I have no idea how or why rap got the reputation as party music. To call it that is to undermine how and why it began. It began in an attempt to tell the stories from the other side of the tracks. The stories the mainstream pop artists were not telling. The ever-changing tales of an oft misunderstood and misrepresented culture. But above all, much like folk music, it really was, at its heart, storytelling.
And though, over time, record labels and industry heads were bending and changing what rap and hip hop was, to make it marketable to as wide and audience as they could, there were some artists that still chose to stay artists. They chose to tell the stories that most of mainstream was too scared to hear. These aren’t candy-colored-Disney stories with happy endings. These are incredibly nihilistic songs that stink of hopelessness and despair, but seem to ring from places of genuine honesty and unflinching truth.
For some, rap gave us insight into a world we knew too little about.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like bleak things from time to time, but on other occasions, hopelessness can be too messed up even for me. The following are five rap songs, from five very varying artists, that knocked the wind out of me the first time I heard them. And have continued to, everytime I have heard them since. A quick heads up, though. Much like the title of this piece implies, there are some pretty heavy lyrics and content here, so approach with caution.
Cage: The Subtle Art Of The Breakup
Well, that is a messed up listening experience.
I love Cage. I think he is sick and twisted, and writes songs like most authors write horror stories. I know when it comes to a Cage song, picking an emotionally devastating song is pretty easy, seeing as to how most of his stuff is pretty dark. But for me, this is the first song I had heard from him that genuinely garnered a WTF reaction from me. And without saying too much for those who haven’t listened to it yet, the fact that he places everything that happens in this song on his fictional girlfriend’s birthday takes it further than most are comfortable going.
That title of the song also helps leave an even more unsettled feeling in you after listening to the song all the way through.
Cage is one genuinely twisted (and talented) dude.
Now I know some people hear Cage and think Eminem, but those people are generally stupid and don’t know shit about music. Even Eminem admits, in a lyric on his first mainstream album (but second album, overall) that: ” bought Cage’s tape and dubbed over it.”Implying even HE knows he steals from Cage, though some site it as the other way around. I like both artists, and appreciate their sick and twisted ideologies. As similar as they may appear sometimes.
Nas: Undying Love
It is that last line by the cop who discovers them that really makes you sick.
There have been many “ found out my lady is cheating so I am going to kill her and the guy” songs in music, and especially in rap. But there is just something about how quickly this all goes South, matched with the nasally, sick flow of Nas himself, that just makes this track feel so real. Nas is a master storyteller and one of the best in the business, so it makes perfect sense that he would be on this list, somewhere.
Wow, the blunt matches his hat and coat. Impressive!
He has a flow and candor that just makes his verses feel more authentic than most other MC’s. And when you mix that candor with the power of a story as dark and gripping as the one he weaves in Undying Love, you realize just how deep you can pull you in by the time the song ends. And as nihilistic as this song gets, it is still upbeat compared to….
Immortal Technique: Dance With The Devil
Make sure there are no children around when you listen to this track. It is THAT screwed up.
Much like Cage, I think Immortal Technique is one of the most under-appreciated MC’s of all time. His songs touch on subjects most rappers would not dare, and this song, Dance With The Devil is no exception to that. If anything, he takes it further than you have ever heard in a song. It is probably one of the darkest songs I have ever heard, the more I think about it. But you cannot condemn it. Because it is a morality tale. Yeah, it gets graphic. And Immortal Technique throws himself in as the story teller at the end, making it even more brutal, but, this is the business, or so he claims.
You are looking at one of the most underground yet well respected MC’s in the world right now.
And regarding the Satanist stuff he talks about in the industry in this song, he is by no means the only one who “goes there”. Satan and celebrity have supposedly gone hand in hand since the dawn of time. Immortal Technique talks about it.
David Chappelle has talked about it.
As do a good deal of other celebrities.
But all that out of the way, no one can deny that this song is a devastating glimpse into a life you would have never thought of otherwise.
Eminem: Kim
If the end of this song does not give you chills and f*ck you up a little, you are dead inside.
Everyone knows that most of the stuff that Eminem does and did as the Slim Shady alter ego was a bit crazy and, in many ways, the rap version of Marilyn Manson in the sense that was often being shocking just to be shocking, but for some reason, that just did not seem like the case with the song Kim off his second major label album (but third, overall) The Marshall Mathers LP.
When you look at this pic in HD 3D, he pokes you in the eye.
There is just so much palpable hate and rage in this song, that when it finally culminates, it is almost unbearable. More than a listener, you feel like a witness to something you did not want to see, yet you couldn’t look away. Dr. Dre, who was in the studio when Eminem recorded this track said it was one of the most intense things he had ever seen and it gave him chills.
For a guy who seemed to go so out of his way to be shocking up to that point to record a track that genuinely WAS shocking at this point in his career still was a pretty ballsy maneuver. But it is not a song I can listen to very often, like every other song on the list.
Jedi Mind Tricks: Razorblade Salvation
You know things are gonna get rough when even the name of the song is depressing.
Jedi Mind Tricks are ANOTHER band that I love that I think not enough of you know about. though you may know various members under other incarnations, but when they are together, there is just something real about them. There is just as honesty to their music that you just do not find anymore. This song is rapped as if it were a letter being read from the son to his Mother, and at times, it will have you breathless.
Plus the get extra points for having one of the best band names ever conceived.
Even the best of us can relate to sometimes feel poisonous, but to hear it all said so effortlessly, and to hear the change from the start of the song to the end of it is just a truly depressing journey that leaves that alludes to something far more dark and sinister than what most people are even comfortable thinking about.
Anyway, that article got really heavy, and I am proud of you for making it through. Here is a picture of a unicorn to cheer you up.
This might be the greatest way anyone has ever ended an article. Ever.
The post The 5 Most Emotionally Devastating Rap Songs appeared first on Remy Carreiro.