PLAYLIST: Peyton’s “Summer Cookout Vibes”

Summer is right around the corner and that means cookouts are about to be poppin’ off left and right. An instrumental part of any cookout or BBQ (besides the food) is the music. A well curated cookout playlist should not only set off the right vibes, but it should also bond people together through nostalgia. A musical trail mix of throwback hits, R&B jams, and a few current bangers sprinkled throughout will do. This handpicked playlist by yours truly (Peyton Tenison), has everything you need to deliver a cookout for ages. Below are a few highlights from the sixteen track curation.

To kick things off right, “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg is as great a vibe setter as any. Nothing encapsulates a sunny day in LA quite like this track. It is one of the most iconic songs to come out of the West Coast and is insanely catchy. Put this song on and try not to sing along. It’s impossible. And who can forget the legendary chorus, “It’s like this and like that and like this and a—/It’s like that and like this and like that and a—/It’s like this, and who gives a fuck about those?/So just chill ’til the next episode”. Everything about this song is classic and that is why it is a must play at any summer cookout.

Now, what would a function be without some vintage Kanye West? This brings us to our next entry: Kanye West’s “All Falls Down”. This banger off of Ye’s stunning 2004 debut The College Dropout is sure to take everyone on a trip down memory lane. The nostalgic nature of this song spans across multiple generations. Kanye was the hottest artist out at the peak of this song’s popularity and pretty much everyone and their cousin remembers when they first heard the Chicago rapper. This track is packed to the brim with quotable lyrics and Kanye’s signature humor. Who can forget his hilarious lines about Versace: “Man, I promise, I’m so self-conscious/That’s why you always see me with at least one of my watches/Rollie’s and Pasha’s done drove me crazy/I can’t even pronounce nothin’, pass that Ver-say-see!”. It’s safe to say that vintage Ye will always have a seat at the table.

Every melanated gathering needs some R&B to truly be complete. Tracks that you can play around grandma that aren’t going to make her wince everytime an N-bomb is dropped. T-Pain’s “My Place” is the perfect antidote. This sleeper track off of T-Pain’s retrospectively influential Rappa Ternt Sanga may not be the most well known track, but it is sure to tap into more than a few people’s nostalgia for the mid-2000s. At a time when Southern Hip-Hop was on top, Florida output T-Pain stood out from the rest of the pack with his melodic approach to hip-hop. However you may view T-Pain and his historically controversial use of autotune, this bare-bones R&B track will surely make you a fan. It is soulful, heartfelt, and incredibly memorable. Everyone has had their heartbroken at some point in their life and the lyrics on this record simply hit way too close to home: “How many times have I told you I love you?/Don’t seem to change a thang, girl you’re not the same/There was a time when you wanted me to hug you/And treat you like, the lady that you wanna be/The girl I knew that wanted me”.