When the world eats away at your will to go on, music is always there to help you through it. Sometimes, you just need something to make you feel like you’re not so alone in this dark, confusing world. Where some records are good at easing the anxiety in our systems, records about depression need to remind us that we’re all in this together.
Hip-hop has always been great for this, more lyrical in its approach, allowing listeners to get closer to an artist’s mind. Consequently, Noisey has selected four rap songs that can aid anyone trying to maneuver their way through the world while depressed. In doing so, it’ll allow listeners to find comfort in knowing they aren’t the only ones grappling with their issues.
4 Essential Rap Songs That Those Suffering From Depression Will Relate To
‘Heavenly Father’ by Isaiah Rashad
Isaiah Rashad’s greatest skill as an artist is his ability to bear the totality of his thoughts and emotions. Fans often draw really close to his sermons on records like Cilvia Demo and The Sun’s Tirade. Rashad unabashedly bears all of the darkness he grapples with in his life. “Heavenly Father” is his purest example, where he admits that, no matter how loudly he calls out to God, he feels a profound emptiness.
The distance makes him feel crazy and bouts of depression never get easier. He’ll vividly depict moments of self-harm, ideations of hanging from playground swings or monkey bars. In a desperate attempt to quell these ideas, drugs and alcohol become great numbing agents. Few records are harrowing therapy sessions quite like “Heavenly Father”.
‘B*******t’ by The Pharcyde
Sometimes, you just need someone to shake the cobwebs off for you. The disorienting headspace clears up when you have people in your corner to help you get it together. The Pharcyde act like that guiding force on “B******t”, the hook echoing for you to “stop fighting that feeling.”
Each rapper tries to grapple with the grandiosity of this overwhelming world and how to find their way through it atop spacey J Dilla production. Even the last verse where Suave recalls hooking up with a woman at the club. By the end of the verse, he stressed that the money and fame meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Whenever depression makes us feel small in this world, The Pharcyde remind us to center ourselves.
‘Phases’ by Navy Blue
One of the biggest revelations you could face when battling grief is that you can choose to heal. Depression makes it incredibly easy for us to wallow and sink into this life. But you do have the choice to try and be easier and kinder to yourself. Mental health may hamper you but it doesn’t have to dictate what you do and how you operate every day.
Navy Blue depicts this perseverance on “Phases”, admitting that he’s living proof of someone who let his life slip away due to his debilitating mental health. “I ain’t never knew I could rebuke the harm/I was given proof but chose to turn away/And play the part of someone who ain’t wanna live/Simply that’s just what it is,” he raps. The most courageous thing we could do is to try and push through in spite of all the trials and tribulations.
‘In Remembrance Of Me’ by Blu & Exile
Maybe the most paralyzing thought that you can have while battling depression is the unrelenting passage of time. What if we didn’t do that one thing? What if we weren’t so scared and actually acted on this other thing? Why can’t we go back and fix everything? It’s a maddening experience, wishing that our lives weren’t so finite and that we could rectify our mistakes.
In this sense, Blu has always been incredibly relieving, rosily reflecting on his coming of age on “In Remembrance Of Me”. The older he grew, the more acquainted he became with tragedy and depression. But when he was younger, it wasn’t nearly as debilitating. He had a whole life ahead of him, nothing but time to manifest the kind of life he wanted. Ditching class, hooking up with girls at prom, and finding money to go to the corner store. These were the worries of our youth. “In Remembrance Of Me” is the ideal song for anyone who loves to look back on the good ol’ days.
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