A Recent History of Rappers Crying in Public

Image via Complex Original

Date: April 2013

Iyanla and DMX confront a number of issues surrounding him, from problems with his mother, to being institutionalized at seven years old, to his drug addiction. He breaks down when talking about his relationship with his mother and the struggles he's faced to love just one woman.

Date: December 2012

Big Sean took the stage at the Palace of Auburn Hills and when he performs "Memories" and "My Last," his voice starts to crack, then he takes a seat on stage and starts to cry. "I just worked so fucking hard," he says on the mic.

Date: July 2012

During an appearance on MTV's RapFix Live, Sway played Lupe Fiasco a six-year-old clip of Lupe on the show My Block. Like the title suggests, the clip shows Lupe giving a tour of his hometown, Chicago. The footage left Lupe in tears, taking a few minutes to collect himself. "Some of them dudes is dead," he said. "Chicago's the murder capital. The dudes in that video are in prison, a couple of fed cases, and then there's ghosts. You see people that ain't there."

Date: April 2012

Watching DMX on VH1's Couples Therapy is hard, especially in this episode where he breaks down to therapist Dr. Jenn Berman about his relationship with his mother. "I just wanted to say..." he said, "I just wanted to say, 'Mommy.'" He went on to admit that his mother never told him that she loved him, and as expected, a lot of tears followed.

Date: July 2011

Leave it to Charlamagne Tha God to take shots at Lil Mama for being cocky without having accomplished much. All it took was a few calls from her fans asking where she has been and telling her she needs to get back to making music. You can watch the pain in her face above and when Angela Yee asks her if she's even focused on music, Lil Mama starts to break down.

"When I was 17-years-old, I put out an album while my mother was dying of cancer," Lil Mama said through tears. "That right there alone is a struggle. That’s hard. That’s tough for anybody, but my music will speak for itself. My actions will speak for itself, my mother will be proud, my father will be proud at the end of the day."

Date: June 2011

This isn't the first time that Kanye West is brought to tears while singing "Hey Mama," a song he wrote for his mother, Donda, before she passed. This performance at the Milwaukee Summerfest is sad from the start, and becomes absolutely heartbreaking when 'Ye drops to his knees mid-performance.

Date: April 2011

Kanye West says it himself—"I couldn't wait to perform 'Power' at Coachella. This is the most important show to me since my mom passed." His speech to fans takes an emotional turn when he talks about how much he appreciates his supporters, and that he wants the best music possible.

Date: January 2011

When he was finally famous, Big Sean did a meet-and-greet on the same night as a performance in Toronto. As Sean entered the event, the screaming of fans brought him to tears while on the mic addressing the crowd.

Date: November 2010

During her My Time Now documentary, Nicki Minaj is asked about her grandmother and she tears up. In true Nicki form, she checks herself in the mirror, but watching her cry is tough. The interviewer asks if her grandmother would be proud of her and she can barely get out an answer.

Date: September 2009

After the fiasco that was Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift at the MTV VMAs, 'Ye went to The Jay Leno Show to apologize. When Leno asked him what his late mother would have thought of his actions, it took Kanye a few seconds to regroup before even being able to answer Leno's questions.

Date: May 2009

While Maino was on tour, his best friend got shot in the back by the police and has been paralyzed ever since. He took the stage at a club in Long Island and when "All The Above" started to play, Maino fell to his knees with emotions.

Date: July 2008

Game broke down when talking about how he tried to rally rappers to appear on a track about the 2006 Sean Bell shooting, people weren't interested. "Hip-hop didn't used to be like this, man. I just get so angry that hip-hop is in the state of emergency that it's in, because people just don't care anymore." 

Date: June 2008

This conversation between former G-Unit artist Young Buck and 50 Cent is painful (and hilarious) to hear. Buck begs forgiveness, saying, "I understand I done got off track. I don't know what to do. A n***a just want that same family feel like it's always been. I know I'm outta line. I don't want you to dismember me from the crew. Honestly...I'm just trying to make you happy." Ouch.

Date: November 2007

Just one week after Donda West passed, Kanye West took the stage in Paris and sang "Hey Mama." His backup singers and A-Trak came to support him on stage, but it's devastating to watch.