Blacktop Mix

Time to break out your oversized '90s boombox and get down to the park. Now that it's definitively warm (not break-open-a-fire-hydrant hot, but warm), round up some friends and get a pickup game of whatever ballgame you play. For the sake of this 10-track mix, we're playing basketball and giving a hat tip to the late great MCA. Stream this list on Spotify.

1st Quarter – Jump Ball
Losing MCA was a major blow to music in general, and New York music in particular. Is there any better way to soundtrack a Saturday afternoon holding down the courts than a choice cut off of Paul's Boutique?
1. Beastie Boys – Shake Your Rump
2. Death Grips – I've Seen Footage

2nd Quarter – Talk Some Trash
The next two songs on this mix are some hard-hitting, attitude-driven hip-hop jams from two underground legends (and another Beasties cut). Let these sharp-tongued emcees keep your legs pumping and your mouth motoring.
3. Killer Mike – Go!
4. El-P – The Full Retard
5. Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise

3rd Quarter – Game On
In the spirit of bicoastal unity, we’ve been pulling tracks from the East and the West. These next three songs continue with that spirit but throw in some Dirty South.
6. Aesop Rock – Zero Dark Thirty
7. Big K.R.I.T. – Boobie Miles
8. The Game – Drug Test (feat. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, & Sly)

4th Quarter – Buzzer Beater
These final two songs are certifiable hip-hop classics custom-made for your boombox. Finish strong and walk away like the champ that you are.
9. Public Enemy – Night of the Living Baseheads
10. Beastie Boys – She’s Crafty

(Stream this mix on Spotify)