Hip hop can explore a range of subjects and was invented as a way for young African-Americans to express themselves. Whether it’s anger or love. Whether it’s about peace or war, the art form of rap (an extension of poetry) is a way for people to communicate their emotions.
Although the music industry, in an insidious way, seems to push the most negative and self-destructive music to the forefront, there are plenty of hip hop songs that explore more positive topics, one of those being love. Love has always been focused on in music, whether it’s pop, rock or country music, hip hop too, has its fair share of songs dedicated to love.
Love can be the best and worst thing in the world. It can be great when you find it and when you are in it (in love). However, when you can’t find it or fall out of love, it can be the most devastating thing. Plenty of artists talk about love. However, the murder music is what the labels want, and if you want to listen to quality hip hop music that preaches about love, you will most likely have to go digging for it because, unless it’s Drake, you won’t find it in a curated playlist.
Plenty of people have raised concerns, asked questions and spoken out on the odd nature of the music industry with regard to its choice to provide the most funding and exposure to the artists that make the most negative music. However, as many people have identified, what most see as abnormal (murder, drug consumption and excessive promiscuity) has now been normalised.
Hearing a hip hop song about love from a fully-black, dark skin artist is extremely rare. The status quo has become drugs and sex, so on the rare occasion you hear hip hop songs about love, it is fantastic. Below we have compiled the 25 quintessential hip hop tracks about love take a listen and enjoy.
Essential Mixtape: 25 hip hop tracks about Love
- ‘Love Is…’ – Common
- ‘Love Language’ – Talib Kweli ft Les Nubians
- ‘Black Love’ – Papoose
- ’03 Bonnie & Clyde’ – Jay-Z ft Beyoncé
- ‘One’ – Busta Rhymes ft Erykah Badu
- ‘Miss Mary’ – Slim Thug
- ‘Love Lockdown’ – Kanye West
- ‘Wifey’ – Tinie Tempah
- ‘Baby’ – Fabulous ft Mike Shorey
- ‘Luv Drunk’ – Snoop Dogg ft The-Dream
- ‘Baby By Me’ – 50 Cent ft Ne-Yo
- ‘Faithful’ – Common
- ‘I Know What You Want’ – Busta Rhymes ft Mariah Carey
- ‘Best I Ever Had’ – Drake
- ‘Feelings (Wifey)’ – Crazy Cousinz ft M.O. & Yungen
- ‘In My Feelings’ – Drake
- ‘Kiss Me Thru The Phone’ – Soulja Boy ft Sammie
- ‘What’s Luv?’ – Fat Joe ft Ja-Rule & Ashanti
- ‘Wanna Be Loved’ – Joey Bada$$ ft J.I.D
- ‘Love The Way You Lie’ – Eminem ft Rihanna
- ‘Love…(Her Fault)’ – Wale ft Bryson Tiller
- ‘Luv U Better’ – LL Cool J
- ‘Never Been In Love’ – Talib Kweli
- ‘Do For Love’ – 2Pac
- ‘Unconditional Love’ – 2Pac