Enter Little Pain, sad rapper. At 21 years old it makes sense that Little Pain is capitalising from the sadness of the era in which he grew up. Rap has now inspired rhymers that came of age when the focus was emotions. Note the emergence of social figures such as the emo, The Leave Britney Alone dude – and Drake.
Pain may be sad, but he’s not alone in this endeavour. Yung Lean and the Sad Boys crew have also been riding #sadwaves for months now. But their lyrics have a broader focus than the unbridled sadness of Little Pain’s latest joint. SMH samples crying clips followed by the unequivocal opener “Little Pain the thug – I’m the saddest out”. But is this dude serious? Well his Twitter seems pretty on point:
— LITTLE PAIN (@PainDaThug) August 18, 2013
Started writing a response for Kendrick Lamar and then realized how irrelevant I was and immediately broke down in tears :/
— LITTLE PAIN (@PainDaThug) August 14, 2013
Need unlimited box of tissues to wipe away the tears
— LITTLE PAIN (@PainDaThug) July 31, 2013
Critics have been divided between praise, confusion, and offence. Some question the seriousness of Little Pain’s pain. “It upsets me that a rapper from Brooklyn would make music that belittles those who fight with actual tormented emotions…being sad is not a fucking joke,” writes Refined Hype. (Sad rap is making people sad because it’s not sad enough?) Is sadness a rap taboo? YouTube comments, as usual, raised more questions than answers:
Are rappers riding out a revolution on sad waves or are they just cultivating hype via the trickle of their own tears? The internet cannot answer this one, but you should decide for yourself – kick back grab a kleenex and watch Little Pain’s SMH video.
Lorna Stewart-Thornton