Perspective

Summer Heat, Without the Sun

Beau Fuqua, Reporter|August 26, 2020

While this “summer” may have not been typical it gave musical artists loads of time to create chart toppers and many underrated songs. Even the greats such as Kid Cudi came out of the shadows to release new music over the summer. Jack Harlow reached stardom with the help of TikTok and other social media apps, Juice WRLD’s posthumous album was released, and this was just the tip of the iceberg. With the extended spring break of 2020 coming to a screeching halt, here are 10 songs from summer 2020 that are must plays.

“Titanic” Juice Wrld

“Titanic” is Juice Wrld’s third track on his posthumus album Legends Never Die and it gives a look into how the Chicago native was doing before he passed. In the song’s chorus Wrld says “abandon all ships, it’s about to go down no Titanic, there’s a lot going on in my head right now but I manage.” This, along with many other troubling lines, show just how bad the artist’s drug addiction and mental problems were before he passed away.

“Dadbod” Logic

With Logic announcing that he would be retiring following the release of his latest album, his fans were lost and confused. His album No Pressure is filled with flow patterns that only a veteran of the industry could use. “Dadbod” is a unique look into the eyes of a successful artist in the industry, and in the song the listener can tell Logic is fed up. With lyrics like “already had a hard life once am I supposed to recreate it every album for you c***$” What is really unique about the song is how the artist demonstrates his day-to-day. In the song, he uses a trip to Target to buy his son diapers to explain the problems with being watched by fans and critics all the time. He uses items within the store such as Preparation H, Hefty trash bags, and Wet Wipes to talk about what happens to him on the daily from a good and bad perspective.

“For the Night” Pop Smoke feat. Lil Baby & DaBaby

Even though the king of New York was taken in February, he had a plethora of music to release posthumously. His label Republic Records did a great job of compiling songs for his posthumus album Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon and all of them did a great job of representing Pop’s image. This song features Lil Baby and DaBaby, two of the industry’s hottest artists right now. Pops style in this song was very laid back and it gives it a very special and unheard energy.

“Moon & Stars” $NOT feat. Maggie Lindemann

While “Moon & Stars” may not fall into the typical hip hop category that does not mean it is not good. $NOT created a true masterpiece when he made this song and TikTok quickly got it the recognition it deserved. It was not rare at all to hear someone saying or playing “okay I hop up in my coupe like (wassup) wassup? Do you wanna go far with me?” this summer. Which helped solidify how great this song was. “Moon & Stars” is perfect for those 3 A.M. drives when one can really feel that after hours energy.

“Broke In a Minute” Tory Lanez

While it had been awhile since Tory Lanez released an album, that did not stop him from making an album with a type of flow and energy different than any before. It seemed as if someone had consistently peed in his cheerios before hopping into the booth. It appears that Lanez used his time away to become a better artist so he could own the summer. His song “Broke in a Minute” starts with a very high energy and high tempo beat that gets the body moving from the jump. Lanez also must understand the importance of a first line that hits like a Louisville Slugger because he killed his opening line on this track. Countless people were heard saying “woo, D@** I ain’t been broke in a minute.” This song was perfect for any sort of high energy outing with friends or driving down the interstate.

“Excitement” Trippie Redd & PARTYNEXTDOOR

Trippie Redd is an artist that seems like he can’t make a bad song, and “Excitement” just further proves this point. In this track he managed to connect with PARTYNEXTDOOR which typically falls outside of the artist parameters, but this song truly is a masterpiece. Everything from Trippie’s soft but unique vocals to a beautiful beat were thought out completely on this track. This song was perfect for those hot summer nights when driving around was the only thing to do, its vibe was very much similar to that of an Oklahoma sunset.

“Me and You” Cold Hart & Lil Peep

Although Lil Peep has been deceased since November 15, 2017 that has not stopped his record label from releasing some of the artist’s most beautiful songs. In “Me and You” Peep uses a sample of “collide” by Howie Day and it really gives the song its whole vibe and energy. While Peep may not be everyone’s cup of tea, this song gives all listeners a chance to really fall in love with his music. This is another great song for those 3 A.M. drives with the windows down, and as a matter of fact, almost all of Peeps music falls under that category.

“Whats Poppin (Remix)” feat. DaBaby, Tory Lanez & Lil Wayne

While Jack Harlow has been making quality music for years, it wasn’t until this summer that his hit song “Whats Poppin” blew up and got the artist the recognition he deserves. TikTok shot this song up to #10 on the Billboard charts, and it also received 14.3 million U.S. streams in a week, and that was just the original. In the remix Harlow managed to recruit 3 of the industries top artists in DaBaby, Tory Lanez, and on top of that the Birdman himself, Lil Wayne. In the song Harlow really carries himself with a type of energy rarely seen before, and his guest on the track did the same. This song was another hit great for those wild summer nights when anything could possibly happen.

“Grace” Lil Baby & 42 Dugg

Two whistles and two artists owned the summer of 2020, and the whole world knew Dugg’s name, and sound, by the end of the summer. On both “We Paid” and “Grace” the artists gracefully tie their voices and styles together even though they have their differences. This summer there was nothing quite like hearing a group of people yelling the lyrics “thou shall not try one of us, if they do, I’ma bust please don’t reach for no chain.” This, like most of Lil Baby’s music, is perfect for those wild summer nights and was played a multitude of times at almost any social event.

“Rags2Riches” Rod Wave

Rod Wave, who many thought would be a one hit wonder, did nothing but prove the haters wrong with this song. From the day it was released, people knew this song was special, and its chorus is nothing short of perfect. With the release of this song Wave solidified himself as a significant artist in the industry. This was another song that blew up because of TikTok, and got another hard working artist the recognition they deserve. Because of this, it felt as if everyone had got it out the mud and ran it up, even with the haters on their back.