Culture
Raindrop, Droptop: Migos Makes Weed Friendly Hip Hop
Migos, the group behind the Billboard hit and cultural phenomenon “Bad and Boujee,” has rapidly gone from a regional and cult favorite among certain Hip Hop circles to a legitimate household name with mainstream media clout. Through it all, they’ve been keeping it lit with the help of a lot of cannabis.
Even though the Hip Hop trio Migos write songs largely about selling cocaine, their music is geared much more towards smoking weed. Virtually every one of their skittering tracks is held together by the kind of delightfully stupid hook that only becomes more endearing and hypnotizing with the addition of ganja.
The chorus to “Versace,” for instance, is comprised fully of the trio repeating the titular upscale clothing brand ad nauseum; the same is true of “Hannah Montana.” Migos have developed a particular staccato cadence to their rap; it’s now sufficiently recognizable that Ellen DeGeneres has parodied it — even the New Yorker refers to it as the “Migos flow.”
Migos is a bit of a family affair; the trio is comprised of two cousins, who go by Quavo and Offset, and Quavo’s cousin, Takeoff. Following a series of mix tapes and singles, Migos released their debut album, Yung Rich Nation, in 2015.
Recorded with the aid of a ton of weed in the spare room of a McMansion – situated in a country club – that they share in the Atlanta suburbs, the album solidified both their skill and their knack for the absurd.
“I love the Migos,” exclaimed Atlanta legend Killer Mike in a recent Vice documentary. “They always look like it’s time [for a show].” With the album, and hit singles like the aforementioned “Versace” and “Hannah Montana,” Migos quickly became a cult sensation.
The trio’s new album Culture, their strongest work yet, offers some of the most eccentric hooks and skillfully rapid-fire spitting of their bizarre career. While those earlier releases earned them droves of loyal fans, it’s Culture that has catapulted them into the mainstream and proven that they are here to stay.
The album begins with a jolt and an intonation by the highly-sought producer DJ Khaled:
“For all you f*ckboys who ever doubted the Migos: you played yourselves.”
It’s a sentiment that the rest of the album seeks out to prove right; it more than succeeds. “T-Shirt,” itself another reference to selling coke, encapsulates all of their skills (with a video that is equally bizarre and entrancing, to boot) before leading into the thundering “Call Casting.” Then there’s the lead single “Bad and Boujee,” an addictive track that has already become the stuff of internet legend, inspiring memes and dances across the world.
In 2015, Migos were accosted by Georgia police after a performance; the arresting officers claimed to smell weed emitting from their van. During the ensuing trial, prosecutors presented a Vice documentary that showed Migos and their crew carrying automatic weapons as proof of their guilt. Since then, the trio has made an effort to change up their public persona.
Fortunately for us, that doesn’t mean that they’ve lost any of their swagger of weirdness along the way. On Culture, the bravado and creativity of Migos has only grown more pronounced. And that’s definitely worth smoking to.
TELL US, have you ever smoked Cookies in a hotbox?
