It’s starting to get hot as !@$# outside.
In commemoration of the unrelenting heat coming from the sun and ¡MAYDAY! x MURS’s upcoming ¡MURSDAY! album (which from what we’ve heard so far is the perfect summer hip hop album), we’ve put together this Summer Playlist to accompany the aimless joyrides, backyard barbecues and miscellaneous summer shenanigans.
Our three social media department heads put together a list of their 10 favorite summertime hip hop jams and this is what they came up with.
Find yourself some new gems and reminisce a bit as we give you 30 songs to play from sunup to sundown.
Jeff Nelson – @JeffreyPNelson
Strange Music Senior Blog Editor and deplorable human being. Jeff is the only one who took his shirt off at the All 6′s and 7′s release party at The Jones Pool.
DJ Quik – “Itz Your Fantasy” – Safe + Sound
DJ Quik has 10 songs that could’ve made this list just as well, but I’m feeling this one at the moment. Great song about busting beaver that plays well in the car.
Outkast – “Slump” – Aquemini
My friends and I would scream “Hootie hoo!” because of this song. One time I was somehow fronted a qp of some shwag and made deliveries to this song. I ended up smoking the profits and them some and had to pay out of my own pocket to make up the difference. Outkast is the shit.
2Pac – “Late Night” – Better Dayz (Or Chronic 2000 if you want to go way back)
This Quik-produced record (I’ve got three of them listed) is tailor-made for high-speed flossing. 2Pac ripping the beat to shreds doesn’t hurt either. This song makes me want to get super dome in a limo.
Twista – “Front Porch” – Mobstability
The fact that Danny Boy never took off and became way bigger than he is in one of the great tragedies of the music business. Listening to him croon about smoking blunts on the front porch like you would the most beautiful thing in the world is truly special.
Wrekonize – “Typical” – The War Within
The War Within is replayable as fuck as it is, but I must have listened to this song alone like 100 times last summer. I’ve never been to Miami, but I imagine that it feels like this song.
ScHoolboy Q – “Collard Greens” – Oxymoron
I can’t picture a summer scenario, day or night, in which this song doesn’t work perfectly. Out of respect for my hispanic comrade Victor Sandoval I must mention Kendrick Lamar’s deft use of the Spanish language.
Tha Dogg Pound – “Big Pimpin’” – Above The Rim Soundtrack
This is my favorite out of the two songs named “Big Pimpin”. Death Row had style for days and its apparent on songs like this, where Nate Dogg would just start singing out of nowhere only to be followed up by Snoop Doggy Dogg delivering the smoothest verse you’ve ever heard. Daz’s production on this and countless other West Coast classics make him easily one of the most slept on beatsmiths of all time.
Ludacris – “Spur Of The Moment” – The Red Light District
The best regions for summer hip hop combine in this DJ Quik-produced Ludacris track. I love the mesh of styles between the two emcees, the pristine rhythm of Ludacris and the loose style of Quik. The hook is simply gorgeous and the production sounds like it’s something that Quik held onto all the way back from the golden era.
Notorious B.I.G. – “Going Back To Cali” – Life After Death
To me this is the most obvious choice to include in a list of summer songs, but I had to. It’s kinda fucked up that the only song from the East Coast on this list is a song about the West Coast, but it is what it is.
CES Cru – “Float” – The Playground
If I had to pick one song to smoke and ride to it would be this one. It might be blasphemous to say this, but for whatever reason I look at this as the anthem for Kansas City hip hop (yes I’m aware of “Mitchell Bade”, “Planet Rock 2K”, and “It’s Alive”).
Brent Bradley @HipHoptimistic
Strange Music Facebook/Twitter, wit expert and marijuana connoisseur. Brent is the type to join a summer softball league and get blazed before every game.
Ab-Soul – “House Party 5″ – Long Term 2
This is my ultimate turn up track. The moment that beat starts I get the feeling I’m half-drunkenly stumbling through a house party giving dap and asking who the fuck has some blunt wraps.
Notorious B.I.G. – “Party & Bullshit” - Who’s The Man? Soundtrack
I truly believe this song immediately improves anyone’s beer pong skills. Like, they should probably test for this shit at tournaments, it’s like auditory HGH. Biggie makes some of the best summer music, period.
Denmark Vessey – “Hoeinindagaddadavida” - Cult Classic
I just got put on to this guy a few months ago, but I can already tell this track in particular is going to get heavy rotation. This beat was made for a hot day with the windows down, I’m sure of it.
Freddie Gibbs – “Harold’s” - Piñata
Tell me this shit doesn’t sound like summer, period. I think this is about as close to a “feel good track” as you’re gonna get on Freddie’s recent Piñata release, and it’s about to be the jam this summer.
Fugees – “Fu-Gee-La” – The Score
I don’t know if this is necessarily a summery song, but I’ve been listening to this album every summer for the past 10 years so fuck it, it’s making the cut. It’s upbeat, it’s a great sing-a-long track in the car, and Lauryn Hill will be my wife. ‘Nuff said.
Action Bronson – “Strictly 4 My Jeeps”
Everything about this track screams summer. The beat, the laid back lyrical delivery, and if that wasn’t enough, just watch the video. Either way, just watch that fuckin’ video. Wow.
CES Cru – “Shake It Up” – Constant Energy Struggles
This song seems like it would have a video in like a dark underground nightclub that’s just packed to the gills, and so many people are smoking blunts that the fire sprinklers go off and there’s tons of latin chicks in wife beaters just whipping their hair around….or something. What were we talking about again?
Flatbush ZOMBiES - “Palm Trees” – Better Off Dead
I mean, it’s called palm trees. And it’s also about smoking weed. Those 2 things are like…if you look up summer in the dictionary, it will just be a palm tree with joints growing off of it.
Big KRIT – “Rotation” – Return of 4eva
I don’t have a cool car, but if I did, I would probably appreciate this song a lot more. Either way, it’s a great roll around track and if you’re someone that doesn’t have shitty stock speakers in their car, it GOES.
Devin The Dude – “Lacville ’79″ – Just Tryin’ Ta Live
Honestly, any Devin The Dude song would probably work, but this is a long time favorite. There’s something about raps about smoking weed in an old school car over some g-funk shit that just screams summer to me.
Victor Sandoval @VicMSandoval
Strange Music Social Media Manager. Grew up in Chicago so loves to drink. Blacks out for fun. Bilingual.
XV – “U.F.C.” – Zero Heroes
Wichita didn’t exactly have a place in hip hop, much less a list like this – that is until XV came along. XV blacks out over this monster production from Seven, complete with thundering drums and a doo wop switch over. Summer turn the fuck up.
Bonus points – that’s a pornstar on the hook and the music video was shot in downtown Chicago.
Chance The Rapper – “Juice” – Acid Rap
Chance blew my fuckin mind the first time I listened to Acid Rap. Original delivery, tight rhymes, and a penchant for being funky made “Juice” an instant favorite. That hook will get any crowd going in the summer. Plus, this little gem – “Til you realize everybody in the world fucking hates the Lakers.”
Lil Wayne – “Lollipop” – Tha Carter III
This makes just about every list I ever put together because if you can’t close the deal while this is playing, just turn in your man card. Bitches love this. Summer bitches love it even more.
J. Cole – “Work Out”
Cole let Nas down. Know who he didn’t let down? The bitches. Same as above.
50 Cent – “In Da Club” – Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
This very well may be my favorite rap beat…ever. From the opening strings to the second that bounce hits, this track bangs and it never stops. 50 was clever as fuck too for adding in that birthday line because you’ll never go a summer without hearing this.
Snow Tha Product – “Cali Luv” – Good Nights & Bad Mornings 2: The Hangover
If you’ve ever thought, “there’s no way the beat for ‘California Love’ can be any doper”, listen to this track. Not exactly a sequel or a remake, “Cali Luv” smashes through speakers and makes everyone wish they were born in the land of sun and kush.
¡MAYDAY! – “Imprint” – Take Me To Your Leader
There’s very few tracks that embody the atmosphere of a summer night more than “Imprint”. The guitar up front, the surreal vibe that carries Wrek and Jovi Rockwell, it all comes together and hits you right in the feels. Summer hook ups abound.
Kanye West – “Stronger” – Graduation
I still remember the first time I heard this song on the radio. It was released during the summer time and it seemed like it just took over everything. From kickin off those red cup parties to giving ya’ll some motivation in the gym, Yeezy’s “Stronger” is a summer anthem through and through. #Chicago
Tech N9ne – “O.G.” – The Gates Mixed Plate
I can tell you in every detail what it was like to ride through Kansas City for the first time during the summer of 2010 with this blaring out of the car. The BBQ anthem is Kansas City to the core.
Notorious B.I.G. – “Hypnotize” – Life After Death
What is there to say about this track that hasn’t already been said? The video has Diddy on a goddamn speedboat. Gangster shit.
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What songs would you put on your summer playlist?
Which playlist is your favorite?
Let us know in the comments section below!