4. Talib Kweli, “Just to Get By”
This ode to the performer’s abuela is loaded with passion. While the tone of the song sounds angry and tough, the tenderness and feeling comes across in the lyrics. It’s this juxtaposition that makes for the best hip-hop: “We smell the musk of the dusk in the crack of the dawn…” and “I think about her struggle and I find strength in myself.”
