Music
Counting down the 10 best tracks from rap’s flossiest extroverts.
Atlanta rap trio Migos have always been rockstars. They are now also megastars. And it didn’t take a recent trip in Corden’s Carpool – culture’s cringiest co-signer – to tell us that. Everything they do – from A-list make-ups and break-ups to guest verses and solo material – is high profile. Self-proclaimed inventors of the dab; ostentatious slayers of the Met Gala; resurrectors of the triplet flow; unashamed masters of the ad-lib, they feel so meme-ably now that it’s hard to believe that they’ve been skrrt skrrt-ing their way through mainstream pop since 2013.
Out of all the recent talent that hails from Atlanta, no act has captured the internet’s imagination more. Like Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne before them, describing Migos' output as prolific is an understatement. Since their 2013 breakout Y.R.N., they’ve put out 13 mixtapes and two more full-length albums.
Ten years from now this list will probably look radically different – a testament to the restless creativity of Takeoff, Quavo and Offset – but it’ll take a sonic earthquake to knock Bad and Boujee off the top spot.
1. Motorsport (ft. Cardi B and Nicki Minaj)
If Migos stand for one thing above all else, it’s one-upmanship. Their chains, their cars, their flows – they’re all fresher than yours. And so, for the lead single from their latest album, Culture II, it would never have enough to just bag a guest verse from 2017’s greatest hip hop icon, Cardi B. Here we find her quite possibly beefing inside the same track with her cultural godmother and rumoured nemesis, Nicki Minaj. A masterclass in the zeitgeist, Migos are never not ‘doing it for the culture’.
2. Bricks
Back in 2014, DJ Carnage had a carbonated festival-friendly 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, 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.
3. Cross the Country
Cross the Country is arguably the track that told the world, back in 2015, that Migos were 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', 'Babylon', 'extortion funds' and 'Megatron'. The video is also great – three young kids from Atlanta flexing in the heart of Paris.
4. Hannah Montana
Migos love a drug euphemism. And Hannah Montana – the oh-so-popular and oh-so-white Disney show – is their genius slang for cocaine. As the song blew up, Migos released a remix that recontextualised 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, the second release from their 2013 Y.R.N mixtape is a raw, early example of the carnage Migos were capable of before they had a budget.
5. Fight Night
This was the first time Migos felt like they were big time. We loved them on their raucous, bonkers 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.
6. T-Shirt
T-Shirt is an instant hit. All the prerequisites for a Migos anthem are present – auto-tuned vocals, Insta-friendly soundbite 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.
7. Calvin Harris – Slide (ft. Migos and Frank Ocean)
Aside from serving as a welcome reminder of Migos’ willingness to meddle with the unexpected, this slinky summer number ultimately showcases their adaptability. There are no trap high hats here, just a smooth funk jam and nowhere to hide. Both Quavo and Offset hold their own in the presence of modern music’s greatest innovator, Mr Ocean.
8. Versace
Migos weren’t the first rap group to turn a luxury brand into a dadaist mantra, but they did it with the most success. Back in 2013, 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 fronted its way to the number 99 slot on the Billboard Hot 100, catching the attention of Drake, who dropped in a killer first verse. And, just like that, Migos' dreams became reality.
9. Walk It Talk It (ft. Drake)
And so it was with a massive shift in power dynamics that rap’s greatest coattails-surfer returned to guest slot on another Migos track earlier this year. Here, he expends the lion’s share of his allotted bars, extolling the many wonders of his Migos ‘brothers’. Chock with stiletto-sharp staccato flow, ad-libs and braggadocio, this is Migos at their most Migos. A 2018 reminder of why they’re the biggest group in rap right now.
10. Bad and Boujee (ft. Lil Uzi Vert)
When Donald Glover picked up his Best TV Comedy award at the 2017 Golden Globes, he thanked all the regulars but saved his biggest gush for Migos: 'for making Bad and Boujee, like, the best song ever.' And with that he succeeded in both confusing a room full of old rich white people and sending an online new-gen counter-culture world hurtling into the mainstream. This was the moment that allowed for the big budget, stadium touring Migos that we know today. And it couldn’t have happened without that curdled, understated beat from Metro Boomin, that outstanding guest turn from Lil Uzi Vert, and that line that will live forever – 'raindrop, drop top'.
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