Just my thoughts (Volume III)
50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop Edition: five songs that made me fall in love with rap music
This weekend is the celebration of 50 years of hip hop. As a lover of music from almost any genre, hip-hop holds a special place in my heart.
There’s a part of me that feels the need to explain why I ever fell in love with hip-hop to begin with. A White kid growing up in the South listening to Black music feels odd at times. If you’re a hardcore country music fan, rap probably means nothing to you. If you’re into grunge rock, rap is little more than a shrug of the shoulders. But what if you love all of those genres? What if you appreciate the music, and, yes, the lyrics, even if they don’t speak directly to your life experience?
I can only assume my affection for rap comes from my love for words, for the way they can bob and weave with music. How these musicians tell a story and/or preach a message with their lines while somehow managing to methodically rhyme numerous words.
I don’t always love the words. There are rap songs that can be crude in content. But I do feel hip-hop music gets unfairly painted as treacherous because explicit lyrics get used more than other genres. Is a country song drenched with alcoholic tendencies or a rock song mired in depressive thoughts much better?
I’m not here to point fingers. There are merits to all forms of music, and there are moments to take pause. For now, I’m here to clap for the artists that have made hip-hop what it is. There are too many songs, too many great albums, to really come up with a finite list of legendary jams. My personal favorite album is Jay-Z’s first Blueprint album, but I don’t even have any of his songs on this list.
These are five songs that, when I think about hip-hop, come to mind. They might not be the best ever rap songs, but for me, they define what makes hip-hop.
“Juicy” by Notorious B.I.G. (from the 1994 album Ready To Die)
Best line: Livin’ life without fear/ puttin’ five karats in my baby girl’s ear/ lunches, brunches, interviews by the pool/ considered a fool ‘cause I dropped out of high school
Why I love it: “Juicy” is storytelling at its finest. It’s a rags-to-riches rhyme rich with 80s/90s pop culture references and a classic sample. It’s widely considered one of the best rap songs ever, even beating out other amazing jams from the same year. Its variable rhyme pattern shifted hip-hop’s common ABAB meter. A legendary song from a legendary artist we lost way, way too early.
“Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince (from the 1991 album Homebase)
Best line: It's late in the day and I ain't been on the court yet/ Hustle to the mall to get me a short set/ Yeah, I got on sneaks but I need a new pair/ 'Cause basketball courts in the summer got girls there
Why I love it: I was 10 when this song came out, but I still felt the joy reverberate from the speakers in every line Will Smith, the Fresh Prince, delivered. “Summertime” is pure magic stirred with nostalgia that, no matter how old you are when you’re experiencing summer, it will remind you that the hot season is about fun. So maybe try and experience that.
“Nuthin’ But A G Thang” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (from the 1992 album The Chronic)
Best line: Fallin’ back on that a__ with a hellafied gangsta lean/ Gettin’ funky on the mic like an old batch of collard greens/ It’s the capital S, oh yes, I’m fresh, N double O-P/D-O doubly G-Y, D-O double G, ya see
Why I love it: You and I will never be as cool as Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg cruisin’ around in cars that bounce at unreasonable heights. As an 11-year-old kid, I would hold the tape recorder to the TV when this video came on, trying to record every word so I could memorize it. Watching it now, Snoop Dogg looks about as young as I was at the time. But he doesn’t rap like a kid. He raps like a lyrical mastermind who is determined to make you feel the west coast, not just hear it.
“The Light” by Common (from the 2000 album Like Water For Chocolate)
Best line: I know your heart is weathered by what studs did to you/ I ain’t gon’ assault ‘em ‘cause I probably did it too/ Because of you, feelings I handle with care/ Some n_____ recognize the light but they can’t handle the glare
Why I love it: Like Water For Chocolate was the first CD I remember buying in college. In a time of Cash Money Records and rap songs that felt more saturated in braggadocio and thunderous bass lines than lyrical depth, “The Light” rose from the noise and gave us a genuine hip-hop love song.
“1st of Tha Month” by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (from the 1995 album E. 1999 Eternal)
Best line: Runnin' through the alley and into the mêlée/ Up on the second the sundown/ Those run from January, November, December/ I'm lovin' the first of the month
Why I love it: On the surface, a song about welfare checks, food stamps, and the endless effort to avoid the police while selling drugs shouldn’t be so joyful. But as soon as you press play on track 12 of Bone’s 1999 Eternal album, you smile. Because a man is peacefully asleep, snoring, then hears the alarm ring, and groans, and then the chorus hits: Wake up, wake up, wake up, it’s the first of the month. And I can’t explain all the reasons why sonically, this song is just so gorgeous, but it is. The rapping is insanely fast, the music is peak 90s, and the drums hit perfectly.
My first Bone Thugs experience was in middle school. A girl had this cassette in her Walkman and handed me her headphones so I could hear it. I looked at the artwork from the case as I listened and wondered why this cute, freckle-faced girl was listening to this evil rap music. But I had to admit it sounded amazing.
A few years later, before I got my license, a good friend drove me to school each day during my sophomore year. He’d pick me up in his massive truck, and every morning he was blaring this album from his speakers.
Most mornings, we didn’t even talk as he drove. We just listened. Speakers at peak volume so we couldn’t hear each other trying to rap along. We weren’t thugs. And we had no harmony. But we knew hip-hop is beautiful.