I spend a somewhat absurd amount of time thinking about themed mixes, despite the fact that I haven’t made all that many in the last few years (and haven’t even started on a few that I’ve promised people earlier this year). Nonetheless, the one idea that every few months I kick around but never get around to putting to disc is a collection of depressing rap tracks. Not “depressing” in the sense of being of poor quality, or even emo-rap tracks by Atmosphere or artists of that sort, but just songs where the braggadocio slips away and the sensitive side shows for three or four minutes. Today seems like a good day to get a little help from this site’s hyperintelligent peanut gallery. The first songs I thought of to go with the Slick Rick classic “All Alone” (above) are behind the cut.
Wu-Tang Clan, “Tearz”:
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, “Crossroads”:
Jay-Z, “Song Cry”:
If the track you’re thinking of was originally on Def Jux, it’s probably not the sort of thing I was thinking of, but otherwise, let me know what track makes you want to see if your favorite rhymer might need a hug and a tissue.
LL Cool J’s “I Need Love”
+ Watch video
Master P – “I Miss My Homies”
lil boosie is killing it in this dept right now
“dirty world”
“pain”
Scarface – “I Seen a Man Die”
and its companion, from the severly depressed Z-Ro.
Another Wu-Tang track – “I Can’t Go To Sleep” with an extremely weepy Ghostface:
ghostface – Josephine
There’s Jay-Z’s lament on “Lost One” over his cousin, killed in an accident in the car Jay bought him:
But IMHO the best entry for this category, in that it’ll make you cry AND laugh, is Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s version of “Good Morning Heartache,” which is neither quite a rap (OK, in no way is it rap) nor, alas, on Youtube.
Does Geto Boys’ “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” not count? Is that too freaky-paranoid rather than “sad”? There are some serious emo lyrical stretches in that song.
I can’t believe a post called “When Rappers Cry” missed “Why Must I Cry?”
2pac “Life goes On”
Scarface “Smile”
Ghostface “All That I Got Is You”
Notorious “Miss u”
Geto Boys “6 Feet Deep”
The Roots – “You Got Me”
I don’t think you would have a problem filling an entire mix with 2pac, although it would be markedly hit or miss. Dear Momma. Pour Out a Little Liquor. Bury Me as a G. That horrible Changes song. God Bless the Dead. Unconditional Love. How Long Will They Mourn Me. So Many Tears.
Devin the Dude – “Anythang”
Not to be only slightly off topic, but I seem to constantly see the qualifier ‘emo-rap’ like you attributed to Atmosphere. DropOuts Inc. get that as does the vocalist Teddy Faley. I think both Atmosphere & DropOuts Inc. are more than emo, if that at all. I think anything that seems progressive or has serious emotional connotations in hip hop gets clustered into ‘emo’ and it’s way off.
Most classic rap has emo-like roots, just a different delivery. The likes of Atmosphere and DropOuts Inc are just taking a different approach to writing (both lyrically & musically) and people don’t know how to categorize it.
The bold, braggadoccio stuff that we’ve become accustomed to is more of hip-POP or guys trying to make a buck or be famous for the wrong reasons. It gets all ‘American Dream’ gone wrong. What has happened to the American Dream? Has it been sold out to the almighty dollar? It seems that dreams are secondary or maybe even tertiary to the dollar, with the means of getting to the dollar being second to the dollar; which doesn’t include the dream.
The “old school” American Dream used to include a house, car, children, secure job. It somehow inflated into a big house, two cars, and things, things, things. That inflation spiraled into the “me” frame of mind. Not enough was it to have things, but big things; it somehow also included being important in the minds of many as well.
So, while that bold stuff becomes mainstream & when others in the genre, so to speak, deliver something a little different it gets incorrectly classified.
That’s my soapbox for the morning — a whole long American dream and hip hop article rests nicely on the dropouts-inc.com site if you’d like to read more.
Coolio Da Unda Dogg – Fallen Soldiers, it’s real deep.