Top 10 Hip Hop Love Songs

 Alright so, Love songs in hip hop might not seem like they're too prevalent of a thing, and at times it really can seem like the only thing artists show love for is money, cars, and clothes but that couldn't be further from the truth.  If you look for something hard enough you will often find it, here's 10 songs that I love about love. 

1. Common Sense - I Used to Love H.E.R.

Album: Resurrection

Released: 1994

Sample: George Benson - The changing world 

Favorite lines:

"I met this girl, when I was ten years old
And what I loved most she had so much soul
She was old school, when I was just a shorty
Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me"

A classic, an early example of personification, story telling and plot twists in hip hop story telling, as shown by the ending "cause who I'm talking 'bout, y'all, is hip-hop" letting the listeners know that hip hop is the subject of the song and not a woman as it would appear. A good love song albeit about a culture rather than a person but love is love and you can tell easily that Common (then known as Common Sense) truly loves hip hop and has no problem putting it on record.

2. Lupe Fiasco - Sunshine

Album: Food and Liquor

Released: 2006

Sample: Diana Ross - Friend to Friend

Favorite lines:

"Relationship is just thirty minutes long
It's kinda heavy, maybe a little strong
Gonna take much more than once
Can't trust what each of us say at least for a month
Or two, before I bid you adieu
Do this one thing for me: out of the trillions
Of numbers that's in the world just leave me a few
That lead to you
Won't be longin, I'll see you in the morning
Cool"

Basically the concept of this song is the same as the previous one, it's a song about his love for hip hop. On first listen, or for a few you might think he's talking about a woman as well,  but on further examination it's pretty clear that hip hop is his true love and he expresses that quite well. Now that these two are out of the way though, the next will more traditional in the sense of low so on to the next one.

3. QuEst - Biscayne Blvd

Mixtape: Searching Slyvan

Released: 2014

Sample: The Hics - Lines

Favorite Lines:

"Shit is lookin' shallow on the surface
But feelings get real when you get caught up in the deep end
Sittin' in your car, all we listen to is Nas late nights
We don't even have a reason
Too afraid to ask if you leavin'
I know you got work in the mornin', I don't wanna keep you out late
This love shit feelin' like an outbreak
Plus I keep staring everywhere, swear to god those lips look sweeter than a pound cake"

Easily one of my more recent favorites. In this song unlike the previous two the references are all to an actual woman and not hip hop or anything else. It's clear that he loves her, or might be falling in love with her and that the relationship means something to him. From the hook to the verses to the beat itself, everything just fits and makes you think of past relationships you've had yourself.

4. 2Pac - Do for Love
Album: R U Still Down? (Remember Me)

Released: 1998

Sample: Bobby Caldwell - What You Won't Do for Love

Favorite lines:

"I shoulda seen you was trouble but I was lost, trapped in your eyes
Preoccupied with gettin' tossed, no need to lie
You had a man and I knew it, you told me
Don't worry bout it we can do it now I'm under pressure
Make a decision cause I'm waitin', when I'm alone
I'm on the phone havin' secret conversations, huh
I wanna take your misery, replace it with happiness
But I need your faith in me, I'm a sucka for love"

Not only is it one of my favorite 2Pac songs, it's also one of my favorite hip hop songs about love, as well as my favorite song on entire album it's placed on but I digress, once again this song is a bit different. It's surely about love and a woman at that, but here you find him questioning the faithfulness of the woman and showing that even when you're a celebrity there's the chance that your relationship can still be lost if your partner is not trustworthy or trusting of you.

5. Immortal Technique - You Never Know

Album: Revolutionary Vol. 2

Released: 2003

Sample: Spyro Gyra - Lost and Found

Favorite lines:

"Hold the person that you love closely if they're next to you
The one you love, not the person that'll simply have sex with you
Appreciate them to the fullest extent, and then beyond
Cause you never really know what you got, until it's gone"

Great storytelling, yet again in another aspect of love, this one focused clearly on the whole relationship from the meeting to the tragic end. Descriptive, easy to understand and laid smoothly over a pretty mellow beat, this song is one that just can't be left off the list. Four verses and over seven minutes long, he shows that this relationship was real and had a deep impact on him without a doubt. Vividly he shows you that this woman was his first true love and vice versa, though the unfortunate twisting at the end that they just couldn't be together long but the time they did spend was irreplaceable.

6. Drake - Brand New

Mixtape: So Far Gone

Released: 2009

Sample: None that I know of

Favorite lines:

"This here is on some truthful shit
It seems like everything I do you're used to it
And I hate hearing stories bout who you've been with
That's when I gotta hide what I'm feeling inside
So you still think I am confident and damn
Is this gonna last?
You're up on a pedestal
Are we moving too fast?
Feels like I'm in crazy competition with the past
That's why I gotta ask..."

Now this one here is more of an R&B song I suppose because he doesn't rap on it at all, but I'll still include it since he does both genres and the mixtape it's on can be considered a mixture of both. It's still within the realm of hip hop for that reason. The song itself is great and probably my favorite song from So Far Gone, it's relatable, emotional, and really makes question your own relationship and insecurities. Who hasn't had that thought at one point in a new relationship about how their partner might be comparing them to their ex? What can you bring new to the relationship that the last man/woman hasn't? That's the question this song asks, and the answer is... Up to you to decide.

7. Kendrick Lamar - She Needs Me

Album: Kendrick Lamar EP

Released: 2009

Sample: Dimlite - Byrdshot and Bye

Favorite lines:

"On the red carpet, dress matching his suit, she holding his arm
She waves at her moms and wave at the world, got the world in her palms
Head in the clouds, star gazing, caught her on the stage, a proposal was waiting
He bent down, got on one knee, she looked him in the eye and said she needs me
She needs me, she needs me, she needs me, she needs me
Even if we seem to separate, eventually it’ll come to pass, and she’ll need me
I need her, we need we"

Kendrick tells the story of a relationship of his over the course of the song starting from the beginning, painting the vivid picture of a typical woman that you'd like to be with. Liked by parents, not competitive, dependable, kind, and beautiful. Over the story it shows that these traits make her successful in business, and it then leads her to being in a relationship with a famous actor but once he proposes her love for Kendrick doesn't let her say yes to him. Clearly he's correct when he says "she needs me"

8. Lost Boyz - Renee

Album: Legal Drug Money

Released: 1996

Sample: Janet Jackson - Funny How Time Flies(When You're Having Fun)

Favorite lines:

"She started feeling on my chest
I started feeling on the breasts
And there's no need for me to stress the rest
A yo, I got myself a winner
We sparked a blunt before we ate
And a blunt after we ate dinner
She had a tattoo she only wanted yo to see
But first dim the lights and turn up the Jodeci
I'm like whatever shorty rock
We can swing it like that
Cause on the real this is where it's at"

  

Once again storytelling with a nice description of the relationship from the meeting to the tragic end of it. The woman in question here, same name as the title of the song dies from a shooting, hence the hook "A ghetto love is the law that we live by Day by day I wonder why my shorty had to die I reminisce over my ghetto princess everyday Give it up for my shorty" love can be found in the ghetto, but it can be taken away just as quickly due to things such as violence as shown clearly in the track.

9. Charles Hamilton - In Case I Actually Get Her

Mixtape: Well Isn't This Awkward

Released: 2009

Sample: Rihanna - P.S (I'm Still Not Over You)

Favorite lines:

"I don't even know what I'm about to do
But I do know that eyes give out the truth
Lies are mouth pollution
So I gotta figure out a solution
Without abusin'
Everything I am about, so how can I do this
Feels like I'm about to lose it
Girl you got a mouth just use it
Your eyes f*ckin' talk to much
For me to hear you
I think it's time I be near you, in clear view"

From the title to the sample to the hook and everything just screams love song. The mixtape this song is from is properly titled also, "Well Isn't This Awkward" the whole mixtape samples Rihanna songs, and it's pretty much a dedication to his love for Rihanna, although they were never in a relationship, hence titles like "In Case I Actually Get Her" and the title of the mixtape itself. The lyrics paint the picture of a man viewing a woman from afar and hoping to be with her one day and it's something I can relate to myself as well as many others would be able to, so it's definitely one of my favorites.

10.  LL Cool J - Hey Lover

Album: Mr. Smith

Released: 1996

Sample: Michael Jackson - The Lady in my Life

Favorite lines:

"I kissed you softly and you yearned for more
We experienced pleasure unparalleled
Into an ocean of love we both fell
Swimming in the timeless, currents of pure bliss
Fantasies interchanging with each kiss
Undying passion unities our souls
  Together we swim until the point of no control
But it's a fantasy it you won't come true
We never even spoke and your man swear he love you
So I'm gonna keep all these feelins inside
Keep my dreams alive until the right time"

Like the previous song this is once again about a woman he's not in a relationship with, just someone he's simply seen before and is fantasizing about. Starting the story off from when he first sees her to seeing her more often, he sees her from a distance more and more slowly becoming more enamored with her. Seeing her current boyfriend he feels that he's the better option, but he decides not to act on his feelings and to just wait until the right time. Classic LL Cool J.