Top 10 Hip Hop Love Songs
Defining hip hop as a genre usually brings words to mind like aggression, competition, violence, hate, and masculinity. Thus, in the world of ‘Money, Cash, Hoes‘, love is a lightly tread topic. Going ‘too soft’ can damage your image and put your career in jeopardy (hell, there’s already enough crappy R & B out there), while not going deep enough can come off as corny and boring.
The truth is, however, that love is a serious and honest topic, and when done well can produce great music. Everyone can relate to it, and the complexity of emotions and intriguing plots derived from it are a perfect platform for 16 bars. Especially in such a dog-eat-dog genre, tracks about love can be refreshingly different and exhibit an artist’s range of talent.
- Don’t worry, it loves you too.
Here are ten hip hop songs that capture the theme of love best, whether deeply in it, chasing it, or losing it, without getting too mushy:
(click the song title to listen)
10.) You Never Know – Immortal Technique Feat. Jean Grae
Combining lyrical genius, controversial content, and a gift for storytelling, Immortal Technique is undeniably one of hip hop’s most talented emcees. Here’s some measure; the Peruvian-born rapper who grew up in Harlem and attended Penn State for a year has never been signed, yet nearly every fan of hip hop knows at least some of his work. While many of his tracks may seem unapproachable by the average, non-radical listener, Tech has a wealth of less political, more chilled-out music that still packs his trademark intelligence and cleverness. ‘You Never Know‘ is perhaps the best example of this; a detailed depiction of Tech’s love affair with the most desirable girl in his neighborhood who tragically gets HIV from a blood transfusion and dies before the two can consummate. Yeah, its not an easy listen, but true or not, spitting a dark, realistic tale is what Immortal Technique does best. Featured on the excellent Revolutionary Vol. 2, the grainy sound and less-than-perfect flow enhance the personal and emotional story which, similar to ‘Dance with the Devil‘, takes 7-minutes for Tech to intricately depict step-by-step.
Love Line -
Hold the person that you love closely if they’re next to you,
The one you love, not the person that simply has sex with you
9.) Another Day – Living LegendsFeat. Marty James
The atypical, schizophrenic work of Los Angeles-based hip hop collective Living Legends has produced some of the best underground tracks of the past decade, ranging from lunched-out mixtape-esque gems to serious, thoughtful tracks to club bangers, and everything in between. Underground may be somewhat of a misnomer for the 8-man group, as most of their music is constructed with a pop influence and a West Coast attitude that defies the typically dark, complex sub-genre. Take ‘Another Day’, a love track with a feel good beat and an excellent chorus sung by Marty James that would seemingly be disliked by no one yet somehow is largely unheard of. The lyrics are provided by original member LuckyIAM, and center on a confession of love to a girlfriend that hints at the emotional roller coaster relationships inevitably take us on. It is impossible to listen to this song and not immediately get in a great mood, and its classic tracks like this that make me, and a ton of other hip hop heads, wish the double L’s released new music more than just sporadically.
Love Line -
Baby, it’s a blur and a whirlwind, more than a girlfriend,
Girl, this is urgent, forever I was searching, but you was just perfect
8.) I’ll Be There For You - Method Man Feat. Mary J. Blige
The hugely successful collaboration between Wu Tang’s biggest star and R & B’s most talented signer, it won a Grammy for best rap performance by a duo in 1996 and is the only male/female rap duet to go platinum, almost didn’t happen. Supposedly, Meth didn’t want a sappy love song on his debut album Tical which also contains songs about torture and weed smoking, but was finally convinced to do the RZA produced remix based on Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s 1968 hit by the same name. The result is a beautifully juxtaposition of Mary J. Blige’s smooth vocals over the slow, bouncy beat with Method Man’s sandpaper-rough flow. Add in the Notorious B.I.G. ‘Me & My Bitch’ sample (which, unfortunately, didn’t make this list in its own right), and you have a truly classic love track that doesn’t at all diminish Meth’s hip hop cred. To be honest, I just recently peeped this song for the first time randomly on Pandora and was immediately hooked, not knowing its Grammy status or wide acceptance as the best hip hop love duo of all time.
Love Line -
Back when I was nothin, You made a brother feel like he was somethin
That’s why I’m with you to this day boo no frontin
The politically charged group Dead Prez, much like Immortal Technique, too often gets blindly associated with their activist motifs instead of their pure talent and great non “F*** the Law” tracks. In fact, their debut album Let’s Get Free, which features ‘Mind Sex‘, is a determined, intricate piece of work that easily lands in my top 5 hip hop albums of all time. The intimate, soothing ‘Mind Sex’ is evidence of the duo’s brilliance, featuring on-point lyrics detailing their desire to get to know a woman before boning them. From two radical lyricists whose delivery is often described as “confrontational”, isn’t that just sweet? Perhaps the best part of the song is a diatribe by poet Abiodun Oyewole about the longing for a woman he compares to a “beautiful black rose”. Ok, so maybe ‘Mind Sex’ is a little bit of an awkward listen for the average white listener, but great music is great music and this love song can be related to by anyone.
Love Line -
See I ain’t got to get in your blouse
It’s your eye contact, that be getting me aroused
The most beautiful sounding, and unknown, song on this list comes from the pride of Maryland (my home state), Kev Brown. ‘Albany‘ is Brown’s most known song, which isn’t really saying much since this dude doesn’t even have a Wikipedia Page, features a melodic, simply guitar sample that serves as a perfect backdrop for the melancholy lyrical content. Brown laments about a brief, past relationship that he wish didn’t end with impressive honesty and poetic delivery. Though the song has a sad theme, it’s so well composed that it is an enjoyable listen every time. Without any other notable tracks, it is hard to tell if ‘Albany’ is a glimpse of genius in an otherwise average career, or Brown has some tricks up his sleeve we have yet to hear.
Love Line -
We never hung out that much but still, when we did hang out the whole vibe was chill
I miss your goodnight kisses for real, I miss your goodnight kisses for real…
5.) The Number One – Atmosphere
I apologize for the corny (yet hilarious) image of Slug of Atmosphere in his school days, but its fitting for the content of ‘The Number One‘, a song about the inhibitions and discovery of youthful love. ‘The Number One’ is surprisingly a positive love song from Slug, who’s lyrical content largely deals with relationship problems and womanizing. “Positive” is a relative term for the Minneapolis-based Atmosphere, and they use the warmth of young summer love to complain about adult relationships and being “blindsided by these grown-up women”. As expected from the excellent emcee, Slug lets you into his world with personal and emotionally-charged lyrics about the awkwardness and exploration of his numerous flings during his teenage years. Ant supplements an equally positive and upbeat production to help create one of Atmosphere’s best tracks, and one of the best hip hop love songs ever.
Love Line -
And all we ever did was kiss, no sex
But in our defense, there was never any stress
4.) Never Been In Love – Talib Kweli
You know those songs that you just can’t stop listening to, even though you wouldn’t show your friends because you think they’re kind of corny and airy? ‘Never Been In Love’ was that song for me, until after hundreds of times listening to it I finally realized the true brilliance of Talib Kweli and Just Blaze on this collab hit. While the track leans closer to the radio than a backpacker’s iPod, Talib delivers exceptional lyrics that won’t get out of your head like: “I met her at the bar, rolling with three wise men like I followed the star” and Just Blaze lays down a up-beat 60′s Motown sample that eventually breaks down into a gospel clap that altogether works so naturally its infectious. ‘Never Been In Love’ appears on Talib’s crown achievement, The Beautiful Struggle (2004), that helped launch him into his ironic status in hip hop as the underrated yet universally respected rapper. The song helped launch an already soaring Just Blaze, whom I have said before has become the game’s top producer since this love classic dropped 7 years ago.
Love Line -
I tell them dude you I don’t care who she speaking with
‘Cause I already know she made it clear who she’s leaving with
3.) Everything Changes – Aceyalone
‘Everything Changes’ by Los Angeles rhymer Aceyalone chronicles the struggles of love possibly better than any other song on this list, spanning his past relationship with a woman from first meeting to bitter breakup. A haunting piano loop accompanies a woman’s whispers “remember how in love we were, once?” introducing the song with a sad, nostalgic theme for Aceyalone to pay vigil to what seems like a very serious relationship. Acey’s retrospective and painful honesty is the glue of this track, and he quips “stay on the rise, leave love left where love dies” and “next lifetime, ain’t what they say?” to hint at a larger question ‘is it better to love and lost than never loved at all?’. His answer is ultimately the former, as he states “I’ve got love for you, always” and the challengingly true “if I had a chance to do it all over, I’d do it exactly the same“. Acey’s rap ability doesn’t get lost in his large-scale approach and deep content, while the dark, intimate beat drives his point home in this little-known classic by a little-known hip hop star.
Common and hip hop love songs go together like Kanye West and douchebaginess (I finally hated on Ye, happy now??), his most famous being his classic ode to hip hop, ‘I Used to Love H.E.R.‘, among a plethora of others. The Chicago emcee has basically formed his two-decade career around positivity and love, but no track is more purely focused on that subject matter than Grammy-nominated and J Dilla produced ‘The Light‘ off his acclaimed album Like Water for Chocolate. Framed as a love letter, Common, who perpetually is placed on ‘top 10′ and ‘top 5′ lyricists lists, spits to the fullest of the art about the subject of his infatuation, supposedly then-girlfriend Erykah Badhu. Unlike many of the songs on this list, this song begins, plays, and ends on a happy note, proving that Common’s positivity earns him honors as one of the only rappers who can turn content meant for an R & B slow jam into a great hip hop song. J Dilla deserves significant credit as well, as his notoriously warm and soulful productions are the ideal canvas for a hip hop love song. Like Water for Chocolate represents Common’s peak as an artist, and it helped, along with The Roots, Things Fall Apart, open the gates for conscious rap on a mainstream level (Talib Kweli says “thank you”), largely because of universally adored classics like ‘The Light’.
Love Line -
I never call you my ‘bitch’ or even my ‘boo’,
there’s so much in a name and so much more in you
1.) Passing Me By – The Pharcyde
Not only one of the top love songs, but one of the best hip hop songs ever, ‘Passing Me By’ is a flawlessly cohesive song, impressive since it was one of the first tracks laid by the four motley members of the aptly named group The Pharcyde, with a totally unique approach that would blaze the way for countless future artists. Based in South Central Los Angeles, The Pharcyde actually started out as a group of dancers, and the creativity and playfulness rehearsed on stage bleeds into their music to output catchy and outside-of-the-box tracks that capture a given theme with a focus and intelligence not common in hip hop. Like a great dance routine, ‘Passing Me By’ is vivid in its imagery and wordplay, yet strictly obeys a template for content and delivery that leaves not a dull second in the song. Trying to capture both is incredibly difficult and thus rarely attempted in hip hop (think about it, we’ve come to a point where a song is either “catchy” or “smart”, why not both?) but The Pharcyde tried and succeeded in ‘Passing Me By’, and arguably their entire classic debut album Bizarre Ride II: The Pharcyde (1992) through due diligence and a novel approach. ‘Passing Me By’ has received its well-deserved kudos in the form of a #1 Billboard position for Rap/R & B hits, helping Bizzare Ride II become certified gold, and being adored by critics, artists, and even us common-folk. The music video is quite impressive too (the linked song title directs to it) , as should be expected from a dancers turned trailblazers in West Coast hip hop.
Love Line (actually Fatlip‘s entire verse)-
Now there she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian
And now the world around me be gets moving in slow motion
When-ever she happens to walk by, why does the apple of my eye
Overlook and disregard my feelings no matter how much I try?
Wait, no, I did not really pursue my little princess with persistance,
And I was so low-key that she was unaware of my existence
From a distance I desired her, secretly admired her,
Wired her a letter to get her, and it went,
My dear, my dear, my dear, you do not know me but I know you very well
Now let me tell you about the feelings I have for you
When I try, or make some sort of attempt, I symp
Damn I wish I wasn’t such a wimp!
Cause then I would let you know that I love you so
And if I was your man then I would be true
The only lying I would do is in the bed with you
Then I signed sincerely the one who loves you dearly, PS love me tender
The letter came back three days later, return to sender
Damn!
Honorable Mentions:
A bonetastic slow song guaranteed to put you in the mood.
Beautiful Girl – Cunninlynguists
The Kentucky-based trio rap about the perfect girl they desire whose name is more than coincidentally Mary Jane. Hmmm..
The Fugees – Killing Me Softly
You can’t have this list without the classic Lauryn Hill-rapped track that samples another iconic hip hop love song ‘Bonita Applebum‘ by A Tribe Called Quest.
More than any track on this entire list, this J Dilla produced track just sounds like love; its warm and fuzzy with a perfect dash of corniness from the second-best-hip-hop-thing to come from Detroit. (and if you don’t know #1, shame on you haha)
The Roots – You Got Me Feat. Erykah Badhu & Eve
The Grammy-winning track featured on the iconic album Things Fall Apart may be a little slow but Black Thought and Eve’s poignant lyrics are definitely worth a listen.
Consider Yourself Peeped!
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Jus sayin
LL Cool J – Luv You Better!!!