Album Review: Little Pain- When Thugz Cry

The “sad rap” movement is a very real thing.

At first glance, it sounds ridiculous—just like any other theoretical genre: chillwave, jangle pop, witch house, etc. But I can assure you that sad rap is anything but ridiculous. It is, in fact, incredible, and it takes #realtalk to a whole different level.

If you don’t believe me, I implore you to believe in sad rapper Little Pain, and his debut mixtape When Thugz Cry.

Hailing from New York, according to an interview, Pain started working on music just earlier in 2013, after spending time listening to instrumental tracks online, and with encouragement from a friend, Pain began writing his own rhymes about the things he was going through at the time.

I remember hearing about Little Pain in the spring, when Vice’s music site, Noisey, ran a piece on him, and I remember feeling incredibly uncomfortable with the sample of someone coughing uncontrollably (and then sobbing) that is used on the track they featured, “High Cry.” That song also appears on Pain’s mixtape, and yes, the hacking cough is still unsettling to hear (even more unsettling is the crying that runs throughout most of the album’s second track “S.M.H.”), but I don’t care, because after spending a good portion of Thursday and Friday, and most of Monday listening to only When Thugz Cry, I believe in sad rap.

And more importantly, I believe in Little Pain.

The album opens up with the unrelenting “Suicide Watch,” where Pain frantically drops some amazingly clever lyrics—“Started from the bottom and I’m still where I started, and I never ask for shit, I don’t even beg your pardon,” arrives early on, while a Raider Klan-esq, spooky-as-fuck beat plays behind him. It’s almost entirely too much—between the intensity of the beat and the emotion within Pain’s delivery and lyrics, so it’s a relief that it’s only a two-minute track.

Pain slows it down a little on the tracks that follow—the aforementioned “S.M.H,” and “High Cry,” both incorporate trap-style beats with slightly less spooky arrangements. On the second half, “Got No Money,” is surprisingly sunny and synth heavy—perhaps a tongue-in-cheek nod to more pop-leaning rap music.

Things get smooth on an R&B tip with “Love Tears,” where Pain expresses his love for emotional women—“just a bunch of Gothic bitches and a couple of my peers” is his idea of a good time. Later, after female MC Jelz Much drops a seductive (and sad) verse, the song takes a turn into a cover/homage to the R. Kelly classic “Feelin’ on Yo Booty.”

Little Pain- "Big Pain Tribute"

The album’s penultimate moment arrives with the seriously touching tribute to Pain’s family dog, Big Pain, who passed away over a decade ago—“cried every single day since my dog died,” he says early on in the track. “Fuck a friendship, we had a sadship.” Look. I don’t even know what a “sadship” is, but it sounds beautiful. The track itself, one of many produced by Suicideyear (an aptly named colleague), is mournful—the keyboard sound chosen is incredibly comforting all while maintain a heavy pall cast over it.  And as someone who knows a thing or two about the loss of a companion animal, this song hits incredibly close to home, cementing how real Little Pain’s sad rap movement is.

This is from a gimmick or a novelty, and When Thugz Cry is brief enough (35 minutes) so that we understand that, and it doesn’t linger around to test the listener’s patience. It’s a smart album—lyrically, Pain knows enough to sprinkle some humor in throughout the ever-present sadness; and he’s also incredibly articulate—for the most part, he favors a “slow and steady” delivery, a choice that allows the lyrical content to really sink in.

Some MCs choose to rap about dealing drugs, or killing somebody. Some use rap as an outlet for social issues or political unrest. Some rap about name brands and their love of the finer things in life. As a middle class white man, it’s incredibly hard to identify with, like, nearly all of the rap music that I listen to. Little Pain, bless him and the tears he’s cried, has merged hip-hop music with something that EVERYBODY can relate to—sadness. It’s amazing combination, and I truly admire his 100% commitment to the idea.

When Thugz Cry if available now, for free, so you should go download it here.