10 Redemption Songs – Inspired By Chris Brown & the 2010 BET Awards

 •  Bloggers  •  by XXL Staff  •  24 Comments

The 2010 BET Awards show was a night of comebacks. Kanye West opened up the show with a moving performance of his new joint “Power.” This was Mr. West’s first national television since he went on a self-imposed hiatus following his now infamous MTV Video Music Awards meltdown. T.I. returned to the national stage as well after doing a yearlong bid in the big house, but the night of redemption belonged to Chris Brown, whose emotional tribute to Michael Jackson stole the show. After all that, it got me to thinking about some of my favorite redemption songs in hip-hop. Joints with a redeeming quality that helped rappers bounce back from a recent L, a welcome back from the pen, or something that saved their career from falling into the abyss. Here’s what I came up with… —Rondell Conway

Jay-Z “Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)”
Back from retirement in 2006, Hov almost lost one of his biggest fans with the disappointing Kingdom Come. Thankfully, the American gangster got back to business with this one.

Nas “Ether”
Following the debacle that was Nastradamus, God Son’s chief rival, Jay-Z, smelt blood in the water and was coming to snatch the crown from QB’s finest. When the Brooklyn MC dropped the “Takeover,” the beef was on and Nas rose from the depths with “Ether” to resurrect his waning career.

The L.O.X. “Wild Out”
This was the only way the Yonkers trio could erase the memories of the shiny suit era. Street hop at its finest.

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  • yoprince

    “By the time Snoop Dogg released his final No Limit Records album, The Last Meal, I had already pushed away from the dinner table. I just wasn’t feeling what the D-O-Double G was serving up…”

    I saw what you did there.

  • stuckfresh

    No way is Ether bigger then Californialove! Pac came back shooting!

    • General

      Your right that California Love was a bigger hit, but 2pac’s career was in jeporady of dying at that point, he was gonna be huge with or without California Love, where as Nas had lost a lot of respect and Ether revitalized his career and erased a lot of the doubts people had started to have about him…

  • Anonymous

    lol… uh..you’de have to be blind to miss it.

  • The Decatur Dictator

    Ether has become a household name…”You got Ethered son”!!!

  • ff1one@yahoo.com

    I would have to roll with the LOX and maybe TI. This is why. ThE Lox wild out was a major comeback after beefin with diddy. That album itself was incredible. I rode to that album for three months.

    TI rubberband man was big becaue it was a crossover hit that propelled him to the next level after loosing his first deal. Also, ti pushed diddy to the side.

    Ether, …Nah.

    LOL @ benas in roc boys. dude should’ve shut up and drunk the kool aid.

  • http://screwjams.tumblr.com/ cramzy

    come on man, snoop’s nolimit tenure wasn’t that bad. Then again, I was a nolimit stan at the time so maybe I’m blind to it. Game is To Be Sold…is underrated as hell especially if you listen to it these days

  • eesco

    I personally think that its a toss up between T.I. and NaS. It says the most redeemingmoment in the artist careers and i think that tip and esco were hardest against the ropes and their respective songs kind of catapulted them both into the spot light again. I mean prety much put up two bricks in a row with that QB’s finest joint LP and Nastradamus. People were losing a lot of faith in NaS and then Jay dropped “Takeover” I mean NaS was not in a good spot. Then he droppd “Ether” and people went bat shit crazy. As for TIP its kind of a crazy thing being as I live in the south “I’m Serious” was completely not slept on. Every ninja I kno down here was bumping it hard but the rest of the country just didnt see the appeal I guess. Being that his numbers didnt look like what his label wanted he was dropped and ended up doin the underground scene thing again. “Trap Musik” dropped and once again the south was on it hard but it wasnt until “Rubber band man” dropped that he really started to take off. He got that national recognition and its all history from there. So……. yeah TIP and Esco hands down. Everybody else was either still doin alright anywayz or they still havent really been on top as far as a career stand point.

    • yoprince

      ^^nice breakdown.

      i voted for the LOX b/c their entire image was on the line, but i feel your points though.

      sidebar: I want TIP to go back to that “Kingofdasouth” slow flow. As opposed to this “hey, I can really really rap” flow that he’s got going right now. but w/e, i still fux with dude.

      • eesco

        Yo on the real I miss that slow flow too. “Kingofdasouth” is actually my favorite T.I. song.

  • biggamike

    Has anybody else noticed that Nas seems to win the majority of these polls that he’s in? I think he won that best debut album one as well.

  • R.I.P

    Lifes on the Line was recored BEFORE 50 got shot, so why is this on the list?

    • Chris S

      who cares? i hate 50 now but that song was, and still is, one of the “hardest” songs ever

  • da killa

    WTF….MASE? WELCOME BACK? ROSS?? WHERE THE FUCK DID HE GO?

    UMMMMMM HOW ABOUT…”STILL D.R.E.” …..dre was gone like 8 fuckin years and came back with a banger…

    and how u not gonna have “oh boy” by Cam’ron on here….nigga was floatin in Lonely River before droppin that smash wants he signed with the ROC….

    yall buggin

    • El Tico Loco

      I was thinking more like “Next episode” and I did not forget the “Dr Dre presents the aftermath” brick.

      • General

        Next Episode was nice, but “Still Dre” set the tone for that whole CD…

        As soon as you heard those keys drop you knew that Dre was back on that bullshit that made him a legend…

        Next Episode didn’t even drop for 2 more months with the rest of the cd. that just shows that there are a lot of cats on here that didn’t actually live those moments in time…

  • sway-z

    Life’s on the line wasn’t done before 50 got popped, you can look at the video and see he’s still fat without the scar. His real comeback joint was “You not like me”

  • sway-z

    And LL’s biggest comeback was “Momma said knock you out” the nigga started the track off wit “Don’t call it a comeback!!”

  • Really?

    So Snoops Beautiful was better than any song on The Last Meal? Bullshit. True all the other No Limit albums sucked major but The Last Meal only had 1 No Limit song. All the others were straight fire. Kokaine!!! Sugar Free!! Where you been at bruh bruh.

  • GRIPP

    MAN SNOOP ANIT DROPPED A HOT ALBUM SINCE HE LEFT THE TANK. MASTER P REVAMPED SNOOP GOT HIM BACK ON HIS SHIT THAT DIRTYSOUTH/WESTCOAST SHIT. ALL THEM ALBUMS AFTER NOLIMIT HAVE BEEN TRASH I BEEN A SNOOP FAN 4EVER BUT I HAVENT BOUT A SNOOP ALBUM SINCE THE LAST MEAL. THE GAME TO BE SOLD HARD TOP DOGG HARD LAST MEAL HARD SNOOP R AND G AND THOSE OTHER BULLSHIT ALBUMS ARE WACK AS HELL!!!!!

  • Face Phoenix

    Too Easy… Nasir’s Ether was like a tremendous return to form for one of the east coast greatest. 2pac really didn’t lose any fans when he went in to the pen so why was he even listed, his would have been better suited for a Legend is Born list than this one. As for Snoop a better pick for him would have been B@tch Please because he really needed a hit after releasing the “The Doggfather” and that first No Limit Album [Thank God for Dre & Xzibit]. Mase’s was more like a swan song. As for everybody else they more or less really didn’t make a ripple with the choices made on this list. Some of those songs were hits [Rubberband Man, I Shot Ya] but many were just decent but not classic tracks [Wild Out, Roc Boys]. Good idea for a post it just needed a little more thought or better songs to signify the poignant turnaround.

  • Domjell

    Either hands down. Anyone ever notice that Jay recorded Excuse Me Miss after Nas called him out on his track record towards women? Either had an impact on Jay.
    Can’t believe Ross is even mentioned, you fucking up your credibility with that shit. And Mase, c’mon son, get the fuck outta here.

  • VIC

    you’re right Domjell, Nas said “U only seem to be concerned with dissin women, were u abused as a child, scared to smile, they call u ugly?” Ether definitely had an impact on Hov he has mentioned Ether mad times, he said “don’t u know I eat ether and breathe acid, weak bastards.” on that best of both worlds. then he said “Joneses cant keep up, maybe my nigga nas, but i got stronger after ether” on that brooklyn high.. I love Nas but he was definitely fallin off niggaz wasnt believing him no more after nastradamus.. he came back hardbody with Ether.. thank god Memphis Bleek pissed him off and sparked the whole Roc-a-Fella Vs Nas (alone) beef.

  • gripp

    only way 50 can cum back if everybody in g-unit cum back 2gether and due and album all 50 do is talk about killin he better suck his pride up and shake hands and get 2 work on a real G-UNIT ALBUM not that t.o.s bullshit they put out!!!!!! !!!!