The Eldrick Woods Relationship Blog: B.o.B.'s "Nothin' On You" and 4 Other Wedding Rap Songs

Is it possible for a hip-hop song to ever be a wedding song? Where they do that at?

Well, I have yet to see it with my own eyes, but I believe not only is it possible, it should also be encouraged. I have been to more than a few weddings in my day, seen a few first dances as husband and wife, and more often than not, it’s been something from the great R&B songbook.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Luther Vandross as much as the next person, but frankly, I think some couples need to start keeping it real. Some crooning and sanging trigger not everyone’s fondest memory of the person they’re going to marry. Sometimes it’s some clever lyricism and wordplay in three 16-bar verses, slightly accented by a melodic hook. Sometimes the song has curse words in it, but so do some D’Angelo songs, right?

Now who knows what rap song will be the flavor of the month around the time I meet the woman I’m going to marry, but if it is a rap song, please believe I will make every effort possible to make it our wedding song. This is not because I am trying to put on some macho front, as though I’m too hard for all that soft, quiet storm ish. This is because sometimes I like to go against tradition, and I encourage anyone who is reading this and is about to get married or knows someone about to get married, to do the same by choosing to go with rap over R&B and soft pop ballads as their wedding song. Here are my five suggestions.

Song: “Nothin’ On You”
Artist: B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars
Album: B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Now this was the song that admittedly inspired today’s post. Though B.o.B. is rapping from the perspective of a man ready to settle down, as is Bruno Mars who sings on the hook, chicks love this song. Since its release to the masses, I have been to many a Facebook page, glance over at many a woman Ipod’s on the train, and this song seems to be the one I see most. Dare I say this might be one of hip-hop’s best love songs ever created, not just from a lyrical stand, but as a complete song, from the chorus to the Jim Jonsin-helmed beat. Some couple getting married this summer needs to make this the song they first dance to as husband and wife.

Song: “I Believe In You”
Artist: Snoop Dogg feat. Latoiya Williams
Album: Paid Tha Cost To Be Tha Boss
A little known album-cut from Snoop’s slept-on 2003 effort, “I Believe In You” is more fit to be a wedding song than even other often-used matrimony classics like Prince’s “Adore.” What makes “I Believe In You” work is not only Snoop rapping as the married man he is, but also the slowed-down-but-not-too-slow tempo of the song’s beat. No need for grinding here, just a soft two-step. Oh and Latoiya’s signing on the hook is damn near perfect.

Song: “Best I Ever Had”
Artist: Drake
Album: So Far Gone 
I have never witnessed it first hand, but I’m pretty sure some couple somewhere in this world used the record from where “Best I Ever Had” is sampled as their own wedding song. “Fallin’ In Love” by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds was the pop trio’s biggest hit in 1975, so you can’t tell me there wasn’t some husband and wife dancing along to it for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Somebody.  When Drake’s producer Boi-1da sampled the original to create the music for “Best I Ever Had”, couples were doing to it in 2009 what couples were doing to the original in 1975. Falling in love. So I ask, what’s stopping the 2009 version of “Fallin’ In Love” from being a wedding song? We all know there’s a clean version out there. Get it and dance to it, till death do you part.

Song: “’03 Bonnie & Clyde”
Artist: Jay-Z feat. Beyoncé
Album: The Blueprint 2 
R&B or rap, there aren’t too many songs rapping and singing about holding each other down by two people who hold each other down in real life as husband and wife. This 2003 classic has great parts to rap along to for the males and a great bridge for the woman to sing along to. If you’re the type of married couple who likes to sing duets at karaoke bars, this one is pretty much guaranteed to be in the big book of songs.

Song: “International Players Anthem”
Artist: UGK feat. OutKast
Album: Underground Kingz (Limited Edition)
Yes, Andre 3000’s verse is the only one out of the four that specifically glorifies monogamy. Yes the rest of the verses talk about various forms of pimping. Yes Pimp C’s line, “My bitch is choosy/love her/never fuck without a rubber/never in the sheets/like it on top of the cover” is a line that should never ever be said at a wedding, whether rapped or spoken. But have you seen the video? Have you!? Now THAT’S a wedding. If a song like this gets a wedding like that, my wife and I are definitely dancing to this one.