Notorious B.I.G. to Juice WRLD
Biggie’s influence on Emo-Rap
I wonder, if I died, would tears come to her eyes?
Forgive me for my disrespect, forgive me for my lies
The Notorious B.I.G. is known as many things, but is not given credit for his involvement with the emo-rap subgenre.
Biggie will forever be known as one of Hip-Hop’s most influential artists. His music varied from light-hearted party songs to more serious reality rap. There is a deviation from these motifs in the song “Suicidal Thoughts” as it is an early example of Emo-Rap, and a precursor to modern artists like XXXTENTACION and Juice Wrld.
When I die, f*** it, I wanna go to hell
’Cause I’m a piece of sh*t, it ain’t hard to f**** tell
It don’t make sense, goin’ to heaven with the goodie-goodies
Dressed in white, I like black Timbs and black hoodies
In the 90s, surrounding rap culture were gangs and violence. Biggie himself spent time earlier in his life selling crack. This led to him doing things he’s not proud of, and this song encapsulates the guilt he felt.
In 1994 Notorious B.I.G. released the album Ready to Die after his success with the popular song “Juicy.” Most of the songs on the album tell stories that deal with his violent reality. Although violent for the most part, the song “Suicidal Thoughts” takes a much more depressing tone to it.
In the song’s beginning, Biggie calls his friend (Puff Daddy) to talk about the mistakes that he’s made. It starts out with B.I.G. talking as if as if he’s okay with going to hell, but as the song progresses, it’s revealed that he is lying to himself because he knows that there is no repenting for what he’s done.
During the entire interaction, Puffy tries to calm him down and stop him from thinking these thoughts, but to no avail. At the end of the phone call there’s a gun shot and the sound of someone falling, followed by his friend is calling out trying to get a response but there’s none.
The stress is buildin’ up, I can’t — I can’t believe (Yo, I’m on my way over there, man)
Suicide’s on my f***in’ mind, I wanna leave
I swear to God I feel like death is f***in’ callin’ me
Some of Biggie’s work in one-dimensional, like in “Big Poppa,” there isn’t necessarily any thought left with the listener. However, “Suicidal Thoughts” has a unique tone for Biggie, one that is far more depressing and serious.
“All my life I been considered as the worst
Lyin’ to my mother, even stealin’ out her purse
Crime after crime, from drugs to extortion
I know my mother wish she got a f***in’ abortion”
The listener can still experience his flow and style while peering deeper into his emotional state, a phenomenon that not many rappers were comfortable with at the time.
This original Emo-Rap rap deviated from the norm; at the time, the most popular songs by Tupac, Cypress Hill, and Wu-Tang Clan were not expressing these sentiments. Many rappers since have made those sentiments their niche, most notably XXXTENTACION and Juice WRLD. Their most popular work was them creating music that addressed feelings of guilt and depression. Biggie was one of the first to pioneer this on a large scale, and the entirety of rap culture has been influenced by it.
The entire genre of emo-rap is a huge part of today’s rap scene. Drake, one of the most successful artists of all time has done multiple notable songs in the genre. “Marvin’s Room” is the perfect example of his emo-rap. And even though the sound isn’t exactly reminiscent of “Suicidal Thoughts”, the spirit is.
The largest difference between most emo rap and Biggie’s is that he wasn’t solely focused on loss , instead the realization that the cumulation of every immoral action by the rapper was too much to be forgiven, even by God.
Lucid Dreams was a huge song that propelled Juice WRLD to fame. This song defined an entire era of rap in
“Lucid Dreams” and “Suicidal Thoughts” have very different sounds but the essence genre is still present. The deeper feelings of sadness and regret still stand as a lasting imprint of Biggie’s legacy as the Godfather of Emo-Rap.
