Spotify recently released a playlist for its users called “Your Top Songs 2018.” As the name hints, it’s simply the songs that the user listened to the most over the last 12 months.
I listen to primarily hip-hop, and with over 25 noteworthy hip-hop/rap albums dropping this year, it was easy to forget some of my favorite tracks and artists from 2018. But there’s a nice blend on my playlist of recent songs and old favorites, and it really made me appreciate the memory-making that music can inspire. Audio nostalgia is a different sensation than visual nostalgia: I can hear the first few notes of a song and I will be taken across time and space to where I was when that song first made an impact on me. I can often remember where I was, what I was doing, who I was with, how I was feeling, etc.
I found myself listening to each song on the playlist and reliving some of the most personally powerful moments of 2018. One day, I sat down, hit shuffle on My Top Songs 2018, and reminisced how each of the first 10 songs had an impact on my year.
Weight by Freddie Gibbs
Over the summer, I worked at a YMCA that was across the street from my house. It was convenient to work so close to home, and I got a free gym membership out of the deal. I remember blasting this song while I exercised in the mornings before work. Freddie’s flows on this song make me feel invincible.
Reborn by KIDS SEE GHOSTS (Kanye & Kid Cudi)
I also worked nights as a server at a nearby restaurant/bar this summer. After a long day of running around outside and swimming with YMCA summer campers, I remember listening to this song while wearily trudging across town to the restaurant, and feeling it resonate while I changed mind-states from working with kids to working with fussy restaurant-goers and drunk people (sometimes it wasn’t so different).
Started from the Bottom Instrumental (Drake)
Halfway through the summer, I moved into a new apartment with my girlfriend. Also, every week last year I did a 4 Bar Friday, where I rapped for 20-30 seconds over different beats on SnapChat.
In my previous living arrangement (by the YMCA) I lived in the attic of an old house from the early-mid 1900s. The chipped, splintery wooden floors creaked. It was drafty in the winter, and a sweat lodge in the summer. But the new apartment was on the 13th floor of a modern building, with nice carpet and a beautiful view.
I used Drake’s Started from the Bottom instrumental to record my 4 Bar Friday that week, and I was feeling myself enough to add a few extra bars: “I pull my pen out/ Blowing up, knowing I’ll be renowned/ From an attic to a penthouse/ What I’m in now/ …And it’s a sick pad/ Coming with that slick rap/ Fresher than a Tic Tac/ My syntax boppin like Big Mac/ Kit Kat with the bars, kick it with some riff raff”
Broke+- by Jay Rock
Jay Rock dropped one of my favorite albums of 2018 with Redemption. This song, about the struggles of being broke, resonated with me as I rode the 38B bus from Arlington, VA to Washington D.C. one day. I was crossing over the Key Bridge, looking at Georgetown’s beautiful campus overlooking the Potomac River, and feeling a little despondent about the tuition payments that were weighing me down from a summer class I had recently finished to help fulfill my graduation requirements. It was a media production lab, and only consisted of 6 days in class (9am-5pm). I promised myself I wouldn’t take out more loans to pay for that extra class, but it was so expensive that I spent the rest of the summer working two jobs—50-60 hours per week—just to pay off those 3 credits and try to save up for rent and the upcoming fall semester. That was a real grind, but Jay Rock helped me through it.
What’s the Use by Mac Miller
:(
It’s one of those weird things where I remember where I was when I saw that Mac Miller had died. I couldn’t believe it—wouldn’t believe it—but it struck me in my core and sank into my memory. We were similar in age, and I grew up listening to him since high school. One of the first songs I ever wrote with my buddy Max was over his Nikes on My Feet instrumental. Mac Miller felt like a friend I never hung out with, but looked up to in so many ways. It was tragic to lose him when we did. After his album Swimming, it felt like he was at a turning point both in his musical career and his life, but then disaster struck. Needless to say I've been listening to this album (and most of his discography) quite a bit ever since. RIP Mac
Free Fallin by Tom Petty
To perfectly encapsulate what I meant in the previous instance, I do not remember where I was when I found out Tom Petty died last year. Not because I like him less or he was less important somehow than Mac Miller, but because he was 66 years old and it was less sudden/shocking.
Anyway, I took a trip down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama in early October to visit my brother and sister and go to the Alabama vs. Missouri (my alma mater) football game. Because college football is the unofficial religion of Alabama and they inflate the price of everything to absurd levels—a room in a Motel 6 in Tuscaloosa costs about $300 per night on football weekends—it was cheaper for me to fly into Atlanta and drive 3 hours to the campus. I’ve loved this song as long as I can remember, and it’s a must-play on long road trips.
Ugk’s by CHICO (aka LE$) feat. Curren$y and Bun B
This was another Atlanta-Tuscaloosa road trip jam. LE$ has been an underground favorite of mine since around 2014 when he dropped Steak & Shrimp Vol. 1. He’s got strong southern beats paired with a smooth flow. His music is simultaneously hard-hitting and laid-back, while just dripping in southern swag. Needless to say, I bumped a lot of his music on that road trip through Georgia and Alabama, but this song got about a dozen plays because he brought in two other of my favorite southern underground kings (or "UGKs") in Bun B and Curren$y.
Caroline by Amine
This song dropped in 2017 and was a radio hit. That may have been overemphasized for me because I was living in Portland, Oregon at that time, which is where Amine is originally from. It was really cool to see a Portland rapper make it big while I was living out there, especially with a song as fun and weird as Caroline, and eventually with his debut album Good For You. I think he perfectly encapsulates the weirdness and non-conformity of the city that raised him, and I still come back to this song all the time when I’m feeling nostalgic for Portland.
Come Back Baby by Pusha T
This song is hard to define by one moment because I haven’t stopped listening to it since it dropped over the summer. DAYTONA is probably my favorite album of 2018 front to back. It’s short, with only 7 tracks (no filler), and Pusha T comes with nonstop bars. I used to think he had played out the drug dealer persona, but at this point I’ve got nothing but respect for the guy who can continue to come up with creative and interesting ways to stick to his drug-dealing roots. I remember I was listening to this song while I was playing basketball when it first really made my head nod til my jaw dropped, but the hook/instrumental also inspired a 4(+) bar Friday for me around the time children started being put in cages at the border of our country:
We know the country is rough around the edges/ But too excessive what’s happening in Texas/ Kids of all ages, living out of cages/ Government saying that it’s advantageous/ It’s so toxic, separating families/ Despite what you hear on Fox from Sean Hannity/ Insanity, the Land of Free inhumanity/ Abandoning the planet and we branding Christianity…damn
This is America by Childish Gambino
My girlfriend came through with one of her signature epic and spontaneous gifts, and we got to go see Childish Gambino in concert at the Capital One Arena on his final tour in September. [Side note: I’m sure he’ll tour again, but as Donald Glover instead of Childish Gambino.] Anyway, I/we listened to this song about 1000000 times to prepare for that show. Also, the music video is shocking and awesome and inspired me to listen even more. And further still, we started watching Community for the first time this summer and I fell in love with Donald Glover even more. Bottom line: Donald Glover is a true renaissance man and possibly the greatest entertainment talent of our generation. He can sing, he can rap, he can dance, he can act, he can write, he can do standup comedy, and probably anything else he puts his mind to.
I probably could’ve done this exercise for all 100 of the songs in that playlist, but I’m getting a little tired of writing and you may be getting a little tired of reading. The moral of this blog post is that, in an era where we don’t allow ourselves much time to reflect or reminisce, Your Top 100 Songs 2018 on Spotify can help you recall memories and aspects of your past that can’t be achieved through old photos or the Timehop collection of your old social media posts. The medium of music is a powerful thing, and I encourage you all to utilize it in your memory-making process. Happy New Year, everyone. Let's make 2019 a year to remember!