Top 10 Sentimental Rap Songs

"Bonita Applebum" finds ATCQ romanticizing a calm, thumping drumbeat. With his nasal flow and soothing delivery, Q-Tip spills poetic excerpts, masterfully pausing between lines for ardor.

Just when you thought Hov was all about money, cash, h*s (he actually is), he pulls out his storytelling hat and struts a classic rap love song. Although Jay's defiant persona is alive here (instead of shedding the tears himself, he makes the song cry), he's sentimental enough to concede being called "ugly" by the gold-digging female in this story.

DJ Honda dismantles a gritty sonic template and rebuilds it with funky jazz fragments. The result is a lush mix of harmonic samples and a cool street hip-hop drum track. Mos takes advantage of the shimmering production, as he seamlessly seesaws between rapping and singing about this journey called life.

Following Eazy-E's demise in March of 1995, his disciples Bone Thugs-N-Harmony unleashed this moody masterpiece in honor of the late west coast vet and other fallen soldiers.

This jazzyfied hip-hop crew was the first to rhyme about daisies and dames and make it sound, oh so sweet. De La's candy-coated musings over lush soulful samples (notably from Otis Redding's "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay") made it trendy to declare sweet affection for that "special person" without losing credibility.

Ditching the conventional 32-bar structure for a long-running verse, Ghost drops genuinely emotional lyrics about crashing in a congested apartment with his mom and plucking roaches out of cereal boxes. No hard-hitting drums, no anti-swine-eating vignettes. Just Mary J. Blige's tear-jerk crooning and GFK's emotion-laden words.

Pac made it cool for rappers to glorify their moms in the 90s, as he pats mama on the back for attempting to liberate him from the perils of street life. Shakur's soulful lyrics make "Dear Mama" a sentimental hip-hop masterpiece.

Set atop a soundbed of Spandau Ballet's "True" and Eric B & Rakim's "Paid in Full," PM Dawn dreams up a world that is both reflective and sentimental. Ultimately, "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" is about releasing old attachments and reliving them in one's memory.

This 1987 smash, often heralded as the first true hip-hop love song, is a reminder that Cool J has been swinging the "L" to the ladies for decades.

Insane horn riffs. Shimmering cymbals. Soulful samples. You just know it's Pete Rock's unmistakable craftsmanship. On the other end, C.L. Smooth channels controlled emotion through the mic on this funeral favorite. Even though C.L. swears he's "noddin' off, sleep to a jazz tune," this is melancholy elegy at its finest.