references , for a set of cross streets that makes us think , '' I 've been there , '' or at least , '' I 've been past there on the subway . ''