Vaccine | 3BOPS

1. Migos, “Vaccine”

💿 Culture III • 🏷 Quality Control Music • 📅 2021

🎛 Jabz and 🎛 Buddah Bless set up 🎙 Migos for success on 🎵 “Vaccine.” How so? Well, one of the best features of the song is the sample, which is totally unlikely: Peter Tchaikovsky.  That’s right, the Russian composer sees the famed riff from The Nutcracker, Act 1: No. 2 “March” flipped from major to minor to fit this drippy gem from 💿 Culture III.

Honestly, “Vaccine” is Migos at their best.  It begins with a killer chorus courtesy of the chorus king himself, 🎙 Quavo: “Pop out (Skrrt-skrrt), what’s up? / We makin’ money in quarantine (quarantine) / Dirty my stick and my whip clean (whip clean) / It’s the blue Benjamin’s, vaccine (Vaccine).” From there, all three members, beginning with Quavo, 🎙 Takeoff, and 🎙 Offset drop verses, with the Quavo chorus following each.  Do any of them say anything particularly deep? No, but they ride the Tchaikovsky loop with the robust bass line like champs! Ultimately, “We makin’ money in quarantine,” or so Quavo proclaims regarding his 🏆 Grammy-nominated group.

Also appears on 🔽:

🔗 🎧 V: 5ive Songs No. 49 (2021)

🔗 🎧 13 V Songs: No Rhyme or Reason

🔗 🎧 Awesome Songs That Tickled My Fancy: June 2021

2. Logic, “Vaccine”

💿 Bobby Tarantino III • 🏷 Def Jam • 📅 2021

“Aw yeah, just me and my dogs, yeah / Give a fuck ‘bout what y’all doing, yeah we goin’ hard all year.” Post-retirement, 🏆 Grammy-nominated rapper 🎙 Logic brings confident bars on the brief 🎵 “Vaccine”. How much does “Vaccine” have to do with the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson? Little to be honest but I’m totally okay with that. Having the ‘retired’ rapper back with  💿 Bobby Tarantino III – “Ready to fuck up the game, BT3, now we at it again, man – makes this short and sweet, non-vaccinated banger worthwhile.

The reason why “Vaccine” works is because Logic doesn’t try too hard or do too much.  He’s got a nice canvas to paint over (Logic + 🎛 6ix), and paint he does. COVID-19 is not really on his radar but rather, dropping those bars man! On the brief first verse, he asserts, “Came back to the scene, came back with a team / Like rap ain’t a thing, I’ma do anything.” Woo! On the third verse, he talks plenty of shit, bragging, “Just me and the beat got you feeling defeat / I came up on the street now I’m bringing the heat.” Oh, and as for those haters “talkin’ that shit,” well, my boy either “blow it off” or “show ‘em love.” I encourage all to partake of this two-minutes-and-change vax from Logic.  He doesn’t serve up transcendent rhymes, but post-retirement, he’s confident with those bars.  Overall, his “Vaccine” is effective to say the least.

3. Tower of Power, “Soul Vaccination”

💿 Tower of Power • 🏷 Warner • 📅 1973

“Get ready for the injection to cut down on the infection / ‘Cause soon we’ve got soul perfection / I’m talkin’ ‘bout (soul vaccination).” If you’ve never partaken of the music of 🎙 Tower of Power, well, you’re totally missing out! The funk collective recorded epic records over the years, with many of those crowning achievements appearing on their self-titled, 1973 LP.  That’s right, 💿 Tower of Power features 🎵 “What is Hip?”, 🎵 “So Very Hard to Go,” and the vaccine-driven song at hand, 🎵 “Soul Vaccination.” “Soul Vaccination” has a strong case for one of the funkiest funk songs of all time.

Obviously, COVID-19 wasn’t a thing prior to “Soul Vaccination,” so there’s no connection whatsoever with the virus that turned the world upside down.  What this ‘vaccination’ can do for you is make you rejuvenated – rid of the infection! One of the infections that appears is “honky pox”, curable only by this soul vaccination served up by Tower of Power.  Honestly, can anybody have “honky pox” after hearing these biting horns, lit grooves, or the anointed pipes of 🎙 Lenny Williams? Let’s certainly hope not!