A Family Friendly Hip Hop Playlist For Old(er) Newbies
Medium Reader Appreciation Part II
In Part I, I thanked Chris Custer for reading my pieces. In his comments, he talked about him and his beloved wife learning the word to “Shake Your Thang” by Salt n Pepa. I got such a kick out of adding new song suggestions in my reply that I realized it had turned into a playlist.
So here’s my Hip Hop Playlist For Old(er) Newbies. Chris described himself as an “ol’ white man” so I made it for him and his wife who didn’t know much about rap. However, this playlist would be good for any family friendly cookout or BBQ where you want to get little “jiggy with it” (courtesy of Jay-Z and Will Smith) but doesn’t cause your conservative friends to have conniption or the church lady next door to call the cops.
Most of these songs are family friendly — but still use the radio edits or clean versions as a lot of songs have remixes…
Enjoy!
Updated 5/23/2020
Hip Hop Playlist For Old(er) Newbies — Aka Ol’ Doc Chris Mix
“Rapper’s Delight” by Sugar Hill Gang — Considered the first popular rap song
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC, Aerosmith — First Rap & Rock & Roll Collaboration and MTV hit
“Ladies First” by Queen Latifah — Hip Hop meets Women’s Empowerment
“Summertime” by Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince (Will Smith) — Philly Classic
“Just The Two Of Us” by Will Smith — Father’s Day Fav
“Joy & Pain” by Rob Base — Great Dance Song
“Jingling Baby” by LL Cool J — Fun dance song (May need radio edit)
“Now That We Found Love” by Heavy D — Great Dance Song w/ island vibe
“Bust A Move” by Young MC — Fun Song
“The Choice Is Yours” by Black Sheep — Really Great Song — now in commercials
“Hip Hop Hooray” by Naughty By Nature — New Jersey Fav (Radio Edit)
“I Reminisce” by Pete Rock & CL Smooth — Great blend of hip hop and jazz (Radio Edit)
“Me, Myself & I” by De La Soul — Hip hop meets hippy Parliament Funkadelic
“Killing Me Softly” by Lauryn Hill — A massive classic — The Roberta Flack remake is EVERYTHING
“Lost Ones” by Lauryn Hill — Has a KRS-One vibe
“The Light” by Common — Great chill — sweet song
“Shoop” by Salt n Pepa — Classic
“Jump Around” by House of Pain — Irish bagpipes meets hip hop —
“You Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer — All American hip hop
“Fantastic Voyage” by Coolio — Cool Cali vibe
“This is How You Do It” by Montell Jordan — Old school party song
“Passin Me By” by The Pharcyde — Love and yearning song
“Whomp There It Is” by Tag Team — Sports fan fav
Silly Rap Songs
“The Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground
“Just A Friend” by Biz Markie
“The Twist” by The Fat Boys — was in 80’s movies
