Music
10 Best Migos Songs
Counting down our favorite tracks from the Atlanta rap trio Migos behind the hit "Bad and Boujee."
Migos
© Diwang Valdez
Migos are rockstars. Out of all the great talent that’s come out of Atlanta over the past few years, no act has captured the internet’s imagination more. They are three best friends, united through some convoluted familial blood, who make amazing rap songs and look great in their black and gold. Every Migos mixtape or album is an event, and with the release of their second studio album 'CULTURE', it feels like the world at large is about to become intimately familiar with the South’s coolest trio.
Like Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne before them, Migos have released a crazy amount of music during their brief time in the spotlight. Since their 2013 breakout "Y.R.N.," they’ve put out 13 mixtapes and one full-length album. They’re always on call, and they work for their money. Every beat is better with a Migos member, especially if you catch them on a good day. To commemorate, we’ve gathered the 10 best Migos songs so far. In 10 years this list will probably look radically different — a testament to the restless creativity of Takeoff, Quavo and Offset.
10. "Versace"
Migos weren’t the first rap group to turn a luxury brand into a dadaist mantra, but they’re probably the best. "Versace" was released in a moment where Quavo, Offset and Takeoff probably couldn’t afford to raid 5th Avenue like A-listers, but every hustler knows the value of a flex. “Versace Versace Medusa head on me like I’m ‘lluminati, I know that you like it Versace, my neck and my wrist is so sloppy.” “Versace” rocketed to the number 99 slot on the Billboard Hot 100, catching the attention of Drake who dropped in a killer first verse. As Makonnen and Jai Paul can attest, you know you’ve got a hit when Drizzy gets involved.
8. "Bricks"
DJ Carnage had a carbonated trap beat ready for some bloodthirsty rhymes to layer on top. He called up Migos, who fell in love with the track and offered some of the most raucous bars of their very raucous career. In a world where rappers repeatedly phone in guest spots with copy-pasted verses sent over email or Dropbox, "Bricks" feels absolutely alive. It puts the world on notice. If you invite Migos to your song, they will do everything they can to make it their own. Proceed with caution.
7. "Cross The Country"
"Cross the Country" is the song where the average listener realizes that Migos are some of the greatest rappers alive. It’s easy to write off group acts as a monolith, but Takeoff averages about 30 syllables per bar in his first verse, Offset’s sloppy drawl hits like a brick (plus he somehow fits the words “Chattahoochee river” in a rap song) and not to be out done, Quavo rhymes “leprechaun” with “Babylon” with “exhortion funds” with “Megatron.” The video is also great — three young kids from Atlanta flexing in the heart of Paris. Solo careers often seem inevitable in hip-hop, and if Migos ever decide to go their separate ways, we should be thankful that we ever had this much talent concentrated in the same place.
6. "Hannah Montana"
In case you weren’t aware, “Hannah Montana” means cocaine. “Hannah Montana, Hannah Montana, I got molly I got white, I been trapping, trapping, trapping, trapping all damn night.” As the song blew up, Migos released a remix that recontextualized the Hannah Montana metaphor as an enterprising groupie "twerking, twerking, twerking, twerking all damn night." You have to respect the business acumen of taking advantage of Miley Cyrus’s image change by switching up your drug metaphor, but even outside of that “Hannah Montana” is a raw, early example of the carnage Migos were capable of before they had a budget. Occasionally it just sounds like three guys shouting in a room with a microphone, but it’s great, and we’ll probably never get this version of Quavo, Offset and Takeoff ever again.
5. "Handsome and Wealthy"
Nobody in Migos is a natural singer. Quavo, Offset and Takeoff are all rappers at their core. No room for artifice, or hypemen or excavated R&B crooners. However, as French Montana taught us on “Stay Schemin'", sometimes hip-hop magic can happen when a terrible voice belts out a big meaty hook. That’s what makes "Handsome and Wealthy" so indelible. In the midst of all the hardknock grit of “No Label II,” Quavo takes the stage with "I don’t know why I came in this club with you, giiiiiirl." It’s drunk, objectively off-key and somehow totally wonderful. One of the best things about Migos is their confidence, and there’s no better example than how far Quavo leans in here.
4. "China Town"
The weird thing about rap music is it’s often kind of nerdy. It’s easy to forget that when you factor in the horny masculinity, the lasciviousness, the steely gun-talk, and while all those are constant themes in Migos’s itinerary, they also have a knack for spitfire cultural references that draw on a whole lot of gonzo enthusiasm. The best example is “China Town,” where the trio build a banger out of Mortal Kombat names. “Black shades, Johnny Cage, diamonds go parade, Motorola in the kitchen whippin’ Sonya, my plug look like Pacquiao, his daughter is Kitana!” It catches you off guard, and then you remember the RZA’s obsession with Kung Fu movies, or Killer Mike’s love of pro wrestling.
2. "Fight Night"
This was the first time Migos felt big time. We loved them on their raucous, bonkers-fun early mixtape “Y.R.N.,” but the sparseness almost felt aggressively punk rock. When “Fight Night” rolled around in 2014, it seemed like the trio were trying to press an identifiable (and yeah, label friendly) hit. They nailed it. Stack Boy Twaun dials up a muscular bass-synth dirge and Takeoff has a ridiculous amount of fun with the profane hook. As usual, the other two members offer great verses, but we’re gonna be walking around with “hit it with the left, hit it with the right” rattling around in our brains for years to come.
2. "T-Shirt"
Migos' latest single, T-Shirt, is an instant hit. All the prerequisites for a Migos anthem are present – Auto Tune vocals, Instagram caption-worthy lines and solid production. The track also plays a subtle tribute to the late D4L co-founder, Shawty Lo. Pro tip: play this at full volume with the windows down, shades on.
1. "Bad and Boujee"
When "Bad and Boujee" became the number one song in the nation, it was surprising in the same way it was when Rae Sremmurd took the top spot with “Black Beatles.” Atlanta’s viral-rap sensations were always big on Twitter, but in a world where Spotify streams are taken just as seriously as CD sales, that digital success is easily converted into old media relevance. It certainly doesn’t hurt that “Bad and Boujee” is an incredible song — a curdled, understated beat from Metro Boomin with an outstanding guest turn from Lil Uzi Vert. We’ll be making “Rain drop, drop top” jokes for the rest of our lives.
