Sublime: The Summertime MVP

Can’t fight against the youth…

Today is one of those classic summer heat wave Saturdays. The type of day where chillin is the only option. The type of day relaxation was built for, and memories are built on. Many of best memories from my childhood revolved around days such as these. I’m many years past being a child, however, the one constant now and then was and always will be summer time music, specifically Sublime.

As I write, and for over an hour before this, Sublime has grooved through the speakers and straight into my welcoming ears. They say you strongly correlate the memory of a smell with, say, some great tasting food? Well for me, listening to Sublime brings me right back to those timeless childhood summers.

Note: I’m now gonna put on my mid-20s Sublime fan hat now. I’m going to talk as if “we” means anyone of my age +/-10 years.

Praising them and breaking down all of their amazing songs would be an all-day activity. It’s too easy. I could also ponder if there’s even a more overall well-liked band of the past 20 years. Of all time. Everyone knows Sublime. (Basically) Everyone loves Sublime. They are permanently engrained in our culture. We literally grew up with them as our soundtrack. They are still the soundtrack to so many parties and hanging-around sessions. I can’t imagine them not being the soundtrack for as long as I’m alive.

I’ll be seeing Badfish (the beloved, and super fucking good, Sublime cover band) tonight with some good buddies. I have no doubt the amazing memories I make tonight will not even be close to the last ones I have with Sublime providing the tunes.

Speaking of summer time, have a listen to my Summer Jams Spotify playlist. It’s full of Sublime, of course, as well as a ton of other jams perfect to highlight your summer fun. There is a regular version, and a family/party version (no rap songs, more easy-listening version you can play around Grandma).

 

Top 25 Nas Songs

Nas is like half-man/half-amazing

I present my ordered collection of what I consider Nas’ 25 best songs. These are limited to only Nas releases where he is the primary artist. Please pardon the triteness, but I totally agree that Nas’ best work was made right as he was first starting out in the early 1990s. His first album, Illmatic, is the greatest rap album ever made*. Perfect from start to finish, you’ll see it’s most certainly well-represented on this list. His second album, It Was Written also fares well here. Almost as classic as his first album, the album oozes that classic hip hop feel and Nas’ precise lyricism and delivery are at its peak.

Nas wasn’t done making classic songs with those two albums, but his excellence got a little sparser as the years went by. Nonetheless, he made plenty of fantastic hip hop gems after that. Take a look for yourself and I look forward to reading your comments on the matter of the legendary Nas. God’s Son or not, it’s hard not to consider him the greatest MC there’s ever been.

* Not up for debate, but feel free to Google it if you wanna validate this.

Listen to this list on Spotify: Best of Nas

The List:

1. Nas – N.Y. State Of Mind – Explicit Album Version – Illmatic
2. Nas – Nas Is Like – I Am…
3. Nas – Shootouts – It Was Written
4. Nas – One Mic – Explicit Album Version – Stillmatic
5. Nas – It Ain’t Hard To Tell – Explicit Album Version – Illmatic
6. Nas – Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park) – Explicit Album Version – Illmatic
7. Nas – The Message – It Was Written
8. Nas – If I Ruled The World (imagine that) – It Was Written
9. Nas – One Love – Explicit Album Version – Illmatic
10. Nas – Ether – Stillmatic
11. Nas – Rewind – Stillmatic
12. Nas – Affirmative Action – It Was Written
13. Nas – My Way – The Lost Tapes
14. Nas – Halftime – Explicit Album Version – Illmatic
15. Nas – Hate Me Now (featuring Puff Daddy) – I Am…
16. Nas – The World Is Yours – Explicit Album Version – Illmatic
17. Nas – Nas Is Coming – It Was Written
18. Nas – Street Dreams – It Was Written
19. Nas – The Don – Life is Good
20. Nas – Represent – Explicit Album Version – Illmatic
21. Nas – Accident Murderers – Life is Good
22. Nas – Got Ur Self A… – Stillmatic
23. Nas – Made You Look – God’s Son
24. Nas – Nasty – Life is Good
25. Nas – Purple – The Lost Tapes

By album, the list breaks down as such:

1. Illmatic (1994): 7 tracks
2. It Was Written (1996): 6 tracks
3. Stillmatic (2001): 4 tracks
4. Life is Good (2012): 3 tracks
5. I am…: (2 tracks)
6. The Lost Tapes (2002): 2 tracks
7. God’s Son (2002): 1 track