Emo Rap? Dont Let Money Change Ya

Hipster and emo rap have always generated a significant amount of backlash from hip hop purists. Just as Common and Talib Kweli don't like being pigeonholed by the term conscious rappers, up-and-comers like Kidz in the Hall and Tanya Morgan don't embrace the label of hipster rap. As far as emo rap, the first groups that come to mind are Atmosphere and Gym Class Heroes, but in actuality, emo rap is a meaningless classification (and Gym Class Heroes aren't even a rap group) - rap, from gangster to hipster, has always been filled with emotional lyrics ranging from self-deprecating (I wish I was a baller) to clumsiness around woman (If I was I would call her).

Rappers, like the rest of us hopeless suckers, have women trouble. Now, theirs generally tends to be because of two pitfalls: the fast life and the money. In the NFL (not for long) city to city life, it is too easy for a rapper to smash in different area codes. In terms of money, shiiiit, whether or not it changes you or just makes you who you really are, suddenly things ain’t what they were.

So for the first installment of Emo Rap: Emotional Subjects in Hip Hop, here are a couple tracks highlighting the issue of money, cause as my man Styles says,

money you the root of evil,
how they print "In God We Trust" knowing what you do to people?

Ex Girl to Next Girl - Gang Starr
What separates this song from all other player anthems of moving from one girl to the next is that Guru acknowledges how the troubles of relationships keep him moving on rather than simply lust for the 'nani. Where money comes in? There is the classic girl being after rapper’s loot -

It made me mad to find that she was only after my ends

- to the rare, rapper liking her loot –

She tried to buy me
Even tempt me with the hiney
I fell for a sec cuz the clothes were real fly
I could almost feel i
Would give into her whims
Her thoughts were erratic, sporadic, crazy in nature
I told her hey look I can no longer date ya



Punish Me - Big Pun
Big Pun ain't a player, he just crushes a lot, and in this track he reveals that even he gets crushed every once in awhile. He started out feeling like the luckiest man on earth but then money got in the way. Pun breaks it all down in two lines:

1) Behavin like a money hungry hooker, funny how the money took her
from a average honey to a stunning looker

-and what I personally have always wanted to be able to say to a girl-

2) Girl don't even start again, I beg your pardon
and get your hands off my six button Cardigan

(that and ‘call me so I can get it juicey for ya’…imagine being baller enough to say that and have it work… lollipop best song all time? or just our generation?)

Ms. Fat Booty – Mos Def
Like Pun, Mos tells of a money chasing dime but this time it is the rapper who is begging for her to come back instead of vice versa.

Three months, she call ‘I feel I'm runnin a fever'
Six months, I'm tellin’ her I desperately need her
Nine months, flu-like symptoms when shorty not around
I need more than to knock it down I'm really tryin to lock it down
Midnight we hook up and go at it
Burn is over, let her know, sweetheart I got to have it
She tellin’ me commitment is somethin’ she can't manage
Wake up the next morning, she gone like it was magic

See, even rappers get played.

Tooken Back - Ghostface Killah
When it comes to emotional rappers Ghost just may be the Don. On the theme of wanting to be taken back this song offers three universal and ageless perspectives:

1) guy explains to his psycho girl why she is now his ex

Take you back?
That could never happen, I'm sorry
No disrespect, but you a psycho honey
Got that S.S.I. MONEY and you start actin' funny

2) girl tryin to hold on to her man

Who loves you baby? Nobody like Jacki-O
Cook, clean, break up your weed, and I give you nasty throat
What you actin' for? Get back in the door
Come on, home, where you belong, let's get it on

3) guy loses his girl and begs for her to come back

'Member the first time you made my key
You was drunk, you went behind a tree and pee'd
I miss shit like that
Uh-huh... fuck that, take me back, pretty please, with you on top

The point? We all want to be tooken back at one point or another. I mean, if she cook, clean, break up your weed and gives nasty throat you are going to want that back.

On the side: Possibly best Ghostface line ever -
And when you told me your Merlo need more grapes
I said "Honey, you never had wine before!"


So there you have it, the first installment of emo rap, a meaningless classification.