“Money comin' fast, we never gettin' sleep”: a qualitative investigation of how sleep is represented in Hip-Hop and rhythm and blues songs

Black individuals in the United States (US) are at increased risk for short sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, poor sleep quality, and sleep apnea than are White individuals — disparities that stem from exposure to toxic stress. Hip-Hop music, such as rap or “rhythm and blues” (R&B), is a cornerstone of Black culture, and has the potential to persuade audience members by conveying values, norms, and expectations through rhyme and repetition. Our aim is to explore how sleep is depicted in popular rap and R&B songs.

We searched songs labeled as “rap” or “R&B” genres with “sleep” in the lyrics on a music sharing website, then sorted by the number of downloads. We identified 178 popular rap and R&B songs that mention sleep.

Each song had been downloaded on average 2.0 million times (SD = 1.9 million). The most common theme had to do with sleep difficulties (33% of songs; “Where the hustlers don't sleep, take cat naps”). The next most common themes had to do with success at the price of sleep, or sleep being attainable after achieving success (12% of songs; “Money comin' fast, we never gettin' sleep”) and romantic relationships (12% of songs; “No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch”), followed by fears associated with sleep (9% of songs; “Pistol by my bed, I'm sleep, but I'm awake”).

Our findings demonstrate that, most commonly, poor sleep habits were portrayed in hip-hop music, which may contribute to social norming of poor sleep among Black individuals, a population already vulnerable to sleep difficulties.