Inferno 😈🔥 II: More Songs Reppin’ 9 Circles of Hell | Playlist 🎧

First Circle: Limbo

Limbo is part of the Roman Catholic theology – it’s not part of other Christian beliefs.  According to Encyclopædia Brittanica, limbo is “the border place between heaven and hell where dwell those souls who, though not condemned to punishment, are deprived of the joy of eternal existence with God in heaven.” Of the first circle, Matt Staggs writes in the feature, A Visitor’s Guide to Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell, “The first circle is home to the unbaptized and virtuous pagans. It’s not Heaven, but as far as Hell goes, it isn’t too bad.”

1. Sam Hunt, “Sinning with You”

💿 Southside • 🏷 UMG Recordings, Inc. • 🗓 2020

With 🎵 “Sinning with You”, the 10^th track from 💿 Southside, the long-awaited sophomore album by 🎙 Sam Hunt, it seems as if the country singer is definitely ‘in-between.’ Okay, maybe it’s not technically limbo but basically, there’s both good and bad covered in this record.  Positively, Hunt sounds terrific, delivering expressive, nuanced, and incredibly masculine vocals.  ‘Heavenly’ as that is, it’s the dedication to his wifey with his romantic, sensitive, and thoughtfulness that sort of confirms that heavenliness.

Of course, Hunt also sort of damns himself too – 👿.  He’s definitely sensual, and while it’s referencing his wife (1 Corinthians 7:3: The husband should meet his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should do the same for her husband.), the lust also gets mixed up with spirituality, which also at least dips into HERESY.

“Your body was baptized, so disenfranchised
I was your favorite confession.”

In addition to baptism and confession, Hunt mentions Yeshua (verse one), forgiveness (verse two), and The Holy Spirit (bridge).  Blasphemy or not it makes a compelling record.  Just a little sinning here and there – Christian ✝ enough, right?

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Second Circle: Lust

Per 🔗 Seven Deadly Sins, LUST is “an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.” The thing is, honestly, we didn’t need to visit to site to understand what lust is.  We’ve all experienced it at some point, right? 👉👌 … 🍩🍌 … BTW, these sex emoji combinations are pretty 🔥, particularly if you don’t particularly give a 💩 about being damned to hell 😈.

But if you do care 😇, just remember, per ✝ 1 Corinthians 6:18 (CEB) to avoid sexual immorality! Every sin that a person can do is committed outside the body, except those who engage in sexual immorality commit sin against their own bodies. Woo – that’s tough!

2. Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”

🎵 “WAP” • 🏷 Atlantic • 🗓 2020

“There’s some whores in this house! / There’s some whore’s in this house!” Welp, those lyrics are enough by themselves to damn 🎙 Cardi B and 🎙 Megan Thee Stallion to the second circle of hell, LUST. 🎵 “WAP” definitely had everyone’s undivided attention! Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are known for their fiercely, sexed-up personas, and “WAP” shows them straight-up flexing. Modesty is never the modus operandi on this former no. 1 hit with “whores” being the first word of the song on the intro (the record samples 🎵 “Whores in This House” by 🎙 Frank Ski). Cardi B asserts at the end of the intro, “Wet-ass pussy, make that pullout game weak, woo.” Day-um!

Cardi goes on to speak about the wetness on the chorus, while on the first verse, she asserts, “Hop on top, I wanna ride / I do a Kegel while it’s inside.” Oh snap! As for Megan Thee Stallion, on the second verse, she begins with a bang: “Gobble me, swallow me, drip down the side of me / Quick, jump out ‘fore you let it get inside of me.”  It doesn’t stop there as both have additional verses with absolutely shocking, highly sexual lyrics. Such ‘freaky’ perspectives won’t be relatable to everyone, though credit these women for freely expressing their sexual desires like men frequently do.  Still, won’t save them from the fire according to Dante, sigh.

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3. Trey Songz, “Cats Got My Tongue”

💿 Back Home • 🏷 Atlantic • 🗓 2020

“Oh, I need to eat / Claws, bite, please no teeth / All night between the sheets…” MEOW 😺! Smoking (“Smoke a ‘Backwood’ when the cat good”) and sex play a key role on 🎵 “Cats Got My Tongue,” a highlight from 💿 Back Home, the eighth studio album by R&B standout 🎙 Trey Songz.  The problem is, Trey’s lust and pronounced sexual innuendo will do nothing but ultimately punish his soul.  That’s right.  He’ll be stuck alongside with Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion (“WAP”), and Ryan Beatty (“Flowers at the Door”) in the second circle of hell for all eternity! Totally damned!

While the title plays off the classic expression/idiom, Trey is being more literal.  The cat he’s referencing is certainly a different sort of pussy 😺…  Sorry – couldn’t resist! This slow jam is freaky but totally enjoyable – oops, might be damning myself by approving of such lustfulness!

“I can’t even speak when the cat got my tongue
Is that what you want from me to show you my love?
Not sayin’ too much because your cat got my tongue
All night between the sheets, uh
I can’t even speak when the cat’s got my tongue.”

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Third Circle: Gluttony

According to 🔗 Seven Deadly Sins, GLUTTONY is described as “an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.”  As previously stated on 🎧 Inferno: 13 Songs Representing the 9 Circles of Hell, 🎙 Common does a bang up job expanding upon gluttony on his song, 🎵 “7 Deadly Sins” (copy and paste, baby).

He asserts:

“Now the myth about the fifth: it only happens when we eat
It’s gluttony, this is how it happens on the street
It’s a dude that’s getting paid in full, cars and jewels
So his plate is full, but the way this nigga move
He is never full and he gon’ want your food
Don’t overdo it, that's an underrated rule.”

🎤💧!!!

4. The Weeknd, “Alone Again”

💿 After Hours • 🏷 Republic • 🗓 2020

Typically, when one thinks gluttony, we think of overconsumption of food. At a buffet or on Thanksgiving, many of us are gluttons.  However, if we expand our views, glutton can be overconsumption of various things, something that Common also confirms.  For three-time, Grammy-winning, Canadian R&B artist 🎙 The Weeknd, his gluttony on 🎵 “Alone Again” is understandable to some extent but ultimately, damnable to the third circle of hell.

“Take off my disguise / I’m living someone else’s life / Suppressing who I was inside…” The opener from 💿 After Hours sets the tone of the album, commencing in incredibly moody, enigmatic fashion.  Narratively, The Weeknd is in a compromised state, a combination of loneliness (“I don’t know if I can be alone again / I don’t know if I can sleep alone again”) and drug use (“Check my pulse for second time / I took too much, I don’t wanna die”).  The drug use is what lands him in the third circle, particularly since he’s concerned about mortality.  Excess (and gluttony, again) is key as he’s willing to pay for sex to atone for loneliness and overdosing on drugs.  With the sexual component, “Alone Again” could’ve also sealed Abel Tesfaye’s in the second circle of hell. Just sayin’.

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Fourth Circle: Greed 

Greed is described as “the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual,” according to 🔗 Seven Deadly Sins.  Honestly, there have been so many songs written on this very topic.  That said, for this hellish section of INFERNO 😈🔥 II, we limit it to only one greedy song.

5. Future & Lil Uzi Vert, “Plastic”

💿 Pluto x Baby Pluto • 🏷 Atlantic / Epic • 📅 2020 

If you have faith that seven is indeed a lucky and special number, perhaps that’s the reason that 🎵 “Plastic” stands out on 💿 Pluto x Baby Pluto.  “Plastic” is the seventh track on the collaborative project by 🏆 Grammy-winning rapper 🎙 Future and 🏆 Grammy-nominated rapper, 🎙 Lil Uzi Vert.  From the start, the record is quite a vibe thanks to great production work courtesy of 🎙 London On Da Track.  Sigh, that classy orchestral palette backing Future and Lil Uzi Vert is pretty sweet.  Also, pretty sweet are the flows by both rappers.  Okay, that’s the redeeming, non-sinful portion of the script.  Now for the damnation – the HELLFIRE 🔥🔥🔥!

“Yeah, Cartier / Yeah, purple tint / … Yeah, I’m too lit / Yeah, got your bitch…”  Yes, Future and Lil Uzi Vert give us mad flows.  What they eschew is substance, focusing mostly on drip 💧 and sex 👉👌, hence, solidifying their respective spots as part of the roster of the starting squad in circle four of HELL!  In the process of being greedy, both rappers qualify for other circles of hell.  For example, when Future asserts, “Yeah, Coupe dirty / Yeah, the drank dirty / Gotta buy the case,” he also falls into third circle, GLUTTONY.  Later, when he brags, “I got two Glocks on me, K-Ci, JoJo” (or more specifically, “Two FN’s”), he also solidifies his spot in the seventh circle, VIOLENCE.  As for Lil Uzi, not only is he greedy with “Gettin’ them racks / Yeah, spendin’ them racks,” he also fits the second circle, LUST, bragging, “I got a bitch for every week and all my bitches freak / I got a bitch for every day of the week.” I’m pretty sure that Dante wouldn’t approve of Lil Uzi Vert and his multiple bitches in any way, shape, or form.

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Fifth Circle: Anger (Wrath) 

Anger (wrath) is “manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury,” per 🔗 Seven Deadly Sins. Yep – couldn’t have said it better myself.

6. K. Michelle, “That Game”

💿 All Monsters are Human • 🏷 Chase Landin / No Color No Sound • 📅 2020

On 🎵 “That Game,” the second track from 💿 All Monsters are Human, 🎙 K. Michelle remains ‘rough around the edges’ – blunt AF.  Basically, on this 🎙 Drumma Boy production, she’s an angry ex.  The question is, is she a vindictive, angry ex? Well, she’s not particularly perturbed by the end of the relationship but she makes it clear that she thinks her ex is a loser.  I say that to say, perhaps K. Michelle nor her lame ex may not actually qualify for the fifth circle. Still, as Matt Staggs interprets it, hilariously (A Visitor’s Guide to Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell), “Be prepared to hoist the Jolly Roger and go to war against that one guy in line who yelled at your favorite barista, and the road rage-possessed driver who very nearly rear-ended you last week.”

Regardless, there are no shortage of memorable, if risqué one-liners, including the scathing “Got a new joystick, since you wanna play,” as well as the bold chorus, “And I hope she fucks you good / As good as my nigga fucks me / ‘Cause you found a new bitch, you could control like 2K.” Clearly, K. Michelle is, um, unhappy with him.

7. The Chicks, “Set Me Free”

💿 Gaslighter • 🏷 Columbia • 📅 2020

“Decency / Would be for you to sign and release me / If you ever loved me.” Sounds like 🎙 The Chicks – specifically 🎙 Natalie Maines – definitely need to experience a certain degree of freedom. It’s no secret that Maines has been entangled in a messy divorce, and on 💿 Gaslighter, the group formerly known as Dixie Chicks, reflects the turbulence.  Honestly, on 🎵 “Set Me Free,” it sounds as if Maines’ ex- is being a total dick, playing right into the characterizations of the fifth circle of hell.

“Don’t you feel you’re wasting time? / You have the power to make it right.” “Set Me Free” is Maines’ plea to her ex to end the drama, messiness, and legal battles associated with their separation.  This is a beautiful, thoughtful, and incredibly sincere ballad about a totally undesirable situation.  Essentially, Natalie just wants to move on and get past this.

“Just because you’ve been a bad guy
I’ve seen it with my own eyes
There’s a good guy in there.”

C’mon man! Don’t be an asshole – set her free already! Furthermore, save yourself from the fifth circle of hell according to Dante 😉 😜 !!!

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Sixth Circle: Heresy

In the Encyclopædia Brittanica article Roman Catholicism, heresy is described as “the obstinate denial by a professed, baptized Christian of a revealed truth or of that which the Roman Catholic Church has proposed as a revealed truth.” That’s a pretty sweet definition, but for the purposes of INFERNO 😈🔥 II: MORE SONGS REPPIN’ 9 CIRCLES OF HELL, we’re going to make a few adjustments.

For our purposes, we’re not going all hardcore to find a Catholic musician who’s denounced the faith – ain’t nobody got time for that! We will, however, a songs in this circle who have a bone to pick with God/religion.

8. Behemoth, “Havohej Pantocrator”

💿 I Loved You at Your Darkest • 🏷 Metal Blade • 🗓 2018 

“Our father, who art in hell / Unhallowed be thy name / Thy legions come / Thy enemies begone / On earth as it is in the netherworld.” Certainly NOT The Lord’s Prayer 🎙 Behemoth! That’s HERESY 101 if I do say so myself, 🎙 Nergal 🚫 ✝. Throughout their brilliant 2018 album, 💿 I Loved You at Your Darkest, metal collective Behemoth consistently exhibit anti-Christian and anti-religion sentiments.  According to the front man, “It doesn’t get more blasphemous than this”. True and hella damning. A prime example of this blasphemy is the song at hand, 🎵 “Havohej Pantocrator.”

If Nergal were ‘playing nice,’ that title should be Christ [Jehovah] Pantocrator. Ultimately, it’s a clever reverse of a famous icon – ‘Havohej’ is merely ‘Jehovah’ spelled backwards.  As for Pantocrator,  it simply means “the omnipotent lord of the universe: almighty ruler.”  Put the two together, and Behemoth are clearly crowning the Antichrist as the supreme deity.

“By thou holy name, Satan
And his command
Heaven shall burn!
By thou holy name, Lucifer
At his command
Heaven shall blaze!”

Hmm, could a case be made for Nergal and Behemoth to be damned deeper in the pits of hell per Dante’s Inferno?

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Seventh Circle: Violence 

According to Matt Staggs (A Visitor’s Guide to Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell), “Dante was being kind of a dick when it came to designing” the seventh circle of hell, Violence.  A very big dick indeed, Matt… questionable choice of words, sorry! The damned of the seventh circle of hell, according to the poet, included murderers, committers of suicide, blasphemers, and sodomites.  Interesting… 🤔

Arguably, this is the most controversial circle.  Perhaps you see where Dante is going with the murderers. But beyond that… an entire can of worms is opened.  Let’s explore a bit, shall we? 

9. Ryan Beatty, “Flowers at the Door”

💿 Dreaming of David • 🏷 Boy in Jeans / Mad Love / Interscope • 🗓 2020

“Draw on the pages, I won’t erase it / I want your mark on me, eternal.” Um…hallelujah 🙌? 💿 Dreaming of David, the sophomore album by openly gay pop singer/songwriter 🎙 Ryan Beatty didn’t get much buzz.  Regardless, 🎵 “Flowers at the Door” is a pretty ‘hot’ (and definitely horny) record worth mentioning – a perfect fit for this fiery Inferno 🔥 based affair.

Beatty totally ‘feels some type of way’ about this particular guy, enjoying a hot, freaky, and steamy sexual experience (“Our heads connected, I got the message / You had your hands around my skull /…I look up to you when I’m below”). That sexual experience (*cough* oral *cough*) is artfully executed sans profanity, but definitely “not that innocent,” Britney! What I’m saying is, according to Dante, Beatty, minimally would find himself in the second circle of hell with this one (LUST)!

Unfortunately, as stated above, read deeper into Dante’s judgmental work (a masterpiece mind you, but definitely judgmental), and homosexuals find themselves in the seventh circle, VIOLENCE. Really Dante, like WTF man? So, in his eyes, those who were lustful but ‘straight’ don’t get the same fate as those who are gay and enjoy sex differently? Apparently. Anyways, important to remember is that attitudes towards members of the LGBTQIA community have changed for the better in many places, though still not nearly enough – there’s still work to be done.

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10.Declan McKenna, “Paracetamol”

💿 What Do You Think About the Car? • 🏷 Columbia • 🗓 2017

“…A boy, fifteen with a gun in his hand / And the people with no audience say should be hanged…” 🎵 “Paracetamol” is arguably most moving song from 💿 What Do You Think About the Car?, the debut album by British singer/songwriter 🎙 Declan McKenna.  Situational, numerous relevant topics are covered throughout the song, including suicide.  Like the sodomites referenced in the aforementioned example, per Dante, those who commit suicide, find themselves damned to the seventh circle.  Ugh… seems like an oversimplification, especially considering this particular song.

“...A girl, fifteen, with her head in a noose
Because she’s damned to live, well she’s damned to choose.”

The significance of the girl leads to the subject of love, which takes on a number of meanings contextually, including acceptance, embracement, and various relationships.  “Paracetamol” was influenced by the death of Leelah Alcorn, an Ohio transgender teen whose story affected the world.  This record is aimed at building respect and acceptance of the LGBTQIA community. Paracetamol itself is a pain reliever, and its role on the record can be interpreted multiple ways. What is crystal clear is that McKenna seeks to ease the pain of an unfairly marginalized, troubled community.

Clearly, back in Dante’s days, things would’ve been far worse for members of the LGBTQIA, particularly those who are transgender.  Honestly, it’s quite disturbing.  Clearly, there were far fewer straight allies – only those judgmental folks ready to lump those who are ‘different’ alongside murderers.  Hopefully both ‘surprising’ entries are food for thought – that’s my intent.

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Eighth Circle: Fraud 

Within Inferno, the eighth circle, fraud, is divided into Bolgias, where souls are damned for pandering, seducing, flattering, simony, false prophesy, political corruption, hypocrisy, thievery, and much more.  That’s a whole lot of fraud if I do say so myself!

11. Frank Turner, “Make America Great Again”

💿 Be More Kind • 🏷 Universal Music Operations • 🗓 2018

“Well, I know I’m just an ignorant Englishman / But I’d like to make America great again.” Indeed, singer/songwriter 🎙 Frank Turner is English, but he offers common sense solutions on his major-key, anti-Trump anthem, 🎵 “Make America Great Again” from his 2018 album, 💿 Be More Kind.  Let me make it clear that this list isn’t about damning specific individuals to the fiery pit – not my jam in the least.  That said, it is fair for a number of people to raise issues with the politics of the 45^th president of the United States who ultimately lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.  Those politics, which many in America (and outside of America) have been considered corrupt, which fits the fraud characterization.

After confirming his status as ‘an outsider looking in’ to repair a purported broken America, Frank Turner offers the first solutions on the epic chorus:

“Let’s make America great again
By making racists ashamed again
Let’s make compassion in fashion again
Let’s make America great again.”

The big takeaway? Be More Kind.  On the second verse, he denounces Trump and Trumpism, brilliantly references The Declaration of Independence: “The program and the name of the President / Because it seems to me the truth is self-evident / You fought our king to be independent.”  Again, I’m not going the Dante route and envisioning specific individuals in hell, but that’s essentially what Inferno is, and the eighth circle has ample sins.

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Ninth Circle: Treachery

🎙 Iron Maiden said it best: “666 ‘The Number of the Beast’ / Hell and fire was spawned to be released!” The ninth circle of hell is clearly the most damned.  Yeah, yeah, I know – that violence circle was pretty crazy, but the ninth circle is the big one. In Dante’s eyes, the worst of the worst – the treacherous traitors – reside here.  That ultimately includes Satan 👿 himself, who’s in the center of hell.  So, given the fact that Baal, Mephisto, Mephistopheles is directly involved, what better than a song that explicitly references him?

12. Ghost, “Satan Prayer”

💿 Opus Eponymous • 🏷 Rise Above • 🗓 2010

“Believe in one God do we / Satan almighty / The un-creator of heaven and soil.” When it comes to metal bands, particularly black, doom, and death metal bands, elements of Satanism are inescapable. Grammy-winning Swedish metal collective 🎙 Ghost wasted no time denouncing God and praising Satan, as the aforementioned lyrics, performed by ‘Papa Emeritus’ (frontman Tobias Forge) are the first lyrics that appear on 🎵 “Satan Prayer.” “Satan Prayer” appears on the band’s 2010 album, Opus Eponymous.

Ghost does nothing to mask the Satanic theme – I mean, the record is called “Satan’s Prayer” 👿 for Christ’s sake.  For some background, per Revolver, Forge said: “[I] unquestionably throw my hands into the hands of Satan.” Wow… There’s more to it than blatant atheism – a strict, very religious stepmother.  Regardless, it’s clear on “Satan’s Prayer” whom Forge serves.  The chorus lays it out there:

“Hear our Satan prayer, our anti-Nicene creed
Hear our Satan prayer, for the coming of seed...”

In Christianity, the Nicene Creed is definitely a big deal – you totally can’t screw around with it!  So, with “Satan Prayer” being the reverse – the anti – well, it’s not Christian in the least.  Of course, the music supports the hellishness.  That is definitely the most glorious part of such a Satanic song.

Could “Satan’s Prayer” have suffered a kinder, gentler fate, within the concept of hellishness that is? Perhaps, but let’s remember that Judas Iscariot did betray Jesus with a kiss, and he’s definitely deep within the ninth circle of hell.  Here, a once made-to-be-religious Tobias Forge has totally denounced it and even played into the hands of the devil.  That’s treacherous territory – or at least it will be for this list!

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