6 Great Stories

Here is a list of 6 great storytelling tracks that completely transport you to a different life when you listen to them...

Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story (2006)

Jedi Mind Tricks ft R.A. The Rugged Man

This 4 minute onslaught of a track is intense, harrowing and insane as it encapsulated your mind and takes you to the heart of darkness. This grim track is haunted by a shrieking vocal sample and drums that simply sound like war. Vinnie Paz and R.A. The Rugged Man take you to the Vietnam - US war of the 50's and 60's and give you insight into what the conflict was like for US soldiers. This is no glorified US anthem though, this is a horrible depiction of the berserk conditions of how this fight was fought. Vinnie Paz opens up the track with a superb verse that questions the legitimacy of the war and really digs into that question of "Are we the baddies". Vinnie Paz raps "they say we tryin' to stop Chinese expansion, but I ain't seen no Chinese since we landed", and one particularly sickening line was "I didn't sign up to kill women or any children, for every enemy soldier we killin' six civilians".

Then, RA. The Rugged Man casually drops one of the greatest verses of all time. With a flow like bullets, RA reels off a true story based on his own father, discussing the illegitimacy of the war, the fast lifestyle of the US soldiers living in Vietnam for whom it was many years, a first person depiction of shooting a minigun, and a first person depiction of himself (his father in the story) being shot, almost dying, seeing some form of the afterlife before waking up in a hospital bed, and there's a bit at the end that I won't spoil. But seriously, this verse is incredible. His delivery, flow, bars, vividness, tempo, he has it all in abundance and this is seriously one of those verses you will remember where you were when you first heard it.

Keep It 100 (2017)

Joyner Lucas

Keep It 100 is a grim, gritty and harrowing depiction of a tough capitalistic underbelly of the USA and the wider western world. Over bouncy drums with chilling keys which haunt the track, Joyner talks through the life of a 100 dollar note as it passes through hands. The money moves about via transactions, robberies and luck. We see Joyner display an infatuation with money and more importantly, what that money can bring. The ugliness of greed and the sadness desperation is laced throughout the track line-to-line as Joyner casually flows with clever rhyme schemes and his classic vivid and detailed lyrics. In the story the bill takes claim to a sex worker, a stripper, a priest, a pimp and a homeless person amongst others. There is an ironic, heart-breaking and cold twist at the end which I will not spoil. This twist adds to the darkness and sorrowful feel of the song. This is a big recommendation from a still fairly underrated rapper, especially for his earlier work. For other great storytelling tracks from Joyner check out I'm Sorry from the same project and Ross Capicchioni from his mixtape Along Came Joyner. Let me know what you think.

Tabernacle (2016)

Royce da 5'9

The opening track to Royce da 5'9's highly personal and self-reflective album 'Layers', where he peels them back revealing what makes Royce tick. As albums go, this is really solid, but in reality, it is just the starter for the main course of 'Book of Ryan', the following album Royce blessed us with.

Tabernacle is a story of fate and chance. Like Keep It 100, Tabernacle has twists and turns of irony and luck. Royce is honest and clinical as ever as he describes to you the story of one day, December 28th 1997, the most significant day in his life, a powerful day that lead Royce to believe in fate and the true power of God. Besides being called Tabernacle, this song leans on the idea of a higher-being that pulls strings to determine your life. The occurrences that impacted Royce on this day are incredible and hugely significant for Royce. They are of love, loss, despair, grief and hope. This is a massively important song for Royce in his catalogue and you can learn so much interesting detail about him from this record. This is a vital song to listen to, for any Royce fan. The story is insane, he puts the story across to you so cleanly and vividly and sensibly. Royce seems composed throughout the whole song. This is a mature part of Royce's career and you can really hear that in this track too. This is kind of Royce's 'Magnolia moment', if you've seen that film that will give you some clue as to what I mean by that. But yeah, check out the track, hope you enjoy the story.

I Gave You Power (1996)

Nas

In 1996 on Nas' second album It Was Written, Nas gave us one of the coldest and creative storytelling tracks Hip Hop has ever seen. I Gave You Power is a track from the perspective of a gun. Nas' early work in particular is synonymous with the gritty street of life of Queensbridge, New York that he himself grew up in and imbodies in his music. Tracks like this, I Gave You Power, are exactly the reason why. Some of the language here sounds like an extended metaphor for perhaps a human. What I enjoyed is Nas taking the attitude of a gun of sadness and regret, wanting to leave behind a life of crime and horror. Nas's ingenuity came through in his rhyme schemes, chilling hook, ill vivid lyrics and the details in his story. As well as describing what life's like for a gun, he also touches on memories of times and moments he has been used. This song has a similar feeling to Keep it 100 by Joyner, the one we mentioned earlier. The abrupt ending of "Damn" made me think of the closing moments of another great storytelling record, Stan by Eminem. But yeah, please check this track out if you haven't, lyrics are brilliant, brilliant beat too, all-round 90's classic.

Brain Damage (1999)

Eminem

Brain Damage epitomises much of Eminem's cartoonish and colourful album, it is a simple story of young Marshall taking revenge on his bully in school, for whom knocked Eminem unconscious and gave him 'brain damage'. His story is a story that he's been told before. Taking inspiration from media he grew up on, this is Em's comeback story, similar to one you would read in a super-hero comic book but with his Eminem-life injected into it. This story peaks for me when we learn the gruesome nature of Eminem's revenge and the hilarious consequences that happen afterwards. Eminem's deranged and mad imagination cleverly weaves together fact with fabrication - talking about his mother "she beat me over the head with the remote control, opened a hole and my whole brain fell out of my skull".

His flow is quick, volatile and unnerving. It sounds rough round the edges, but ultimately, smooth where it matters. He has a beautiful knack for making complex rhyme schemes sound easy. Every single syllable is in place for the story he is trying to tell. His rhythm is so well-drilled and he executes his lyrics confidently and comfortably. He has a brash, tongue-in-cheek delivery. 

These stories are what brought his fans into his life and helped them understand who he is and where he has come from. Eminem built a strong fanbase straight from the off, and with lyrical content so dramatic, a great level of wit and lyrical ability so raw and unbridled, it's not hard to see how he did it. Em set his standards with this album, and it was always going to be very difficult to reach or surpass the levels that he set when he then made his next - but that much he did.

The Art of Peer Pressure (2012)

Kendrick Lamar

One of the most creative storytelling tracks I have personally heard. This is a story of peer pressure that perfectly displays the idea that good people can do bad things, perfectly fitting in with the themes of the album that it resides on. Kendrick impersonates his friends, typical conversations and activities they may get up to when they are together. He discusses things like being violent and taking drugs, things Kendrick would not do or be like, unless he's with his pals. It's a great deal of honesty on one song. At the end he depicts a house robbery which goes wrong as the police sirens wail in the background. The intensity of the song picks up as the protagonist stresses and frets about his decisions. There's a cool twist, that you need to pay attention for, at the end of the song, it is subtle and abrupt but really rounds-off an incapsulating story. I absolutely love the light and fun opener of the song which suddenly transitions into a menacing but melancholic instrumental with sad keys and cloudy drums. The beat matches the song and themes of the story completely. Kendrick's multiple deliveries are another cool thing to listen out for in this song that also really drags you into his world.

I hope you enjoyed reading these little bits about 6 of my favourite storytelling tracks. I know there is sooo many that I could have also included here. Let me know what you would have on your list?