Top 5 Summer 2018 Anthems

There is a slim section of artists that can produce the ultimate summer banger. I reviewed this year's releases and compiled a top five to capture your summer mood...

"Gang Gang" - Migos ('Culture II')

"Gang Gang" took a collection of summer sounds, a vocal sample, and threw a triplet beat underneath it. The song is a bit of a reach for the rap group that generally puts out loud, well-crafted, bass slapped beats that make for great club beats, but they took a different approach for this particular song by leaving out the mean 808s and instead opted for a warmer synth bass. The drums that producer Kurtis McKenzie uses are what complete the summer anthem...

"Guatemala" - Swae Lee ('SR3MM')

"Guatemala" was originally off Swae Lee's solo album Swaecation but the group partnered together to publish a 3-disc album that included Swaecation, Sr3mm, and Jxmtro. Much like the Migos hit mentioned prior, Guatemala approaches the beat with much of the same techniques that mainly focuses on the drum rhythm to give it that summer feeling. They also use a synth for the bass but instead of leaving the warm happy tone they use one with a little more distortion. Overall, Swae Lee has a summer hit without the lyrics, but with his lyricism on top of the beachy beat this song makes it into the top five...

"What's the Use?" - Mac Miller ('Swimming')

A common factor so far is the lack of an 808 bass type, and Mac Miller's "What's the Use?" falls right in line... almost. As most hip hop fans would know, and even more so Mac Miller stans, is that he would take a vastly different approach to his music than most hip hop artists. The bass line on this particular song sounds much more like a live bass, which wouldn't surprise me as Mac used to like to produce several elements of his songs with live instruments. He accompanies the live fingerstyle bass with an ambiance of throwback sounds such as high-pitched delayed synths and a kick slap rhythm with little use of high hats. This song is less of a summer song than the first two mentioned songs, but what it lacks in summer lyrics, it makes up for in throwback harmonies and groove...

"Slay" - YG ft. Quavo ('Stay Dangerous')

YG is known for his bouncy bass rhythms, but his link with Quavo made for an extra special occurrence. This song resembles closer to a regular trap beat, but is still far from it. There's an element that surrounds this particular beat that has warranted rolling down all your windows and yelling "IT'S YG 4HUNNID" as you're in traffic, and any song that can ignite that feeling deserves to be on the summer bangers list...

"Taste" - Tyga ft. Offset

This song embodies everything you might every want in your summer playlist. The original background sample used for the beat is what really gives this song its sunny vibe, but when laid over a slapping 808 bass line, it leaves you ready to party to no end, which is everything I would want my summer to consist of...