Friendship doesn’t play as high a role in hip-hop as the themes of love and lust, however each appearance gives an extroverted, realistic insight into the ups and downs of friendship, unachievable in the more clean-cut genres.
Whether you’re cherishing the people around you, or questioning who your true friends really are, our list of hip hop songs about friendship crosses the eras and covers it all.
Hip Hop Songs About Friendship
1. Ty Dolla $ign & Mustard ft. Lil Durk – My Friends
This three-way collab from Ty Dolla $ign, Mustard & Lil Durk celebrates close-knit friendships alongside the mutual support natural to a wide group of trustworthy friends;
“On top of the world, me and my clique, got it out the mud, now we all lit, this how it feel to be rich black and popping, f*** your feelings, I can hear the money calling me and my friends.”
Backlit by themes of overcoming turmoil and gaining success together, this bass-heavy hip-hop track is an anthem for any group celebrating the strong and unique bonds they’ve built which only lead them further into achievement.
2. Biz Markie – Just A Friend
Biz Markie’s old-school hip-hop track, Just A Friend, is studded with an ever-relevant message regarding manipulation and cheating girlfriends.
Against a quirky piano beat, this contagiously catchy track unravels the anecdotes of a man catching his girlfriend through the various stages of adultery, from texting, flirting to full-on cheating.
Markie crafts his titling ‘friend’ concept out of the girlfriend’s lies, lining his track with an assertive life lesson to the listener;
“So I came to her room and opened the door, oh snap! Guess what I saw? A fella tongue-kissing my girl in the mouth, I was so in shock my heart went down south, so please listen to the message that I say: don’t ever talk to a girl who says she just has a friend.”
3. Rich The Kid – Dead Friends
Rich The Kid’s release, Dead Friends, uses its morbid title metaphor to expose the cut-throat attitude of the hip-hop industry during an artist’s rise to success.
This is a track motivated by pure achievement at any costs, even if it means enduring lethal levels of trauma, making competitors out of comrades and stepping on friends to rise above them;
“You little n*****, my check bigger, can’t flex, n****, can’t bet witcha… All them dead friends, you a middleman, you a little man, your money getting shorter.”
4. Whodini – Friends
Another classic track, Whodini’s 1984 single, Friends, may not have aged too well since its initial release, but is nevertheless a stunning example of the genre’s simpler roots, carrying an array of timeless sentiments each retaining their truth to this day.
This track dissects what it means to be a friend to another, whilst dedicating equal time to exposing toxicity, leech-like behaviour and the struggle of balancing friendship with romance;
“A friend’s somebody you judge for yourself, some are ok and they treat you real cool, and some mistake your kindness for being a fool … It could’ve lasted longer because it started out strong… Out of nowhere it just came to an end, because we became lovers before we were friends.”
Whodini’s chorus gathers a lifetime of experience into a moment of reflection, encouraging us to count our blessings and let liabilities go; “Friends – how many of us have them? Friends – ones we can depend on. Friends – before we go any further, let’s be friends.”
5. Young Thus – Best Friend
Young Thug’s 2015 single, Best Friend, anchors its chorus in the act of parading a trophy female friend to the world.
While Young Thug’s message is inherently vile from a feminist stance, focusing upon it in an innocence light reveals a message of pure appreciation and enchantment by a best friend whom you’re proud to have in your life;
“That’s my best friend, that’s my best friend, flexing, big ol’ booty bitch missus from Texas… That’s my bestie, my best friend, go best friend… Bad bitch rolling wit’ me, she gon’ smile ’cause she on fleek.”
6. Kanye West ft. Ty Dolla $ign – Real Friends
From his iconic album, The Life Of Pablo, Kanye West’s 2016 track, Real Friends, poses a profound rhetorical question to the listener in its first moments, before unravelling his hypotheses through a bittersweet series of anecdotes;
“Real friends, how many of us? How many of us, how many jealous? Real friends, it’s not many of us, we smile at each other but how many honest?”
Padded by a celestial, trance-like beat, Real Friends explores fizzled relationships between life-long friends who fail to be honest about their broken communication;
“When was the last time I remembered a birthday? When was the last time I wasn’t in a hurry? … I couldn’t tell you how old your daughter was, couldn’t tell you how old your son is, I got my own Jr. on the way, dawg, plus I already got one kid … Merry Christmas, then I’m finished, then it’s back to business, you wanna ask some questions ’bout some real s***? Like I ain’t got enough pressure to deal with.”
7. DJ Khaled ft. Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne – No New Friends
DJ Khaled’s star-studded anthem No New Friend is soaked in the fresh, feel-good energy of a friendship group content with the bond they’ve built;
“Stay down with my day one n*****, and we in the club screaming no new friends … I still ride with my day one n*****, I don’t really need no new friends … Fuck all y’all n***** except my n***** … Fuck a fake friend where your real friends at?.”
Threaded with the hip-hop’s trademark theme of ‘making it,’ Drake’s stand-out verse is detailed with the no-limits banter between true friends, crafting a track for any clique appreciating their riches;
“I’m proud of my n*****, knew we would make it never doubted my n*****, all my bitches love me, if I had a baby mama she would probably be richer than a lot of you n*****, aye, that’s luxury dawg, day one n***** you’re stuck with me dawg.”