Whenever you start to feel the heat creep up on you, you know summertime is on the way. The sun shines a little bit brighter, all the kids are outside from school, adults start taking their vacations. Everyone is outside basking in the warmth. It seems to get hotter earlier and earlier every year, but that summer feeling is incomparable.
One of the first signs of a good summer is when people in our community will throw a cookout. Burgers and hot dogs are thrown on the grill, maybe some BBQ if they’re going all out. Coleslaw, potato salad, sodas, paper plates, and any chip you could find fill outdoor tables. But while everyone is having fun in the summer heat, there has to be a playlist to keep the spirits high.
That’s where Noisey has you covered, with four hip-hop and R&B classics that are a mainstay at cookouts across the country.
4 Rap and R&B Songs To Have on the Playlist During Your Next Cookout
‘Summer Breeze’ by DJ Quik
What better music to get sunny music for cookouts than from southern California, where Raphael Saadiq once said it never rains? The palm trees endlessly sway and the summer breeze DJ Quik raps about soothes the spirit. Even when he muses about the passage of time and the grief that comes along with it, there’s an optimistic sheen in his production and lyrical disposition. The memories are worth holding onto and the summer is where so many of them are made.
‘Before I Let Go’ by Frankie Beverly and Maze
Hearing Frankie Beverly and Maze at a cookout lets you know immediately you’re in good hands. There’s always a person deathly serious about manning the grill in his brown sandals, grooving to the warm unity the band brings in their records. Digging into the lyrics, you might be shocked that Beverly is musing on what went wrong in a relationship despite their love. But the song’s instrumentation is far too joyous to be that guy at the function pointing out how sad the song is at its core.
‘Never Too Much’ by Luther Vandross
Another cookout staple, though there’s not nearly the hangup lyrically on “Never Too Much”. Instead, Luther Vandross is borderline suffocating in his adoration for the love of his life. A thousand kisses, a million days in their arms, none of it is overbearing. Instead, he fervently invites it atop the bright production. If these kinds of functions are meant to represent a community’s union, “Never Too Much” bridges it altogether.
‘Summertime’ by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
No song captures the essence of the summer quite like Will Smith on “Summertime”. At its best, it’s the carefree bliss we spend a lifetime trying to pursue. Everyone is cruising in their cars, looking as good as ever, as the sun makes their faces glow and beam in happiness. By the third verse, Will Smith even muses on the cookout he plans on getting to by 4pm.
Some might find his idealism to be repulsive in a vacuum, depicting this beautiful world that isn’t reflective of our own. But “Summertime” dares us to dream, shaking off the funk of even the most hardened cynic.
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