Backseat | 3 to 5 BOPS

Backseat: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 35 (2023), features musical BOPS courtesy of Brian McKnight, JORDY, Juicy J & Wiz Khalifa, Kendrick Lamar, and Mayer Hawthorne.

Ah, you know what time it is! It’s 3 to 5 BOPS time – WOO! On 3 to 5 BOPS, it’s all about brevity and sweetness… for the most part! There’s a theme/topic, 3, 4, or 5 songs, and a blurb – two paragraphs or less.  3 to 5 BOPS, hence, is a mini playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 35th edition of 3 to 5 BOPS (2023), we select songs that are associated with BACKSEAT in some form or fashion. The BOPS arrive courtesy of 🎙 Brian McKnight, 🎙 JORDY, 🎙 Juicy J & Wiz Khalifa, 🎙 Kendrick Lamar, and 🎙 Mayer Hawthorne. Okay, let’s get into it!

via GIPHY

1. Juicy J & Wiz Khalifa, “Backseat” (Ft. Project Pat) 

💿 Stoner’s Night • 🏷 Trippy Music LLC • 📅 2022  

“Rolling up a paper and get high to the sky / All my homies repping Taylor Gang or Die-da-da-da” 🎵 “Backseat” appears as the fifth track on 💿 Stoner’s Night, the joint album released by 🎙 Juicy J and 🎙 Wiz Khalifa.  In addition to Juicy and Wiz, Project Pat serves as a featured guest. Wiz Khalifa delivers the best part of the banger – the chorus: “Backseat killin’ it, got my feet up / Bad shorty and she feelin’ it / I’m the realest nigga that she been with /… Niggas just talk but I’m livin’ it.” Woo! That follows a strong opening verse, where it’s Taylor Gang for life.   

Project Pat is on fire in the second verse with plenty of badass rhymes including his colorful delivery on “I’m the shitter, my dick stroke, ya girl get-uh / From crumbs to the brick-uhs, got suckers sicker / Louis on my feet, Louis thirteenth of liquor / Robbers getting’ weak, don’t fuck with this nigga.” Aw shiz-net!  As for Juicy J, who also produces this banger, he recalls his nasty classic, 🎵 “Slob on My Knob” in the third and final verse: “Told her ‘Slob on my knob ‘til my knob fall off’.” Gah-day-ummm!

via GIPHY

2. JORDY, “Backseat Driver” 

💿 Boy • 🏷 300 Entertainment • 🗓 2023  

“I’m tired of / Backseat driving…” Sigh, I relate 🎙 JORDY! 🎵 “Backseat Driver”, the eighth track from his sophomore album, 💿 Boy, is NOT about driving a car. JORDY compares his non-existent/sus love life to being passenger in the backseat that never rides shotgun, let alone gets to drive 😢. “Another summer with no one in my bed,” he sings in the first verse, continuing, “Like any other Saturday with my friends / They’re all in love, damn, I wanna be too.” He is struggling to find that love he so desperately seeks and eludes him.  He tires of being a “Backseat driver, broken-hearted survivor” who wants to “Know when I’ll ride shotgun /… Not sitting in the back alone.” Many, many people can relate to being a backseat driver in this context.  

3. Brian McKnight, “Back Seat (Gettin’ Down)” 

💿 U Turn • 🏷 Motown • 🗓 2003 

“If you believe in love / Let’s get down.” Woo! In other words, what 🎙 Brian McKnight encourages on the outro of 🎵 “Back Seat (Gettin’ Down)” is the universal three-letter word: SEX.  Honestly, songs written about having sex or making plans to do so never grow old.  The world loves sex, period.  On this sensual, grown-folks R&B cut from 💿 U Turn (2003), McKnight does a fabulous job of titillating without crossing the line.  I mean, “I can’t work no more, can’t concentrate / When your lips meet mine, I won’t hesitate” isn’t that risqué but it gets the job done!  

By the pre-chorus, McKnight has clearly established the things he wants to do.  When him and her are close, the fantasies are sure to become reality.  That’s why, ladies and gentlemen, he’s confident that “Baby, we just might be / On the backseat gettin’ down.” Further evidence they might be getting freaky? “Oh, I’ve been jonesin’ for you, baby /… Find us a cozy spot… / I can have all of you to myself now, baby.” It’s even more intense on the bridge where she’s driving him crazy – he’s got to have her!  

“Missing you  

Wanting you  

Needing you  

Touching you  

Squeezing you  

Dreaming you   

Teasing you  

Pleasing you  

Breathing you  

Eating you  

Sleeping you  

Tasting you  

Can’t wait, baby, hoo.”   

Day-um Brian! Brian McKnight delivers on “Back Seat (Gettin’ Down).” It’s self-explanatory. McKnight is in love with her, but he also wants to make love to her.  Ultimately there’s no question about the fact that it’s going down!   

via GIPHY

Appears in 🔻:  

• Brian McKnight, “Back Seat (Gettin’ Down)”: After Dark 🕛 🌃 No. 24 (2022)  

4. Mayer Hawthorne, “Back Seat Lover” 

💿 Where Does This Door Go • 🏷 Republic • 📅 2013 

On 🎵 “Back Seat Lover” (💿 Where Does This Door Go, 2013), neo-soul/blue-eyed-soul standout 🎙 Mayer Hawthorne is perfectly content with continuing with a secret ‘relationship.’ This is confirmed by lyrics like, “You know I’d never hit and tell” (verse one) and “You know I won’t say a word / Yeah we can keep it discreet…” (Pre-Chorus).  Woo!  

Ultimately, Hawthorne seems to enjoy… SEX (“If I gotta be your back seat lover / Man well let’s get it on then…”). Still, he also opens the door to a true, balanced relationship in the bridge: “If you wanted more…I could show you the possibilities..” In addition to its narrative prowess, the production (Hawthorne and 🎛 Da Internz) of “Back Seat Lover” sets the tone with its neo-soul groove that addicts from start to finish.  

5. Kendrick Lamar, “Backseat Freestyle”  

💿 Good Kid m.A.A.d City • 🏷 Aftermath / Interscope • 🗓 2012

🎵 “Backseat Freestyle” marks one of the best cuts from 💿 Good Kid m.A.A.d City, the album where the 🏆 Grammys totally screwed 🎙 Kendrick Lamar over 😏 🤬. Eventually, Kendrick would get his just due, though he has yet to take home the big award: Album of The Year.  Focusing on the song at hand, 🎛 Hit-Boy delivers some of his best production work, fueling K-Dot to drop some mad bars. The intro, later reiterated as the outro, is addictive, particular over the beat: “Martin had a dream, Martin had a dream, Kendrick have a dream…”  Lamar remains on autopilot throughout, particularly his confident chorus: “All my life I want money and power / Respect my mind or die from lead shower / I pray my dick get big as the Eiffel Tower / So I can fuck the world for 72 hours…”  WOO! Lamar never lets up, remaining relevant and uncompromising, which is the magic of “Backseat Freestyle.” It represents both childish fodder yet also lofty self-esteem and aspiration.   

Appears in 🔻:  

• Alluring Songs Where the Keyword is Back, Vol. 2 (2020)  

Backseat: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 35 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; 300 Entertainment, Aftermath / Interscope, Motown, Republic, Trippy Music LLC;  cottonbro studio via Pexels]