He/She/It Ain't No Joke

December 8, 2008 5:43 PM

What are some hip-hop songs in the form of a third-person narrative?

I like/love a lot of hip-hop music. Most of my friends do not. I played Paid In Full, and besides Eric B's occasionally annoying turntablism, my friend was particularly not happy with the lyrical content: "I'm the best rapper ever, and you are not" and its variants. That's pretty much the whole of that album, and a lot of other rap also.

He brought up the point that there is a ton of first person rap, but basically no stories about other people, a la the Beatles' Rocky Raccoon or Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. So, are there any?

I could think of some Beastie Boys (who he dislikes for other reasons) and Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R." which is really a first person story, but tells 'her' story anyway.

What else is there?

posted by papayaninja to media & arts (29 comments total)

Loosifa by the Juggaknots is a narrative masterpiece and a helluva song.
posted by Rudy Gerner at 5:51 PM on December 8, 2008

Nas and Slick Rick have many; in fact, they're generally known as hip hop's story tellers.
posted by milarepa at 5:57 PM on December 8, 2008

The following come to mind right away:

- No Regrets by Aesop Rock
- Children's Story by Slick Rick
- Children's Story by Black Star
- Expansion Outro on Reflection Eternal's (Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek) Train of Thought is a long, long track that has a few verses buried within and tells a story about four women
- Ghetto Story by Lupe Fiasco

Obviously there's a bunch of rap that is neither 3rd person nor self-aggrandizing, which is what you said you don't like, but I know that's not what you're looking for.
posted by Rudy Gerner at 6:00 PM on December 8, 2008

Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa by De La Soul
posted by VTCarl at 6:02 PM on December 8, 2008

I think a common mistake people make when listening to hip hop is to confuse "I" with "Oh, this is what the rapper thinks." There are a lot of hip hop songs that tell stories, but that are told in the first person (i.e., 80% of the Atmosphere (nsfw, music) catalog).

There are 3rd person songs, as others have mentioned. But just because a rapper speaks in the first-person doesn't mean it not told from someone else's point of view.
posted by iwhitney at 6:03 PM on December 8, 2008

Yeah, iwhitney, that's a good point. There were a few great songs I didn't recommend because they don't strictly meet the third person perspective, per se.
posted by Rudy Gerner at 6:08 PM on December 8, 2008

Deltron's 3030 is a concept album set in the year 3030 that tells of the fight against huge corporations that rule the universe by Del's alter ego, Deltron Zero.

Mc Chris raps from the perspective of Boba Fett in Fett's Vette. Also in the Geeksta Rap catagory, MC Lars raps as Ahab from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea on his album, The Graduate.
If your friends feel like rap music is all materialistic and braggadocious and you want to prove them wrong, I'd suggest running as fast as you can to wherever you get your music and download/buy Saul William's self-titled album. Songs like African Student Movement, Talk to Strangers, Black Stacy, and Act III, Scene II take hip-hop to whole new levels of fantasticness. Atmosphere's Always Coming Back Home to You, Blackalicious's Alphabet Aerobics, Living Legends Never Falling Down... anything by Jurassic 5, Immortal Technique, and Jedi Mind Tricks too. I'm not big on the whole 'Swagger Like Us' most of the time either so I try as hard as I can to find Hip-hop that's intelligent, different, and deft.
posted by Bageena at 6:08 PM on December 8, 2008

The Sweetest Girl by Wyclef Jean is mostly in the third person.
posted by Daily Alice at 6:11 PM on December 8, 2008

A few that stick out from my limited rap collection are:

Common - A Song For Asata
Binary Star - Wolfman Jack
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
posted by alligatorman at 6:13 PM on December 8, 2008

Seconding "No Regrets" by Aesop Rock. Also check out "hellohihey" by Lifesavas, which (although not strictly in third person, is a cool dual narrative about the problems of ego.
posted by jeffmshaw at 6:21 PM on December 8, 2008

Language of Violence, by the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy.

I have a gut feeling that they have others too, but that's the only one that popped into my mind.
posted by Flunkie at 6:35 PM on December 8, 2008

Hieroglyphics -- Maggie May (R.I.P. Faith)
Murs -- Think You Know Me (told in first person but in the voices of three different people)
Outkast -- Toilet Tisha
Main Source -- Diary of a Hit Man
Felt -- Another Knight

Then I got bored. As iwhitney mentions, you might ask your friend why they're unwilling to give rap lyrics any interpretation or thought--or do they honestly think, say, Axl Rose is actually a murderer?
posted by kelseyq at 6:40 PM on December 8, 2008

Obviously, my friend and I are both aware that things said in songs may not be true. Thanks for the warning though.

The question isn't about convincing my friend, really, that is just the backstory for the question, and what got me curious in the first place.

Thanks for all of your suggestions thus far! I've been meaning to get some Aesop Rock and the Deltron album anyway, so I think I'll start there and with Slick Rick since I've heard from a couple of other people that he fits the criteria.
posted by papayaninja at 6:49 PM on December 8, 2008

Ghetto Cartoon, by Coolio.
posted by Flunkie at 6:51 PM on December 8, 2008

My Medicine, by Snoop Dogg.

Large parts of it are in first person, but clearly as quotation of the main character that other parts of the song are referring to in the third person.
posted by Flunkie at 6:57 PM on December 8, 2008

Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push
posted by notsnot at 7:24 PM on December 8, 2008

Mr Wendal by Arrested Development
"the plight of the homeless [man] and encourages people not to ignore [him] just because of [his] status or how [he] looks" (description from wikipedia)

Brenda's Got A Baby by 2pac
"fictional twelve-year-old girl named Brenda who lives in a ghetto, has a baby, and is incapable of supporting it" (description from wikipedia)

Stan by eminem
"story of a fan who is obsessed with Eminem and writes to him but doesn't receive a reply." (description from wikipedia)
posted by thisisnotbruce at 7:28 PM on December 8, 2008

Flobots -- Anne Braden

Bonus points for the subject matter.
posted by srrh at 7:32 PM on December 8, 2008

One more since kelseyq's reply made me think of it:

Women Lose Weight Slick Rick featuring Morcheeba.

It's in first person rather than third person, but it tells a story and it's not a variant on "I'm the best rapper ever, and you are not"
posted by thisisnotbruce at 7:32 PM on December 8, 2008

Aesop Rock's "No Regrets" is one of my favorite songs. He also did "The Harbor is Yours", which is mostly a third-person narrative and pertains to the tragic adventures of a pirate. I feel like Aes has done some other third person narratives, but I can't remember any specific ones.
posted by crinklebat at 7:53 PM on December 8, 2008

Immortal Technique - Dance With the Devil

Tells a third-person story, but it's really messed up.
posted by azarbayejani at 8:36 PM on December 8, 2008

Your friends are missing out on some good music, I mean, if hip hop were that one-dimensional it would've died out back in the early 80's.. most of rock is first-person songs too, after all.

However, see -
Ludacris f/Mary J Blige, "Runaway Love"
posted by citron at 9:14 PM on December 8, 2008

"13 and Good" by Boogie Down Productions.
posted by lemonwheel at 10:16 PM on December 8, 2008

*I* think she's hip-hop in the same vein as Andre 3000, but Janelle Monae's Metropolis Suite Part I of IV: The Chase album. Not third person after all but a story about a cyborg escaping persecution for forbidden love.
posted by robofunk at 11:46 PM on December 8, 2008

There are so many third-person rap songs that the intro has become cliche':

"Nooooooow here's a little story, I'd like to tell...
about [insert three words] that ya' know so well..."
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:57 AM on December 9, 2008

meet the parents - Jay-Z
posted by muscat at 12:20 PM on December 9, 2008

Doujah Raze's 'I Wanna Be Where You Are' (MySpace) is one of my favourite songs of the past six months or so. And I f*cking hate hip-hop.
posted by marmaduke_yaverland at 1:15 PM on December 9, 2008

Young MC - Bust a Move
They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.) by Pete Rock and CL Smooth
posted by msali at 7:06 PM on December 9, 2008

Many from Atmosphere's When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, especially In Her Music Box.
posted by Tufa at 7:27 PM on December 9, 2008