TSOM Episode 18: Sticky Situations...Six Terrible Hip Hop Ballads

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and, for this episode, the TSOM panel readies their playlist in pursuit of the worst hip hop slow jams of all time. The slow jam, "ballad," or "hip hop love song" has been a mainstay in hip hop ever since raucous and rowdy LL Cool J shed his rough veneer to record "I Need Love" in 1987. It showed a vulnerable LL getting in touch with his sensitive side and resonated wildly with a new audience and proved hip hop's ability to jump into new audiences and markets. From there, labels leaned into this new opportunity to seize marketshare. The results varied and, here, we dive toenail polish first into six especially painful examples of the ballads gone wrong.