“people scoutin a torched-out building / they got killed when the cold air filled in / is hell really suggested? / one more person’s arrested, a child molested”
Kool G Rap by most accounts invented mafioso rap, but his second crime-oriented song is a departure from the demented giddiness of Road to the Riches and opts for a more reflective, sympathetic approach. Rarely have I heard a track where the beat matches the lyrics so well. Together they remind me of a grimy, writhing version of one of those medieval frescoes representing village life.
Mind Playing Tricks on Me (Geto Boys, 1991)
“the more I swung the more blood flew / then he disappeared and my boys disappeared too / then I felt just like a fiend / it wasn’t even close to Halloween”
A classic of course, but it still holds up because there’s still nothing quite like it. It’s also kind of a sad look at what the Geto Boys could’ve been, though I know I may be in the minority there.
Murder Was the Case (Snoop Doggy Dogg ft. Dat Nigga Daz, 1993)
“as I look up at the sky / my mind starts trippin, a tear drops my eye / my body temperature falls / I’m shakin and they brakin, tryna save the Dogg”
Hip-hop’s nuttiest spiritual, with Snoop’s most personal and visceral lyrics and Dre’s most terrifying production. It’s kind of a shame neither of them covered this sort of territory again. I still don’t know how Snoop got out of that twentyfive to life.
Killah Hills 10304 (GZA, 1995)
“the sharp-shooters hit the prosecutors / judges are sent photographs of they wives takin baths / along with briefcase filled with one point five / that’s the bribe, take it or commit suicide”
I decided to make a noir-themed album after watching Raw Deal and listening to Liquid Swords the next day. I’d heard it before but this time something about it really clicked with me and kind of blew me away. Nobody makes every word count like the Genius, and Gold, Cold World, or Investigative Reports could easily have been here instead of Killah Hills, but ultimately every line of this is so fantastic and oozing noir that I went with it. Those quoted above aren’t the best, but they make a nice four-bar set; it’s worth trawling this one yourself.
Rainy Dayz (Raekwon ft. Blue Raspberry and Ghostface Killah, 1995)
“coke rocks flood the co-ops, livin gossip / them big-lipped niggas singin the cops needa box it / stop it, the projects overflooded with slow leaks / the fiends get, new faces get wrapped in sheets”
Again I’ve got a lot of options from Cuban Linx, but how am I not gonna choose the one called Rainy Dayz? If not the best track, it’s certainly the bleakest, and would warrant inclusion for RZA and Blue Raspberry’s contributions alone. Also, blowing spots like horse shit.
Trife Life (Mobb Deep, 1995)
“we finally got to Myrtle outside the train station / I saw not a soul told my peoples to be patient / but hold up, that’s when a black caravan rolled up / my legs then froze up, I grabbed my pound”
For the most part I don’t find Mobb Deep particularly stimulating from a lyrical standpoint, but I like songs with multiple parts and Prodigy’s more plot-oriented verse I find especially interesting. It captures the ambiguity and paranoia that I’d have to imagine really does accompany the trife life but rarely finds its way into rap. I don’t know if P was the first to withhold catharsis from the listener like this but I’ve rarely heard it pulled off better.
D’evils (Jay-Z, 1996)
“my flesh no nigga could test / my soul is possessed by d’evils in the form of diamonds / and Lexuses the exorcist got me doin sticks / like homie, you don’t know me, but the whole world owe me, strip”
Reasonable Doubt’s mafioso reputation confounds me, but D’evils and Dead Presidents II at least fit the bill. Dead Presidents is also great, but D’evils is a premier (no pun intended) showcase for how smart Jay-Z really is. It’s his creepiest song by a ways too, although somehow it feels much less dark in the context of the album.
I Gave You Power (Nas, 1996)
“how you like me now? I go blao / it’s that shit that moves crowds makin every ghetto foul / I might’ve took your first child, scarred your life, crippled your style / I gave you power, I made you buck wild”
Nas is one of my biggest inspirations in terms of pushing me to try new ideas and express old ideas in new ways. This is one of the most thoughtful songs ever written about crime in the black community. The last verse especially is crazy good.
Motherless Child (Ghostface Killah ft. Raekwon, 1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Jnv5Z9z3o
“young blood, guzzling 40s, hustled in the rain / old earth shootin dope in her veins / he never had it all, the kid loved basketball / had a favorite song, I Miss You, written by Aaron Hall”
I don’t know if people miss it or just fail to articulate it, but I’ve never read a review that does justice to or even acknowledges the subversive brilliance of Ironman. Motherless Child’s a narrative replete with bizarre details and shifts in grammatical person wherein Ghost spends half the song building sympathy for the titular character before bragging about a shootout where he puts ten bullets in him for pulling out his gun at the movies. It’s like the most weirdly depressing song ever.
Burning Season (Killarmy, 1997)
“I didn’t mean to, why he had to run in the way? / they shoulda taught him how to duck when he heard a fucking gun spray / I say a prayer for the kid keep steppin / with my weapon cocked, wettin up the block, every section hot”
I know I just heard it, but it’s really good. Of course Killa Sin’s solo cut’s gonna be one of the highlights of the album, but it’s also the most noirish by far.
Niggas Bleed (The Notorious BIG, 1997)
“room 112, right by the staircase, perfect place / when they evacuate they meet they fate / Ron pass the gasoline, the nigga pass me kerosine / fuck it, it’s flameable, my hunger is unexplainable”
Biggie is one evil motherfucker. More rap needs to be set in hotels. Actually, more everything needs to be set in hotels. Arizona Ron, that’s my kind of backstory (anyone reminded of Trevor from GTA V?) Might be gone but the legacy is B-I-G, right?
Things We Be Doin’ for Money Part II (Busta Rhymes ft. Rampage, 1997)
“niggas standin right behind me think I’m caught up on a creep / I think I needa pray the Lord my soul to keep / this nigga bout to fly my head, crew burst into a rage / Spliff lifted this nigga, puttin two inside his ribcage”
I was pretty disappointed by When Disaster Strikes on the whole, but Things We Be Doin’ for Money is awesome. Part I sets up the scenario, this sees it played out to its nightmarish culmination. It’s also got a skit which is atypically actually an essential part of the song, and though I’m not sure what the implications are meant to be, I love the divergence between Rampage’s response to Busta’s call in the dream and in waking life.
You Ain’t a Killer (Big Pun, 1998)
“my team’s the meanest thing you ever seen / measured by the heavens’ kings down to the devil’s mezanine / I’ve never screamed so loud I’m proud to be alive / most heads die by twentyfive or catch a quick three to five”
As might be expected it’s all in the flow but the consistent religious undertones and Dre’s beat don’t hurt.
Run (Cappadonna, 1998)
“weed in your piss and parole gots to have it / slide like a rabbit, move quick / this is it, hang, jump from the fire escape / I made it, drop the clip, fingerprints all on it”
I couldn’t stop listening to this the first time I heard it, it’s like a noir scratched into celluloid emulsion with a paperclip. Donna’s disorienting rhyme schemes and impressionistic style never worked so perfectly elsewhere.
Bang Bang (Dr. Dre ft. Knoc-Turn’al and Hittman, 1999)
“Swiss cheese, I’ve learned to stay away from house parties / seen too many go in end up absent without leave / ain’t no warm welcomings, my eyes have witnessed and beamed in on / nights that don’t sleep and fireworks until dawn”
Probably deserves a spot for the hook alone, but those are three great verses with three distinctive styles (I’m guessing Eminem wrote Dre’s). It’s so LA too.
Undying Love (Nas, 1999)
“mad shots couldn’t tell what was goin on / sat on the floor near my dead girl, put her in my arms / pulled the ring out my pocket I was savin / put it on her ring finger, cocked the glock and started prayin”
Unsettling as hell and super visceral. More proof of Nas’ endless striving to expand his oeuvre creatively. When I heard this I hadn’t felt so much that I was there with him since NY State of Mind or One Love. This one actually has a femme fatale too, even if her only role is cheating on Nas.
“but still they ain’t call you Dice for nothin / I seen you shoot with the williest cats and leave them with nothin / somethin must’ve pleased that bluffer in you / to make you wanna take dough from those tougher than you”
Undoubtedly one of the most heartbreaking songs I’ve heard. After a short verse dedicated to one of his friends locked up Hassan moves onto the main narrative, which despite the foreshadowing plays out in such a minor way that it feels all the more tragic.
“I’m like, my shorty got stabbed / over a piece of shit chain I had nabbed from a crab / wouldn’t give it up so I put one in his ab / grabbed the bloody chain and took a cab to the lab”
It’s a cool idea for a song but could easily have just been a gimmick; props to these guys for pulling it off so well. I love the cold sense of fatality. I wish Doom did more story raps, the few I’ve heard have been highlights of their respective albums.
“you’s a crazy motherfucker, small-hoodie dude / hilarious move, you on some Curly Moe Larry shit / straight pary shit, Krispy Kreme, cocaine / dead bodies, jail time, you gon carry it”
Maybe my favorite narrative rap ever, and you hardly even know it’s a story at first glance; it just sounds like a collection of crazy anecdotes. No one invites you to wallow in the sheer ridiculousness of the hustling life like Big Ghost, and when shit goes down in the last minute it’s nothing short of magnificent. In terms of individual songs, this is definitely the biggest influence on Dark Passage.
“it was me, L Boogie ganging while G Lucky ride down Rosecrans / it got ugly wavin yo hand out the window check yoself / unh, warriors and Conans hope euphoria can slowdance / with society the driver’s seat the first one to get killed”
To me good kid, m.A.A.d city’s biggest asset is its more or less unrivaled sense of time and place, and this track is as good an example of that as any. Not to mention its impeccable sense of slowly losing one’s mind.
