Smoke 🚬 💨 | 3 to 5 BOPS

Smoke 🚬 💨: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 5 (2023), features musical BOPS courtesy of Drake, Otis Redding, The Platters, Silk Sonic, and SZA.

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 5^th edition of 3 to 5 BOPS (2023), we select songs that are associated with SMOKE 🚬 💨  in some form or fashion. The BOPS arrive courtesy of 🎙 Drake, 🎙 Otis Redding, 🎙 The Platters, 🎙 Silk Sonic, and 🎙 SZA. Okay, let’s get into it!

1. SZA, “Smoking on my Ex Pack”

💿 SOS • 🏷 Top Dawg Entertainment / RCA • 📅 2022

“Roll the clip and run it back, I’m really like that / I’m really not friendly, I need my credit, niggas hate that.” 🎙 SZA roared back into the mainstream in late 2022 with her sophomore album, 💿 SOS.  Although it is a long project, it is consistent and incredibly rewarding, including the song at hand, 🎵 “Smoking on my Ex Pack.” So, how does “Smoking on my Ex Pack” get its chipmunk soul sound? Well, it samples the 1981 song, 🎵 “Open Up Your Eyes” by 🎙 Webster Lewis. Even so, on this brief track – or interlude – SZA raps the sole verse.  She’s unapologetic, dropping no shortage of ‘smoking hot’ one-liners.  “Abracadabra, you niggas sideshow / I’m Bobbin’ like psycho / you gassin’ like Texaco,” she asserts, later stating, “I got your favorite rapper blocked,” and making it clear, “Them ‘ho’ accusations weak / Them ‘bitch’ accusations true.” Woo! It’s safe to say, SZA is on fire 🔥! 

2. Silk Sonic, “Smokin Out The Window”

💿 An Evening With Silk Sonic • 🏷 Aftermath Entertainment / Atlantic • 📅 2021

🎵 “Smokin Out the Window”, the third single from 💿 An Evening with Silk Sonic, continues the excellence established by 🎙 Silk Sonic (🎙 Bruno Mars and 🎙 Anderson  .Paak). The record commences with tension via strings and spoken word intro. Soon enough, “Smokin Out the Window” settles into a neo-soul/retro-soul joint, a sweet spot for both 🏆 Grammy-winning musicians. Even though the style is old-school on “Smokin Out the Window,” select salty language (aka profanity) makes it very contemporary, while also showcasing the personalities of both musicians. Musically, the harmonic progression, fat bass line, and throwback production (Mars and 🎛 D’Mile) are big selling points. Among the best features of this smoking hot song is the catchy chorus:

“Smokin’ out the window

Singin’ ‘How could she do this to me?’

Oh, I thought that girl belonged to only me

But I was wrong

‘Cause she belong to everybody, everybody.’”

Appears in 🔻:

• Awesome Songs: November 2021

3. Otis Redding, “Cigarettes and Coffee”

💿 The Soul Album • 🏷 Atlantic • 🗓 1966

“It’s early in the morning / About a quarter ‘til three / I’m sitting here talking with my baby / Over cigarettes and coffee, now.” The late, great 🎙 Otis Redding known for many soul gems. 🎵 “Cigarettes and Coffee”, a marvelous gem from his 1966 album,  💿 The Soul Album (1966), doesn’t get the same hype as his most renowned cuts.  It should, however! “Cigarettes and Coffee” is a cover, though the original received little fanfare;  the Redding version is easily the definitive take.  The record was written by 🎼 ✍ Jerry Butler, Eddie Thomas, and Jay Walker.

On “Cigarettes and Coffee,” Redding proves he was a once in a generation artist. Despite the fact that he didn’t live long, his impact on soul music is undeniable. “Cigarettes and Coffee” finds Redding at his most expressive; his voice is amazing with vocal cracks, grit, nuance. “Cigarettes” oozes with soul, only amplified by an epic horn arrangement/overall production.

“But it seems so natural, darling

That you and I are here

Just talking over cigarettes and drinking coffee.”

You listen to records like 🎵 “Cigarettes and Coffee”, and it makes you yearn for that authentic soul sound that’s so rare in the 2020s. Otis Redding is EVERYTHING on this 1966 highlight from The Soul Album which is, indeed, soulful.

Appears in 🔻:

• 13 Delightful Songs Coffee Drinkers Can Get Behind
• Otis Redding, “Cigarettes and Coffee”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 73 (2022)
• Otis Redding vs. Etta James: Head 2 Head 🗣️ 32 (2022)

4. Drake, “Free Smoke”

💿 More Life • 🏷 Young Money / Cash Money • 📅 2017

Five words: “Free smoke, free smoke, ayy!” 🎵  🆓  🚬 “Free Smoke” kicks off 🎙 Drake’s 2017 playlist-album, 💿 More Life, in electrifying fashion. Following a sample-driven introduction, hard drums and ferocious rhymes take over: “Yeah, I couldn’t get a bill paid / You couldn’t buy the real things / I was stayin’ up at yo place / Tryin’ to figure the whole thing out…” It is great to hear Drizzy come out swinging, initially giving More Life punch.  What does he drop bars about? A familiar topic to say the least: his come up. Regardless, it gives the opening banger authenticity. The first verse from Drake continues as follows:

“…I saw people doin’ things

Almost gave up on the music thing

But we all so spoiled now

More life, more everything.”

Again, 🆓 🚬.

Appears in 🔻:

• Free 🆓: A Compendium of 30 Songs

5. The Platters, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”

💿 Remember When? • 🏷 Mercury • 🗓 1959

“They asked me how I knew / My true love was true / I of course replied, something here inside / Cannot be denied.” Oh, the nostalgia! Early, renowned R&B/vocal collective 🎙 The Platters landed the biggest hit of their career with 🎵 “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” (💿 Remember When?), which peaked at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959.  Even though this record was recorded and released more than six decades ago, it remains potent – a once in a lifetime recording. “Smoke” features a gorgeous, truly celestial backdrop.  That backdrop is comprised of strings (including harp), piano, drums – it sounds sophisticated and vintage through and through.  Beyond the refined supporting instrumental, the lead vocals are marvelous by 🎙 Tony Williams.  While Williams is the engine that made this seminal hit by the Platters go, the supporting vocals by the rest of the collective are brilliant too.

“When your heart’s on fire, you must realize

Smoke gets in your eyes.”

“Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” was NOT an original by The Platters despite the fact that the collective made it sound that way – speaks to their tremendous musicianship. The tune is a jazz standard, from the 1933 musical, Roberta, written by 🎼 ✍ Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach in 1933.  While The Platters greatly owe Kern and Harbach for a stellar song, they made that stellar song even bigger.

 Appears in 🔻:

• The Platters, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 8 (2023)

Smoke 🚬 💨: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 5 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Aftermath Entertainment, Atlantic, Cash Money, Mercury, RCA, Top Dawg Entertainment, Young Money; Petar Starčević via Pexels]