Please Don't Cry Rapsody

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Released on 5/17/24 by We Each Other, Inc., Jamla Records, under exclusive license to Roc Nation Records, LLC
Main artists: Rapsody
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

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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. © Jeff Laughlin/Qobuz

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Please Don't Cry

Rapsody

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