Before getting into our summer playlist, we should address the joint-sized elephant in the room. We’re an adult-use, recreational cannabis dispensary, not a DJ or music producer.
We’ve curated these suggestions with a ‘green lean’ meant to enhance your cannabis experience.
That said, cannabis enthusiasts run the gamut in personality types and musical tastes. Also, the summer calls for a particular kind of tune that harnesses optimal chill-out vibes.
Beyond that, you might be hanging out with a group of friends where several do not indulge in cannabis. Or, you might not want to indulge in cannabis every time you listen to music this summer.
While our playlist will veer toward the cannabis-centric music listener, we’ll do our best to ensure it’s well-rounded for all to enjoy this summer. Thus, some reefer-inspired classics will have their place, but so will more outside-the-box selections.
The Synergistic Relationship Between Cannabis And Music
Every cannabis experience has the chance to be a musical experience. The two go hand in hand.
According to neurological and musical experts, listening to a piece of music activates the entire range of our central nervous system. Our brains are physiologically “on fire” when stimulated by music, going into overload to digest and absorb rhythm, harmony, timbre, pitch, etc.
Similarly, the brain’s cannabinoid (CB1) receptors are prominent within the central nervous system, growing hyperactive under cannabis’s influence.
Cannabis and music both activate the brain’s pleasure and reward system. When THC leads to a substantial dopamine hit, it can yield a more positive listening experience.
When cannabis and music trigger the mesolimbic dopamine system simultaneously, it doubles down two pleasing behaviors, coupling them into one ear-melting experience.
Now, let’s get into our summer playlist picks, shall we?
Old School Selections
Here, we’ll start with a few old-school tracks to enhance the summer-time vibes and, in some instances, the cannabis-induced vibes.
Muddy Waters – Champagne And Reefer
Let us take you somewhere—where the barbecue smoke fills the air and cold, refreshing brewski eagerly awaits you in a portable cooler filled with ice. You’re with your closest pals on a patio on a hot day with hazy skies and the sun beating down.
Nothing quite says lay back, chill out, and enjoy a cold beer while toking on a pre-roll like Champagne and Reefer by Muddy Waters.
This song personifies everything fans know and appreciate about one of America’s preeminent blues legends. Waters plays low-down, dirty blues that somehow make you feel warm and tingly as he moans his laments over laid-back rhythms and melodies.
Jimi Hendrix – Castles Made Of Sand
The easiest Jimi Hendrix pick is Purple Haze. Its connections to the cannabis world are cliche at this point—and for good reason—the song kicks all kinds of behind.
Still, we wanted to dare to be different by choosing another Hendrix banger—Castles Made of Sand. It’s a sad song that’s deeply contemplative and rich.
The guitar is played dream-like by the man wielding it, a master of his craft in Hendrix. This psychedelic tune lulls listeners into a euphoric daze, wistfully thinking of memories that fade away like castles made of sand falling into the sea.
Ella Fitzgerald (Or Sublime) – Summertime
The song’s place on our summer playlist is self-explanatory. Summertime—the song and the season—is the definition of a vibe. You can’t go wrong with this stone-cold classic, whether Ella Fitzgerald’s elegant, skillfully crooned iteration or Sublime’s trippy, kaleidoscopic cover.
Hip Hop Selections
Here are our hip-hop selections for our readers who love scorching rhymes spat over piping-hot beats on a warm summer day.
Cypress Hill – High Times
As a cannabis dispensary, making a playlist without including Cypress Hill is equivalent to blasphemy.
The cannabis-activist rap group’s song, High Times, evokes a sense of nostalgia, bringing us back to the summer days of our youth and examining how far we’ve come. The beat is tight, and the lyrics are boisterously delivered with vim and vigor, like in all Cypress Hill tracks.
Run The Jewels – Close Your Eyes
Summertime is the time to get lit; all RTJ songs make the listener want to do just that. Close Your Eyes is no different, bolstered by stereotypically lively performances from the two MCs, Killer Mike and El-P.
A hot summer day might bring you down with oppressively scorching temperatures, but Close Your Eyes will wake you up with its bristling attitude. Never mind the surprising verse spit passionately by Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, a celebrated hip-hop and rock legend.
Mary J Blige – Family Affair
The summer often means family or friend-group get-togethers at vacation homes to catch up.
Playing Mary J Blige’s Family Affair at your familial gathering will get everyone talking and—dare we say—shaking their behinds into the later hours of the night. That’s the type of family affair we want to attend this summer.
Contemporary Selections
Here, we’ll be more current with our selections, choosing two big-time bops from the past few years.
Dua Lipa – Levitating
Levitating by pop queen Dua Lipa has a bass that slaps, a hook that sticks, and a pulse that turns a ho-hum summer day into times you cherish forever.
The title itself, as well as some of the trippy musical nuances, will appeal to cannabis enthusiasts. At the same time, the tune’s pop leanings make it appealing to everyone—not just pot lovers.
Taylor Swift – Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)
We would be remiss not to include a Taylor Swift song from her Tortured Poets Department album, which is taking the nation by storm. The songs on the critically acclaimed album will ring through the streets throughout 2024’s warm months, and it’s something to embrace and lean into.
Florida!!!, the duet Taylor Swift does with Florence Welch, invokes a sense of summer through its title. After all, Florida is a state where it’s basically summer all year round. This track also speaks to our cannabis inclinations, with a poetic “weed” reference in the lyrics.
With our summer playlist suggestions, you can enjoy summer to the fullest extent. So, turn up the volume, spark up your favorite sativa or indica, and let the good times roll.
