These Are Rap’s Best Bars of the Summer
In the nine years that XXL has hosted its Freshman cypher, paired with its list of each year’s most promising young rappers, the tradition has grown increasingly irrelevant—or so it seemed. Where the skills prioritized by a freestyle—verbal dexterity, punchy lyricism, and a forceful knockout punch—were the standard currency of your G-Units of hip-hop's past, the genre has evolved to the point where a reliance on those skills can feel retrograde as, well, the aforementioned group’s footwear line. For this generation of young MCs, the art of rapping is, of course, tangled up in melodicism, animated self-presentation, conceptual experimentation, and musical meme-making. A more apt showcase of today’s young stars might be to give them each a couple minutes to helm XXL’s Instagram Live.
And yet in late July, when the magazine released this year’s cyphers, many of the 2019 Freshmen shone. Some, like Blueface and Tierra Whack, injected modern color into the staid format (Whack’s closing rhyme, “I play my part, they all pay me respect / My next pet is a giraffe 'cause I'm coming for necks” put an absurd spin on a typical brag); others, like YBN Cordae and Megan Thee Stallion, demonstrated that they were simply built for it (Cordae’s line, “Cruisin' in the Mustang, like I must change / Tinted windows, couldn't even hide the bloodstains,” provoked a delighted “Oooh!” from Blueface). In the immortal words of Dylan, the 2019 Freshman class “spit hot fire.”
But it’s not just the freshmen, and it’s not just the occasion of a cypher. Like tiny sunglasses and other Y2K-era gear, thick ‘ol boom bap bars have come back in style—with the youth (add Rico Nasty, DaBaby, and Pardison Fontaine to the aforementioned class of wordsmiths), rappers in their primes (GoldLink, Schoolboy Q, Cardi B), and veterans (Pusha-T, Rick Ross, Freddie Gibbs) alike. Even the nimble Spanish flamenco superstar Rosalía dazzled with her blingy boasts on July’s “Milionaría.” What’s shaping up to be the hottest summer on record is also shaping up to be a summer of sweltering lines, rhymes, and verses. There are too many great ones to count, but GQ put together a short playlist of some of our favorites.
Megan Thee Stallion on “Cash Shit”:
He told 'em send me a pic 'cause he miss me
I told him send me a stack if he really
I don't be trusting these tricks 'cause they tricky
Send him a pic of somebody else titties
No one is as gloriously nasty as the queen of the #HotGirlSummer. On the smash that begat the movement (she opens with “Real hot girl shit”), nearly every line is quotably profane. But this verse is one of Megan’s—and the summer’s—best because of her savvy skepticism.
Cardi B on Ed Sheeran’s “South of the Border”:
He want the lil' mamacita, margarita (Margarita)
I think that Ed got a lil' jungle fever, ayy (Woo!)
You are more than (You are more than)
Something borin' (Something borin')
Legs open, tongue out, Michael Jordan, uh (Uh)
Go explore in (Woo, woo) somethin' foreign (Skrrt, skrrt)
Bust it up, a rain forest, it be pourin', yeah
...Okay, maybe one artist is as gloriously nasty as Megan. Cardi’s been popping up here and there for savage licks this summer, but nowhere is she better than alongside Ed Sheeran of all people. Rather than compromise her style in a mainstream pop play, Cardi saddles up to the Galway guy like he’s a virgin teenager at a strip club, acknowledging the borderline fetishistic dynamic for what it is.
Bas on Dreamville’s “Down Bad”:
And I'm back in the booth
Got ’em hackin' a Shaq 'cause they lackin' the juice
Niggas droppin’ the ball, they on Shaqtin' a Fool
Actavis drool down the side of yo face
We ain't jackin' it, we ain't dappin' them fools
Get a napkin, you dudes is embarassin'
Who going crazy like us? No comparison
Dreamville’s entire Revenge of the Dreamers III album is a bar-lover’s panacea. Bas’s verse on “Down Bad” is particularly good though, with its knotty internal rhymes and the way it connects vintage Shaq (hack-a-Shaq) to modern Shaq (his segment on Inside the NBA). (It bears noting that JID’s line, “It’s tomato or tomato, either way, the boy the greatest,” is also terrific.)
Maxo Kream on “Murda Blocc”:
Like, what's crackin', bitch?
Tommy, MACs and TECs, Nick Van Exel clips
Droppin' shit, slide in with the stick like it's hockey, bitch
Microwave, Orville Redenbacher, popcorn, poppin' shit
Jigga, Dame, chopper rock a fella, Houston rock it, bitch
Maxo Kream goes hard. Enough said.
Rosalía on “Milionaría” (English translations in parentheses):
Porto dos Audemars (I wear two Audemars)
Fets a mà coberts de diamants (Handmade, coated in diamonds)
I un Hublot Black Caviar Bang bang (And a Hublot Black Caviar, Bang Bang)
Que te'l puc regalar (I could give it to you)
Tinc un xaval contractat (I have hired a dude)
Perquè m’obri els regals de Nadal (Only for opening my Christmas presents)
Tanco el centre comercial (I shut down the mall)
I em menjo jo sola un gelat (And I eat an ice cream by myself)
Everyone raps about their Hublots and their diamond Audemars. The nonchalant “Que te'l puc regalar”—I could give it to you—is where Rosalía trumps most rappers. But shutting down the mall to eat ice cream by herself really takes the cake.
Denzel Curry on Flying Lotus’s “Black Balloons Reprise”
The night turns to day and my days don't seem the brightest
It's like itis, I wanna take a bite out of what life is
If the President fuck around and piss off ISIS
Bury me in blueberry bills, jewels, and ices
FlyLo’s flame-filled conceptual universe inspired Denzel Curry’s most memorable verse to date—fierce and vivid, tinged with dark surreality.
Freddie Gibbs on “Flat Tummy Tea”:
Uh, chain give me whiplash, my neck glass
Shave a lil tax off the package, pay my connect fast
Bellagio with quatro hoes, stack like Connect 4s
Niggas don't own no land or fine art but got all the retros
Obama can't make the law retroactive, what the fuck happened?
Congress cock-blockin' niggas from comin' home to they family
In the course of just six lines, Gibbs flaunts his ice, references drug dealing, details an impossible sex position, and exposes a broken political system. “Flat Tummy Tea” is an economical rap masterpiece.
Tyler, the Creator on “New Magic Wand”:
Ayo, take one look in the mirror, implications so clear
I live life with no fear, except for the idea
That one day you won't be here
I will not fetch the ball
Eyes are green, I eat my vegetables
Maybe you don’t always want an artist to upend themselves with a joke after they’ve bared their soul, but when Tyler cuts through his deepest fears with a joke (“Eyes are green, I eat my vegetables”), it’s unequivocally great.
Dave East on “Everyday”:
I'm a cold P-I-M-P
I got hoes in the Benz Jeep
I smoke Oprah Winfrey
While my bro pumpin' *NSYNC
The gas the color purple, sellin' white boy like Nowitzki
The cars is foreign like Ginobili, shots burn your chest like whiskey
How, in the last 20 years, has no one rhymed Oprah Winfrey with *NSYNC with (Dirk) Nowitzki with (Manu) Ginobli?
Missy Elliott on Lizzo’s “Tempo”:
Let's go (Let's go), let's go (Let's go)
All the fly girls head to the dance floor
Kitty cat, kitty cat, prrr
All the thick girls down on the flrrr (On the floor)
Ice on my neck like brrr (Like brrr)
I'm big-boned with nice curves (Nice curves)
Look at me, I know I look grrrd (Good)
Look good, look good, look grrrd (Look good)
I'ma show y'all chicks how to drrr it
Missy’s vibratory rrr-curling rhymes belong in the MOMA.
Schoolboy Q on “Dangerous”:
Shadow my morning, I ain't dreaming it right
Ain't no way a flower could bloom in the night
Family tried to warn me, couldn't keep me away
'Til I figure flying, I better escape
But flying ain't flying when you're stuck on your ass
Pleasure took my driver and caused me to crash, uh
Took me forever, we was stuck in the mud
Chicken crossed the road to get out of the hood
Schoolboy’s good as anyone at vintage rap poetry, but, crucially, he has a sense of humor (“Chicken crossed the road to get out of the hood”), too.
Lil Nas X on “Panini”:
Ayy Panini, don't you be a meanie
Truly the pinnacle of bar-spitting.
Originally Appeared on GQ
