Love and Hip-Hop

It’s no secret that I love, love.   It can be expressed a variety ways addressing the good, the bad and the ugly.  Just as Marvin Gaye’s “Distant Lover” brings tears to my eyes, or Mary J. Blige’s “Not Gonna Cry” makes me nod my head (while mumbling “That’s right girl!”), I understand Biggie’s pain on “Get Money” when he spits “Oh woe is me, that’s what I get for tricking/Get out on bail/Commence to ass kicking“.  I find it particularly endearing when Jay-Z says “And I don’t have to worry/Only worry him/She do anything necessary for him/And I do anything necessary for her/So don’t let the necessary occur.” 

Rap doesn’t have a reputation as the langauge of love, however there is a charming side to this genre of music.  Perhaps not expressed as eloquently as a Motown classic penned by Smokey Robinson, there are moments in hip-hop where rappers have expressed their feelings for the object of their affection as well as their disappointment and contempt.  Many may find this self-expression a little brash and possibly uncouth, yet I feel there is a level of vulnerability and honesty that can’t be denied.

Here are my top Hip-Hop love songs:

 

Little hood rat bitch 25th named Tamika/Coming through like I do, you know getting my bark on/Knew she was a thug cause when I met her, she had a scarf on/54.11’s size seven in girls – DMX ft. Faith -How’s It Going Down

 

 

Long before T. Pain fell in love with a stripper, DMX fell in love with a hood rat decked out in a head scarf and 54.11’s (Reebok’s that used to cost $54.11 after tax).  “How’s It Going Down” chronicles the love affair of DMX and Tamika, despite her current relationship status with her baby daddy.  But according to X, that doesn’t matter because since she gave him the “p*ssy, that ass is getting phatter”.  Alas, all good things come to an end.  DMX tells Tamika to go back to her boyfriend because she “got two kids by that n*gga, it was wrong for me”.  Though the relationship is over, Tamika shouldn’t worry because they are “gon’ always be the best of friends.  Haha.”*

 

I’m realizing that you didn’t have to fuck with me/But you did, now I’m going all out kid/And I got mad love to give, you my nigga – Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige – “I’ll Be There For You/Your’e All I Need”

This 1995 Grammy Award winning duet it took a Motown classic and introduced it to a new generation.  If you’re an 80’s baby you probably know this song from start to finish.  It also probably never dawned on you the Meth refers to his girlfriend as his “n*gga”.  The video features Mary J. Blige (who is higher than the stairway to heaven) and a rough-looking Method Man, professing his love for his queen on the roof of a project building.  “I’ll Be There For You” is the perfect blend of rap and R&B and ranked number one in Complex magazine’s “The 25 Best Hip-Hop Love Songs”.

Put it way up where her ribs at/Her future kids at/You held out for two weeks, longer than these hood rats/You precious, more precious than lost treasure –Nas- K.I.S.S.I.N.G

Featured on Nas’ third album I Am, “K.I.S.S.I.N.G” samples R. Kelly’s hit “When A Woman’s Fed Up”.  Different sides of the same coin (love), Kelly’s track explores a relationship gone sour from a woman’s perspective while Nas describes the peaks and valleys of a happy couple. 

And as she’s looking for the token, she drops a package of the E-Z Wider/Covers her mouth with a name ring/I said ‘Yo, don’t sweat the technique shorty rock. I do the same thing.’ –Lost Boyz- Renee

The Lost Boyz most successful single, “Renee” was featured on their debut album Legal Drug Money and the soundtrack for Don’t Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood*.  Renee is not your typical hood rat.  Sure she indulges in herbal greenery and adorns her fingers with name rings, however Renee is a law student as well.  Beauty and brains.  No wonder why Mr. Cheekz was smitten with her.  Unfortunately their romance ends abruptly when Renee is murdered, becoming another casualty to street violence.

You knew too much, the relationship grew too much/You knew about the crack vials/Means to be trialed/Way I hid dough under the bathroom tiles –Notorious B.I.G ft. Lil Kim- Another

I remember when my fifteen year old ears listened to the first seventeen seconds of this “Another” for the first time.  I knew that Big and Kim were saying some very mean, nasty things to one another, yet I found it funny and deliciously trashy. “Another” doesn’t old back as former lovers air their dirty laundry and take low blows at one another with no remorse.  Cheating, drugs and court trials, Kim and Big are the hood Bonnie and Clyde expressing what remains of an expired romance and broken hearts.  

Honorable Mentions

Puff Daddy- Senorita

Mos Def- Miss Fat Booty

Jay-Z ft. Foxy Brown- Ain’t No

*I find this line so funny.  DMX has some nerve to tell that girl that they are always going to be the best of friends and then laughs!  It’s so rude (and funny) and shows that he’s a little salty about the situation.

*The version featured on the soundtrack sampled Janet Jackson “Funny How Time Flies” with one hit wonder Mona Lisa singing on the hook.