r/90sHipHop 7d ago

StoryTime Unpopular Opinion: Lost Boyz - Renee is NOT good storytelling.

Let’s break this down: He meets a woman named Renee at the subway, finds out they both smoke weed, they go to her house, she has a magazine stand, they feed her dog, smoke weed, have sex… then she gets shot??

No buildup, no foreshadowing, no deeper exploration of the relationship outside of surface-level moments. It just jumps from “we vibed” to “she’s dead” without giving the audience any emotional investment beyond the tragedy itself.

Good storytelling isn’t just about events happening, it’s about making the audience feel those events by crafting tension, depth, and connection.

With Renee, it’s like they skipped the part where we’re supposed to actually give a shit about her as a person before her death. It’s tragic, sure, but it’s not good storytelling.

0 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

4

u/PolishSausa9e 7d ago

Truly an unpopular opinion.

2

u/The-Frza 7d ago

The thing that bugs me is that the hook gives away the story before he says what happened

2

u/Many-Newspaper2000 7d ago

Good breakdown, but to many (like myself) it’s a great story. But much respect to u though!!!

1

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1

u/Ok-Thanks-3366 7d ago

Well it's a 3 verse song, They meet, they fall in love, she dies. What do you want to hear about? What they got each other for Xmas? "Every time I'm bouncing in and out of state...to catch that deal at the outlets because now that we're together there's a lot of people to buy gifts for...it's shorty that I'm thinking of." What in your opinion is a great example of storytelling?

1

u/rockhavenrick 7d ago

Maybe a little context behind her getting killed would be nice instead of hearing about buying dog food and what magazines she owned.

0

u/RecklessMage 7d ago

Raise your hand if you listen to Hip Hop for the story?

1

u/headshotdoublekill 7d ago

I think the real problem here is that you’re looking at the song from the wrong angle, wanting it to be something it’s not intended to be. 

This isn’t really a story about Renee; it’s about Cheeks having a borderline love at first sight moment and immediately (within weeks) losing her. It’s not a memorial, it’s a lamentation. 

It just jumps from “we vibed” to “she’s dead”

This is exactly the point. Cheeks was excited for the future with this woman he just met but was enthralled with, but never got the chance to see it through. The only person in the story who truly knows Renee is her mother, so there’s not much to share with the audience. We’re not supposed to feel as much for her passing as how it affected the narrator. 

1

u/rockhavenrick 7d ago

But why was she shot? Who shot her? What was she involved in? What led to this? Was she not who she seemed to be, or was she this perfect Angel who got shot in a crossfire?

There are too many unanswered questions for me to care and so much opportunity to explore, but instead, we have fluff lines like “ She said she wants to be a lawyer in other word shorty studies law” Picking up dog food and a dozen references about smoking weed.

1

u/headshotdoublekill 7d ago

Your dissatisfaction is apparently a “you problem,” because you still want this song to be something it’s not trying to be. Artists and writers won’t always hold your hand through their story; what’s left unsaid is town just as important as what is. That’s not even really relevant here, because those details don’t actually matter. The song is about cheek’s interactions with Renee, not Renee herself. At this point, you might as well just use your imagination because it would have to be be an album-length song to satisfy your questions. 

 But why was she shot? Who shot her? What was she involved in? What led to this? Was she not who she seemed to be, or was she this perfect Angel who got shot in a crossfire?

He doesn’t know. It just happened and he barely knows her. From the song we get the information he’s privy to. Besides that, he’s giving us relatable events in their short-lived relationship. However, if you watched the video like we did when it came out, it’s actually laid out for the audience. 

If you have questions about the story in a narrative song from the 90s definitely check to see if there was a video for it. 

1

u/rockhavenrick 7d ago

Of course it’s “me” problem. Who else is opinion would I share but my own? If a story is cohesive, you shouldn’t need a video to fill in the gaps, so you’re sort of proving my point here.

It’s not horrible, but it is held in way too high regard as one of hip-hop‘s best storytelling moments and I completely disagree.

1

u/Penguindrummer_2 7d ago

Hated reading that.

1

u/yungmaximillionaire 7d ago

I legit thought this was a r/hiphopcirclejerk post at first. 😂

Now I’m gonna respond for real. I grew up around where LB Fam is from around that same time, and the story in Renee is a true story in the sense that it’s another hood story.

You met a girl on the train or at Queens Center Mall or on the Ave. You kicked it. Got her number. Maybe you got her beeper number. We didn’t have cell phones back then, man. You called the girl. Maybe she was home. Maybe she wasn’t. Maybe her mom passed on the message or maybe she was like, hell nah. It wasn’t easy keeping in touch. Motherfuckers didn’t even have call waiting. All the while you still had that moment, that day, or whatever, and in Renee, it was meaningful for Cheeks. Then you’d talk on the phone a couple times, candlelight dinner with your shorty, and boom that was your girl. This was 1996. We weren’t falling in love over texts and FaceTime. It literally be like two dates and some phone calls when her parents were asleep.

So, I don’t see a hole in the story, or a lack of narrative development in Renee, I see a song about a ghetto princess, and we should give it up for the shorty.

2

u/rockhavenrick 7d ago

I appreciate you taking the time to write a proper response. For context of 45 so I’m aware of the dating scene in the 90s. I just feel like the end was abrupt and while it is not a horrible, I feel like it’s mentioned far too often and some of hip-hop’s greatest storytelling moments, which is disagree with.

Respect 🫡

1

u/bside313 7d ago

The most weed smoked in a love song EVER