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Down and Out: Sad Hip Hop Songs We Love - Billy Ocean may have been spot-on when he sang about sad songs that make you cry, but he didn’t see the big picture. According to a new study by Frontiers in Psychology, sad music is actually good for us. “If we suffer from unpleasant emotion evoked through daily life, sad music might be helpful to alleviate negative emotion.” See! So the next time you are feeling low, there are a bevy of gloomy hip hop songs that can serve as the perfect pick-me-up. Click on to see the emotional cuts we love to listen to when times are rough.  (Photos from left: Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images, Johnny Nunez/WireImage, Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) 

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Tupac, "Dear Mama" - Tupac once said that when he wrote this song, "It just came out, like tears." And indeed, there was such ease with which his voice danced on the keys of the "Sadie" sample and plucked at the heart strings of truths like: "Ain't a woman alive that could take my mama's place." When he played it for his mom, Afeni Shakur, she cried. When he shared it with the world, via his 1995 Me Against the World album, it became certified platinum and remembered as one of the best in his catalogue. (Photo: Death Row Records)

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Jay-Z, "Song Cry" - "Can't see it rolling down my eyes/ so I gotta let this song cry," Jay-Z explains as "Song Cry" opens over a Just Blaze beat. It was on his sixth studio album, The Blueprint (a live version also placed on Jay-Z: Unplugged), and it was the first time he devoted an entire track to flipping his "Big Pimpin'" hustler image into that of a Clyde who may actually one day find his Bonnie.(Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Made With Elastic)

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Lost Boyz, "Renee" - In one of the best examples of hip hop storytelling in a singular song, the Lost Boyz give life to an around-the-way princess named Renee. Though the narration of simultaneous hope and despair ends in tragedy, it makes it all the more poignant in the delivery of its lesson: "Ghetto love is the law that we live by."(Photo: Uptown Records)

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Tupac, "So Many Tears" - The folksy, wailing harmonica in "So Many Tears" (pulled from Stevie Wonder's "That Girl") is the instrumental epitome of 'Pac's ability to make "thug life" a universal experience. For a lyrical example, there's this line: "Disillusioned lately, I've been really wanting babies, so I can see a part me that wasn't always shady."(Photo: Steve Eichner/Getty Images)

Photo By Steve Eichner/Getty Images

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Notorious B.I.G., "Suicidal Thoughts" - B.I.G.'s debut, Ready to Die, leads up to a final gunshot and fading heartbeat on the album's last track, "Suicidal Thoughts," in which the Notorious One dismisses a call from Puff as he lambastes himself for stealing from his mom, cheating on his girl, and smoking too much of the buddha over a Lord Finesse beat. We can feel how tormenting such depression can be in how he describes the most basic mother-son interaction: "Sucking on her chest just to stop my f---ing hunger." (Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)

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D.R.S., "Gangsta Lean" - Although technically an R&B song, the drunk kit and content on Dirty Rotten Scoundrel's "Gangsta Lean" made it oh so hip hop. "This is for my homies," they crooned. "See you when I get there." The song helped propel their 1993 album of the same name to No. 34 on Billboard's Top 200.(Photo: Capitol Records)

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Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112, "I'll Be Missing You" - Within weeks of Biggie's shocking death, Puff Daddy released this Grammy-winning, seven-times platinum, chart-topping single. We knew it was a sincere, emotional release when the business mogul let it fly without even clearing the Police sample "Every Breath You Take." (Photo: AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

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Eminem, "Stan" - Eminem has killed off a lot of people on his records, but there's usually a hint of funny with his anger. On "Stan" however, British singer Dido assists with an eerie melancholia as Em reflects on the price of fame, splitting verses about his interaction with his biggest fan, Stan.(Photo: Interscope Records)

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Ghostface featuring Mary J. Blige, "All That I Got Is You" - In his first single as a solo artist (placed on his 1996 Ironman debut), Ghost uses his signature lyrical style to give vivid life to a man, who now has children, reflecting on his own childhood raised by a mother and grandmother. ("Grab the pliers for the channel, fix the hanger on the TV/ Rockin' each others pants to school wasn't easy," he rhymed.) Mary J.'s soulful vocals add a touch of gratitude to his humility. (Photo: Fergus McDonald/Getty Images)

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Immortal Technique, "Dance With the Devil" - Immortal Technique tells the tale of Billy Jacobs to show what happens when you "rape, murder, and sell rock." It's uncomfortable to listen to, not because of his flow, or the Mobb Deep "Survival of the Fittest" and Francis Lai "Love Story" samples, but because by the end, Billy has raped his own mother and committed suicide and Tech stood by and watched it all unfold.(Photo: Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

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Eve featuring Faith Evans, "Love Is Blind" - Eve's debut, Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryder's First Lady, included one of the most somber Swizz Beatz songs you'll ever hear as she tackles domestic violence on "Love Is Blind." Faith Evans smooths it out with some compassionate advice: "Love is blind, and it will take over your mind/ What you think is love, is truly not/ You need to elevate and find." (Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week)

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DMX, "I Miss You" - DMX's already gruff and emotional voice adds to the catharsis on this cut from his The Great Depression that was dedicated to his grandmother. He uses his verses to talk to Faith Evans, who steps in to play the part of a reassuring matriarch, singing "Baby, it'll be OK."(Photo: VH1)

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Pete Rock and CL Smooth, "T.R.O.Y." - "When they reminisce over you, my God." In hip hop circles, this is one of the most beloved songs for the homies we've lost. Pete Rock and CL Smooth penned this one after the sudden, accidental death of Heavy D & the Boyz' Troy "Trouble T Roy" Dixon. The saxophone uplifts on this matter-of-fact celebration of life, the preferred way of many societies to reflect on death.(Photos from left: Jerritt Clark/WireImage, Mat Szwajkos/Getty Images) 

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Kanye West, "Hey Mama" - Before the tragic passing of Kanye's mother, Donda West, he dedicated this Late Registration cut to her. "Hey mama, I wanna scream so loud for you," he spit ... "you're so beautiful to me, like a book of poetry." In his first live performance of the song after her 2007 death, he broke down in tears. (Photo: PacificCoastNews.com)

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Bone Thugs N Harmony, "Crossroads" - The saddest thing about this song is that a good number of us don’t know the words to it. Even though it’s one of our favorites, Bone Thug’s rapid-fire flow didn’t offer many quotable lines, but man was that hook catchy. So infectious it drove this 1995 single to No. 1 on the Billboard 100 chart. Lack of lyrical comprehension aside, this hip hop classic told a tale we know all too well — death in the Black community.(Photo: Ruthless Records)

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Tupac, "Brenda's Got a Baby" - Oh, how times have changed. While teens today are gaining fame for being 16 and pregnant, Tupac was making music 20 years ago trying to warn youngsters off that path. This 1991 single told the cautionary tale of a runaway teenage mom who was a victim of neglect and physical and sexual abuse, only to meet her death in the streets as a prostitute.(Photo: Death Row Records)

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DMX, "Slippin'" - The melancholy horns on this 1998 single grip you immediately as DMX preaches about surviving pain and suffering. X kicks the cold facts about his troubled upbringing (“Group homes and institutions prepared my a-- for jail”) as an angelic voice offers reassuring words on the hook, (“The Lord forgives you now.”)(Photo: John Ricard / BET)

Photo By John Ricard / BET

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T.I., "Live in the Sky" - Personal tragedy inspired this touching single from T.I.’s 2006 album, King. Following the awful murder of his best friend, Philant “Big Phil” Johnson, Tip turned to music to cope with his loss. Jamie Foxx lends a helping hand on the hook singing about life’s ups and downs. (Photo: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for BET)

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Nas, "Dance" - To anyone who’s lost a parent, a mother in this case, Nas delivers a real tear-jerker with this touching ode to his late mom, Ann Jones. “One more dance with you mama” is all the Queensbridge MC is asking for as soothing cords tug at heart strings.(Photo: Shareif Ziyadat/FilmMagic)

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Drake, "Look What You've Done" - Drake delivers a powerful message over subtle keys as he reflects on his not-as-easy-as-you-think upbringing. The Toronto native pays homage to some very important woman in his life, his mother, aunt and late grandmother. The track even features a cameo from Drizzy’s grannie Evelyn Sher as she leaves him a tender message. “All I can say Aubrey is I remember the good times we had together…” Sher passed away on Thanksgiving Day in 2012.  (Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images For The Recording Academy)