Hip-Hop Cooldown

Clubbed to death from your usual weekend routine of deafening dance jams and Red Bull cocktails chased with bottle service up in the VIP? Collapse into these comforting, supremely chilled hip-hop classics, including shimmering sunset grooves (Mos Def's "Umi Says"), minor-keyed heartbreakers (the Pharcyde's "Runnin'"), and love songs that won't trigger your gag reflex come Valentine's Day (Slum Village's "Call Me"; "The Rain" by K-OS). Q-Tip will turn your bones to liquid with "Even If It Is So," Pharoahe Monch keeps it strictly "horizontal" (we think you know what we mean) on "So Good," and Guru mines a fluid groove, and sees the light, on "State of Clarity." Even the bad times seem mellow, when recalled by Dre and Jay-Z, in Next Steps.

Oh, sure, these tracks have been cooling on the windowsill for a while, like fresh apple pie. That doesn't mean the rapping's any less hot, though. Lupe Fiasco brings a languid style and a fresh sense of global wonder to his smoothly-syllabled grand tour "Paris, Tokyo" ("Take a train to Rome/Or home/Brazil/For real"), Jay-Z is joined by Pharrell as he narrates his magnificent rise to the top, even though there were times when it was a case of "Back to the drawing board, ducking officers," and Snoop Dogg treads similar ground, backed by Dre and D'Angelo, as he cleverly recounts the toughest of times by supposing they'd never happened, on "Imagine." Kanye looks to Coldplay for backup, in Deep Cuts.

Every mood is met with a stone-cold-proper beats/feathery rhymes combo here. Quasimoto's "MHBs" conjures moments of sheer dementia while channelling a creamy, soulful, '70s luv-groove; Kanye West chills his mix with plaintive vocal backup from Coldplay's Chris Martin on "Homecoming" from 2007's Graduation, and Digable Planets craft a flexible jazzy spine for their rhymes by sampling Lonnie Liston Smith's "Devika (Goddess)." Inspiring cancer-survivor Jonathan Emile spreads his unique "mindpeacelove" philosophy through "It Ain't Over" and Jurassic 5 considers the troubling transition from innocence to experience over a funky shuffle on "End Up Like This."

Sometimes beats needn't be bangin', and rhymes not as razor-tongued. Such occasions call for muted but satisfying selections, split into portions of rap, jazz, and R&B, like the toppings on a mixed pizza pie. Our Hip-Hop Cooldown playlist carries its backyard barbecue vibe over several key hip-hop scenes, including the Native Tongues (A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers), modern-day social commentators (Little Brother, Blackalicious, Talib Kweli), and complete eccentrics like OutKast and Madlib masquerading as Quasimoto. You'll also find some of the biggest names in the business (Kanye, Jay-Z) exercising their right to remain mellow from time to time, everyone united by the fact that, if you've got something to say, you don't always need thunder, lightning, and a megaphone.