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Ill Sung Choruses · by Sach O
I’m so soulful, don’t you agree?
I’m not going to lie to you: 99% of the singing on rap records today is either cheesy as hell or just plain unlistenable. There was a time when producers brought in guest vocalists with nothing but the best intentions, but those days are long gone and the marketing of “urban” music has cheapened singing and stunted rapping in ways we’re still reeling from today (Akon anyone?). In light of this, finding rap records with sung choruses that enhance the existing emotion rather than subvert it through auto-tune is a challenge in itself. Among that already small pool however, a few are worth noting as excellent examples of the good things that can happen when singer meets rapper.
5. The Fugees – Fu-gee-la
It’s all the media’s fault. The Fugees’ weird dancehall inspired Hip-hop should have been too off kilter for the mainstream. They should have been categorized with Busta Rhymes and Method Man and them. Instead, they blew the fuck up and songs like these are imbedded into the head of anyone with a passing knowledge of Top 40 circa 1996-1997. Thing is, separated from its chart status, negative influence and the fact that Lauryn went batshit insane about 4 years later, the song’s a perfect example of everything that WORKED for the crew. The carnivalesque organ loop clashes with the cavernous drums, Clef and Pras sound like they’re about to invoke a hex on the listener and Ms Hill’s femme fatal hook underlies the song’s combination of menace and sensuality. You can’t make songs like this anymore, which is probably why no one gave a flying fuck about the Fugees comeback.
4. Method Man ft Mary J Blige – You’re all I need (Bad Boy Mix)
Of the thousands of rap love-songs with R&B hooks, this is probably the best one. Based on an opening slice of the Motown classic Ain’t no Mountain High Enough, Puff ingeniously flips the sunny anthem into a cold, drum based Wu-Banger that perfectly balances roughneck appeal and emotional honesty. Anchored by a persistent Biggie sample asking that he and his lover motherfuckin die together, the track subverts the R&B chorus’ usual front-and-center role, instead using Mary J Blige’s vocals as an instrument within the track, intertwining with “Puffy’s” breezy synths. The result is one of the most threatening declarations of love on record, only heightened by Meth’s vocal tone which manages to turn unconditional love into a veiled threat. He says it himself: he’s above all that romance crap to show you love. Never has a cynical sneer been so tender.
3. Outkast – Babylon
Before they went all P-Funk and Earth Wind and Fire on us, Outkast was flipping monastic chants into militant rap jams about the future conflicts of man. Heavy stuff that shouldn’t have worked with an R&B chorus, but their anonymous hook man plays it straight, pouring his emotion into the track as if he was getting shipped off to fight in the apocalypse tomorrow. Interestingly enough however, while Singer X may be treating the song as epic, Dre and Big Boi are dealing with far more mundane problems like disloyal skeezers and emotional isolation in an increasingly materialistic society: hardly the end of the world by any standards. There in lies the track’s secret: most rappers will talk about killing you while some crooner tries to lighten things up; Outkast will rap about girls but have a chorus so over the top it sounds like a prelude to Armageddon.
2. Scarface ft. Nas – In Between Us
Face’s last album was chock full of R&B choruses and all of them worked. It was a small miracle that impressed many an east coast fan that hadn’t been following the ex Geto Boy’s sporadic yet excellent solo releases. Still, nothing could have possibly prepared the world for what may very well be the most underappreciated song about mental instability in recent memory. Beginning with an ominous vocal melody before jumping directly into a hectic Nas verse associating his first fistfight to betrayal on the block years later, In Between Us is the kind of brooding baroque paranoia that Scarface was born not only to rap about but to full on orchestrate. Composing the string arrangement, drums tracks and even an excellent guitar solo himself along with Houston luminary Mike Dean, Face’s rumination on betrayal and insecurity is personal in intent but universal in scope, cementing him as one of rap’s few tortured poets to sound deep rather than trite. Tanya Herron may be the one singing the chorus, but one look at the lyrics and you know rap’s man in black wrote it:
Mass confusion… in my head
Killing me…driving me to madness.
Got me wondering, can I trust my friends?
Cuz they stick me, in my back, every chance they get.
Am I paranoid? And if that’s the case…
Is it curable? Can you help me find my place?
I can’t handle this…I’m losing it.
With a lose grip, I’m hanging over emptiness
Help your brother. Save him from the
Evil demons. In Between Us.
1. Raekwon, Ghostface Killah ft. Blue Raspberry – Rainy Dayz
Does this one even count as a chorus? Blue Raspberry’s wailing all over Rainy Dayz while 20+ tracks of Rza created madness fade in and out hits with such force and impact that it almost overshadows the emcees’ performances. The ultimate female counterpoint to crack rap’s machismo, Raspberry’s role as the neglected wifey worrying about her man’s mental state stands in direct contrast to the one-dimensional women featured in most hustler narratives, adding additional layers and meaning to the duo’s raps. Ghost’s royalties aren’t taking too long because he needs a chain or some wallies: he needs them for her. Ask his bitch. The genuine connection between the hustler and his woman sits in direct contrast to the current “bitch-as-object” mentality in Hip-hop today, but the softer sentiment only increases the tension once the listener realizes what’s at stake for Rae and Ghost. Note to all aspiring rappers: songs about buying your chick Gucci may bump, but they’ll never be as good as songs about what she’s going through when you can’t buy food for the table.
Comments for "Ill Sung Choruses"
Yeah that ‘face song has always been one of my fav from him, even though the macy gray-like voice of the girl on the chorus is not really what’s making it good…
That Rainy dayz track is just classic…
Personnaly, I would have added one of those Quality song, like the one with vinja monika.
— djeff Nov 20, 05:29 PM
Kim Jung’s Got That Illa Noyz…how about Ak’s “PUT IT IN YA MOOOOOOOOUTH! I SAID YA MUTHAFUCKIN MOOOOOOOUUUTH!”
— JunSri Nov 20, 05:36 PM
damn, i need to hear Rainy Dayz stat
— sankofa Nov 20, 08:04 PM
Babylon is one of my favorite songs period, so great call. The song was solely responsible for getting me hooked on Outkast, so perhaps Im being a bit defensive but that is an unbelievably simplistic interpretation, especially in respect to what Andre does with it. But props for including it.
— bkbomber Nov 20, 09:14 PM
Sankofa: I do it for the kids out there bumping that Jibbs n’ D4L. Turns out they’re 90% of our demographic. Whodathunkit?
Bkbomber: I just wanted to illustrate that particular contrast between the chorus and the lyrics in the song. Any of the tracks on ATLiens would require a full breakdown to get a full on perspective. Can’t do it in a paragraph.
— Sach Nov 20, 11:01 PM
Don’t sleep on the “Rainy Dayz” remix. The singing on the original might have been overdone but the updated version with new raps by Rae & Ghost strikes the perfect balance.
— DJ Flash Nov 21, 08:56 AM
What’s great about this list is that as I’m reading number 2, I’m thinking to myself “What about Rainy Dayz with Rae, Ghost and Blue Raspberry? That song is incredible.”
What about “All That I Got is You” by Ghost and Mary? Or “Can’t Knock the Hustle?” I think both songs utitlized Mary really well before she became this institution thanks to white people catching on to her in the last 4 years. Now when Mary J. Blige does a hook, she sounds like a she’s auditioning for American Idol, overdoing her vocals and completely dominating the track. “All that I got is You” and “Can’t Knock the Hustle” are forgotten examples of Mary actually just playing her part on a track.
— Rap Jack Bauer Nov 21, 10:19 AM
damn.
i was thinking this was gonna be a list of ill/hillarious rapper sung choruses. Ghostface and Nas kill those shits (Biscuits, Calm Down, Gimme Yours). I’ve found that i actually prefer rappers to sing horribly on their songs than good r & b singers.
with that said all of the aforementioned songs are the illness.
— Nate Nov 22, 01:36 AM
Nate:
yeah like MF Doom in the beginning of I Hear Voices
— JunSri Nov 22, 04:34 AM
I love the verses on that Face/Nas song, but that singer is terrible. The other joints are spot on.
I notice that you featured all female singers. I also like OC’s “Ma Dukes.” Let me add a few with male singers:
Nas’ “Black Girl Lost” w/ Jojo. This might be his best post-Illmatic song.
De La’s “Held Down” w/ Cee Lo.
Common’s “6th Sense” w/ Bilal. I don’t even like the song really, but I can’t front on Bilal’s hook.
— eauhellzgnaw Nov 22, 04:38 AM
DON’T FORGET FIELD MOB fT. CEE-LO & T.I. – “ALL I KNOW”...AND RAEKWON’S “THE HOOD” FT. TIFFANY VILLAREAL…THA LIST GOES ON!
— ALCIDE (AL-SEED) Nov 22, 01:38 PM
Nate Dogg has sung many a dope hook .. chorus? Horrus
Also it’s fresh out the box but Ghostface’s “You know I’m no good” is slammin’ all the way around, sick beat and the chick sounds sampled, either way she completes that cut for me. I ain’t tryin to hear P Tone on anymore singer shit. He took up the mantle when Dirt Dog passed but I had enough for awhile
— Skylar Dec 1, 10:40 PM