Yes, another playlist. This one is titled House Music and is meant, ideally although not exclusively, to be played while you’re at home. It isn’t confined to one genre. On it, you will find rap, country, oldies, and R&B. Bringing such a variety of genres together made it difficult to sequence. I decided to line the songs up in order of album art primary colour, as judged by me. This, surprisingly, lead to a relatively nice flow, which kept certain genres together while sporadically sprinkling flavours from other genres throughout.
The playlist kicks off with 2Pac. I think he’s best rapper of all time and ChatGPT agrees with me, according to a recent YouTube Short that I saw. “Picture Me Rollin’” is a good playlist opener because it’s a rider track. The type of track you put on when it’s time to get active, whether that be at work, the kitchen, the gym or the car. I’ve also included “So Many Tears,” a classic 2Pac song. This song came to light for me when I was listening to OVO Radio one day and they opened the program with it. The beat hit so hard and it just clicked that this was a song to remember. It’s been heavy on my rotation ever since.
Bob Dylan is included with “Simple Twist of Fate” off his divorce album, Blood on the Tracks. His son was quoted saying this album is “my parents talking.” I own this album on vinyl and it has some of my favourite Dylan songs on it. This is one of them. So many great lines on this track. “They sat together in the park as the evening sky grew dark. She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle in his bones. ‘Twas then he felt alone and wished that he’d gone straight and watched out for a simple twist of fate.”
You can thank Stephen King for the Dick Curless inclusion. In the fall, I read ‘Salem’s Lot and he referred to this song on one of the pages. It made me look it up and, let me tell you, I’m glad I did. What a song. So depressing. So dark. So scary and fitting with Lot in a strange, metaphorical way. This song rules; there’s no other way to put it.
WWE superstar and choke-slam-sell-of-the-year candidate Bad Bunny is here with “Un Verano Sin Ti,” the titular track from the sun-drenched 2022 album. Un Verano Sin Ti was my album of the year, last year. I’ve never been much of a listener of Latin music but I loved this. Too long? Probably but it’s meant to keep the beach party going. Nobody wants a party at the beach to end too soon. It also has a diverse range of sounds and I felt it to be only slightly too long. Maybe by a song or two. But, again, I loved it so much that the length didn’t bother me.
Stevie Wonder’s “If It’s Magic.” Like the Dylan song earlier, this song is filled with memorable lyrics. The type of lyrics that you can mull over and may even change how you live. “So if it’s special then, with it, why aren’t we as careful as making sure we dress in style, posing pictures with a smile, keeping danger from a child?” This song is off of Wonder’s double album, Songs in the Key of Life. I highly recommend you listen to the whole album, if you haven’t already. It’s a classic.
“WHEN SPARKS FLY” off Vince Staples’ Ramona Park Broke My Heart album, which was in my top 10 for releases from last year. This song does the impressive by taking a cliché and doing it in a new and memorable way. The personification of a gun is an old trope in hip-hop. It was done best by Nas on “I Gave You Power” from ‘96’s It Was Written. However, I must admit that Vince’s take handles the literary device in a new and profound way.
There are a lot more gems on this playlist. It’s what I’ve been listening to the past few weeks and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I’ll be back in an unforeseen amount of time to bring you another three-hour selection of great music.
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