Snoop Dogg
A minimalist club track built on a single triple-word command that gets reinterpreted verse to verse, moving between seduction,…
status and wealth display sexual conquest street/gang loyalty
A club-floor party track built almost entirely around a single visual: a woman dancing and the narrator's escalating attempt to…
nightlife and spectacle male desire and pursuit wealth and status display
Kendrick Lamar
HUMBLE. is a swaggering, almost gleeful takedown of fakery in the industry and in culture at large, delivered by a narrator who…
authenticity vs. artifice wealth and status misogynoir/beauty standards critique
Nas
This is a mafioso-rap posse cut in which Nas, alongside his Firm collaborators, trades the political/street-prophet voice he's…
organized crime as fantasy/roleplay materialism and status display loyalty and betrayal within a crew
Frank Ocean
"Chanel" is a loose, associative track built around the Chanel logo's interlocking C's as a metaphor for bisexuality and duality…
bisexuality and duality surveillance and paranoia wealth as armor
Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott's signature single is a maximalist celebration of sexual confidence and self-invention, built on a literal sonic…
sexual agency self-invention and reinvention female solidarity and hustle
Gang Starr
Full Clip is a boastful, aggressive posse-cut-style anthem in which Guru delivers a barrage of battle-rap threats, positioning…
braggadocio and dominance authenticity vs. imitation violence as metaphor for skill
Dr. Dre
A West Coast victory-lap posse cut in which Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg reassert their partnership and their region's dominance,…
regional pride hedonism and ritual (weed, cars, drinking) reunion/partnership
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill delivers a two-part sermon on sex, self-respect, and modern relationship dysfunction, addressing women in the first…
sexual double standards nostalgia for a simpler past personal responsibility
A boastful street-level anthem built around the double meaning of 'work' as both hustle/grind and criminal labor, delivered with…
hustler ethic street surveillance and paranoia status and reputation
The Beach Boys
An early Beach Boys car song that treats a Chevrolet engine like a lover and a racehorse at once, built almost entirely on chant…
car culture masculine pride and status consumerism/saving toward a goal
Vampire Weekend
A brisk, brand-strewn snapshot of prep-school desire, where a narrator sketches a young woman's privileged upbringing before the…
class and privilege cultural appropriation and borrowing adolescent desire
Elton John
A shy, broke narrator confesses he has nothing to offer a loved one but a plainly written love song, and the song's own modesty…
romantic devotion inadequacy and humility the inability to articulate feeling
Lorde
A teenager from an unglamorous town catalogs the luxury clichés of contemporary pop and mass media, then refuses them, proposing…
class and aspiration media saturation and celebrity excess authenticity versus performance
Ice Cube
Ice Cube uses the media's stock accusation that gangsta rap 'causes' violence as a satirical device, exaggerating the charge…
media scapegoating and moral panic authenticity vs commercial gatekeeping black masculinity and self-reliance
Cream
"Toad" is Cream's showcase for drummer Ginger Baker, an instrumental built around a lengthy drum solo bookended by a terse…
virtuosity showmanship rhythm as narrative
Rush
YYZ is an instrumental showcase built around the Morse-code rhythm for Toronto's Pearson International Airport identifier, which…
homecoming and travel technical virtuosity Canadian identity
Nas stitches together two dense verses of violent, luxury-drenched bravado and a grim first-person shooting narrative, unified…
vigilance and mortality street violence and retaliation loyalty and betrayal
Chet Baker
This is an instrumental reading of a standard, so the analysis works from title, genre convention, and Chet Baker's established…
seasonal change loss and impermanence romantic nostalgia