in this club....

...in this club (HEY!)...in this club....

Whilst singing to myself on the street today, i concluded that some of the sweetest, most amazingly romantic songs i know are rap songs. Still walking and singing, i thought, "a lot of people probably wouldn't think this song is romantic. what makes me think that it is?"

here are my answers: qualities that make a hip-hop, non-classic r&b song romantic:

It is romantic when a rapper who usually talks about killing people talks about a special lady/man

See: Pharaoh Monch, "The Light". Monch, of "Simon Sez Get the Fuck Up" fame, raps about love at first sight in the club. Uses words like immaculate, inappropriate, and talks about getting on his knees when describing the encounter. Uncharacteristic=romantic. If D'Angelo came up to you and recited the words from "The Light", you'd probably sleep with him (I would), but you'd probably feel cheap in the morning knowing that you're one in a line of many of the wooed. If a fat, crass rapper gives you this spiel, you're probably special.

It is romantic when a rapper is candid to the point of making him/herself vulnerable in the act of talking about their significant other

Big Boi and Andre 3000 of Outkast are masters of this. Neither seems to be too cool or too hard to talk straight about lovin'. Examples include "Spotieotiespotteddogalicious" (my favorite is "smellin' like a plate of yams with extra syrup") and that song by UGK about getting married. Those songs are hot as fcuk.

(Another note, being straight honest can sort of blur the line between romantic and sexy, see: "Don't want to meet your daddy, just want you in my caddy")

A final way that a hip-hop song can be romantic: The beat simply makes you want to fuck

Self-explanatory and probably the most reliable one

We don't go to the mall, we don't go out to eat,

-kev.love.

PS. One way of immediately ruining the romance in a rap song

Using the word, "pussy".