Morning Coffee

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Still thinking on the whole subject of ballads and hip-hop yesterday, I was thinking about how hip-hop deals with the subject of romantic love. For me, the answer has always been simple--poorly. That's probably too broad. It's morning coffee, what can I say?

But for whatever reason, the best instances of "romantic" hip-hop have generally been authored by the Roots. Black Thought is probably my favorite lyricists of all time. I've been tripping over this line for years now:

We knew from the start, that things fall apart
and tend to shatter
She like, 'That shit don't matter,
when I get home get at her.'"

Incredible song. Incredible video. Now she in my world like hip-hop...

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/09/morning-coffee/245936/