Have you ever listened to an album and thought, “This song should’ve been a hit?” Sometimes, the deep cut significantly outweighs the single that an artist, their team, and label picked out. Even rarer: a deep cut resonates so profoundly with a listener that it plays even better than an artist’s most revered records. Despite the common consensus, there’s one song that will end up higher in your personal all-time list.
Consequently, for all the music nerds of the world, Noisey selects four forgotten songs that might’ve gone under the radar over the years. But those same songs could be in an artist’s Mount Rushmore if more people gave it a fair shake (or a listen at all). In doing so, it’ll allow fans to dig back into their favorite rapper’s extensive catalog.
4 Forgotten Songs That Are Just as Good Or Better Than the Hits
“Truth Gonna Hurt You” by Future
Before Future’s bluesy magnum opus “Codeine Crazy”, the Atlanta legend didn’t quite have the respect and prestige from fans he deserved. The people already on board knew how immense his talent was. This was Dungeon Family royalty after all, coming up under the Outkast’s, Cee-Lo’s, Sleepy Brown’s, and Rico Wade’s of the world. He was a student of the game, and his previous mixtapes spoke to that. But to the uninitiated, he made autotune-fueled love songs like “Turn On The Lights”.
“Truth Gonna Hurt You” melds his hit-making instincts with his raw rapping ability. His lyrics are no frills, cutting through all the noise of technicality and acrobatics to hit a blisteringly real sentiment. “Ayy, goin’ over my plans, feel like I’m sinkin’ in sand. Some things you wouldn’t understand. I live the high life (Yeah), sex, syrup, and money,” Future juxtaposes.
His entire discography centers around traditional flexes, but still contending with trauma, grief, and loneliness amidst all of it. Moreover, there’s no real answer to this lifestyle in his eyes. Instead, Future makes it seem like he’s going to live as a nihilist for the rest of his days. He worked hard to make it out; he might as well bask in the luxury.
“Kush Cologne” by Migos
The rise of the Migos felt extremely sudden in 2013. “Versace” captured hearts with the stickiest and most addictive triplet flows and enraged rap purists alike. What became immediately evident was Quavo’s penchant for crafting hooks, even the seemingly primitive. But this staggeringly effective approach had been brewing under the radar before they had their big break.
In another universe, forgotten songs like “Kush Cologne” would’ve launched their careers long before “Versace”. Quavo sang the hook with all the passion of Joe wanting to do all the things your man won’t do. “VVS shinin like who turned the lights on? Sippin’ on lean, smellin’ like that kush cologne,” he heartily croons. Offset and Takeoff still registered as a bit raw in their verses, which may explain why No Label didn’t resonate as much as its sequel did in 2014. But with a hook that strong, it absolutely should’ve sat alongside their several other hits.
“Growing Apart (To Get Closer)” by Kendrick Lamar
Section.80 has become the canonical beginning to Kendrick Lamar’s career for a lot of fans. However, this thinking fundamentally overlooks some crucial moments in the Compton rapper’s illustrious career. On “Growing Apart (To Get Closer)”, K.Dot explores vice and temptations, eventually snowballing into musings about our purpose in the world.
“We all seem to stumble, planning our own demise. Forgetting the big picture and making it wallet-sized. So, to what is important in my life, I apologize. I promise to stay faithful, focused, and sanctified. We all get distracted, the question is: would you bounce back or bounce backwards?” Kendrick questions. “Growing Apart (To Be Closer)” plays as a foundational piece to his creative mission statement, even in his early 20s. It also helps that it’s just as good as some of his biggest commercial statements to date.
“Lil One” by Lil Wayne
Oftentimes, people breeze through Lil Wayne’s days with the Hot Boys into the first Carter album. They’ll acknowledge “Tha Block is Hot” as a means of marking Weezy’s formal solo debut. But it’s not often people actually dig into his first album as a whole. It’s even less likely they’ll find the real jewels on Lights Out.
But “Lil One” is some of Wayne’s most interesting work, reframing the grandiosity of a drug-dealing anthem into something on the ground level. Instead of Scarface imagery, it registers a bit more mundane and shows all the temptations of why someone chooses street life. By the end of the conversational verses with Birdman, they have grand visions of conquering their city, block by block, kilo by kilo. It’s extremely cinematic, a wildly different approach than the barrage of punchlines Lil Wayne is known for throughout his career.
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