Rapsody - Please Don't Cry '2024

Tracks list

It feels ironic when Phylicia Rashad opens Please Don't Cry by asking Rapsody,
"Do you even know who you are?" On single "Asteroids," the rapper sums up her
position neatly and with the same clever self-awareness that graces everything
she's accomplished: "First name Marlena/ last name Evans/ Underappreciated but
I'm still the most respected/ My insecurity is the fear of being rejected/ When
you this raw they listen with an erection." The Hit-Boy production gives the
song a necessary weight—fans have been awaiting this record for far too
long—to allow Rapsody to explain that she's been off the scene but never
too far away. Often, she likens her absence to Lauryn Hill—a fed-up
talent mischaracterized as lazy or ineffectual. Real fans would never, but the
internet hoi polloi certainly might.

The BLK ODYSSY-produced "Look What You've Done" allows Rapsody to roam in her
considerable talent, her bars bookended by a jazzy hook. Lines like "I'm too
Black, I'm too this, mmmhmm/ Until Black girls meet me and tell me they feel
seen" and "Don't get triggered man/ When men support me I see some of you get
inside your feelings, fam" are stunning, direct and classic. The album is
littered with her experiences inside the music industry as a terrific rapper who
was deemed too political and too proud to truly ascend like her peers (who she
reverently names at will).

Please Don't Cry is perfect for today's politicized social media world and much
more conversation can still happen based around this terrific record. Certain
albums receive flowers for vague and apolitical associations when Rapsody has
never shied from the issues plaguing a Black-led genre. You can place the needle
on any song and within 30 seconds hear a perfectly-distilled maxim, like on the
laid back yet fully charged "Black Popstar." "If you ain't crying about it, what
you doing? We smiling through it," Rapsody muses before punctuating the track
with "let's talk about it." She drops poet names and calls out fans for
wondering about her sexual orientation in "Stand Tall," and in "Diary of a Mad
Bitch," well, your imagination is likely accurate.

Through all that, Rapsody celebrates herself and the blessed world surrounding
her. "God's Light" serves that purpose perfectly. Ditto "A Ballad for
Homegirls." There's truly nothing she can't do with a boom-bap beat and she's
fully aware of her prowess and powers. Rapsody has returned and she's brought
her whole bag with her. No matter the reception, real heads know what it is.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Rapsody, Phylicia Rashad - She’s Expecting You (1:09) 
1.02 - Rapsody - Marlanna (2:33) 
1.03 - Rapsody, Hit-Boy - Asteroids (2:35) 
1.04 - Rapsody - Look What You’ve Done (4:21) 
1.05 - Rapsody, Bee-B - DND (It’s Not Personal) (2:36) 
1.06 - Rapsody, Dixson - Black Popstar (2:39) 
1.07 - Rapsody - Stand Tall (2:09) 
1.08 - Rapsody - That One Time (3:14) 
1.09 - Rapsody, Erykah Badu - 3:AM (3:34) 
1.10 - Rapsody, Alex Isley - Loose Rocks (4:02) 
1.11 - Rapsody, Bibi Bourelly - Diary Of A Mad Bitch (3:24) 
1.12 - Rapsody, Nicole Bus, Keznamdi - Never Enough (3:52) 
1.13 - Rapsody - He Shot Me (3:09) 
1.14 - Rapsody - God’s Light (2:39) 
1.15 - Rapsody - Back In My Bag (3:01) 
1.16 - Rapsody, Niko Brim - Niko’s Interlude (1:05) 
1.17 - Rapsody, Lil Wayne - Raw (2:45) 
1.18 - Rapsody - Lonely Women (1:43) 
1.19 - Rapsody, Baby Tate - A Ballad For Homegirls (4:22) 
1.20 - Rapsody, Phylicia Rashad - Please Don’t Cry Interlude (2:02) 
1.21 - Rapsody - Faith (3:36) 
1.22 - Rapsody, Phylicia Rashad, Amber Navran - Forget Me Not (4:35)

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