4/20 Music Mix: Best Rap & Reggae Songs About The Herb To Listen To On Friday

This 4/20 music mix is a totally unofficial and spotty list of the best songs about the herb to listen to on Friday, April 20.

It's mostly hip hop, though there's a reggae mix to die for thrown in for fun. But if you just put them on and take a sunny afternoon walk or lie back on your bed and let the chunes in, you'll be 'laxing in an ear-tickled haze by 4:21 p.m. (or a.m., if you get down like that.)

This list will surely generate controversy, as it's totally random, I didn't spend any time trying to figure out the right order, and I surely ignored entire genres and traditions. But I'm stoked to listen to it, and you should be too. Just FYI: each song's title is actually a link to it on YouTube (except the first one, which links to a free place to listen to it), so just click on whichever track piques your curiousity and you'll be listening to it in no time.

Basically, here's how the list got made. I started writing it, then got ... distracted. So go ahead, enjoy it until you get ... too bored. Here goes:

Ganja Tunes Mix: The first song on this list is actually a mix, and it's also a plug for a dude I knew in college who made what has to be one of the all-time best 4/20 mixes in the world. He basically went through the crates of old reggae and found all the best songs (many of which you'll remember from who knows when) about the greenery and made them into one classic track. From the Pinchers to The Mighty Diamonds, this is like an hour or something of the best-curated old-school weed reggae in the world. A lot of songs you may be tempted to think are missing from this list (like Legalize It by Peter Tosh and sensimilla by Barrington Levy) are probably on this mix. So don't miss this on 4/20; it's been an essential of the holiday every year ever since it dropped on 4/20/2008. This one can't be embedded, so just click the link and click listen now or download now. Either way, it's free.

Styles P - Good Times (I Get High): This song's about as self-explanatory as music comes. Styles apparently enjoys hittin' the blunt -- so much so, according to this song, that if he's sober for even a little while he may just rob someone -- and this song is his proof. He smokes like a chimney, like a gun, like Bob Marley, like hippies, and in case you're wondering, he gets high, high, high, high. Cause what's better to do? This song has some classic production, and it pretty much ensures that you remember what a lot of people will be doing to celebrate 4/20.

Luniz - I Got Five On It: This is the recession special weed anthem. You may remember this song from way back when, and the lyrics seem as dated as the funky beat. Still, this song will remind you of the days when you only had $5 left from your grocery-store paycheck and you still wanted to get down. Ain't no fun if the homie can't get none. So Luniz lets you know what to do if you already gambled away most of your unemployment check before you remembered that Friday is 4/20. Just scrounge up some change and put five on it.

Dead Prez - Twenty: Whatcha smokin' on? What kinda rims you ridin' on? These eternal questions can all be answered with just two numerals: 20. And this song, by two of Brooklyn's finest rappers (you probably know them from the song Bigger Than Hip Hop), is one of the most ridic you'll hear today, as it tells you how your day would go if you were a stalk of the ganj. Odd topic, great song.

Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre - Smoke Weed Everyday: Can't hate this one. It's impossible: killer strings on the beat; Snoop when he was still on top of his game, singin la de da de da and swingin' his hair; plus that line what hood: Compton, Long Beach, IngleWOOD. It's on for the two-triple-oh, and Nate Dogg's still alive, imploring you to smoke weed everyday. Or at least on 4/20, the best holiday for a West Coast g blowin' trees.

Afroman - Because I Got High: Ok, now this one we know you may wanna skip. Heard it too many times. Wasn't even a good song in the first place. But I implore you, give it another listen, and by the time the bass drops you'll be crankin' your stereo up. And if not, wait what were we talking about? Whatever, I was gonna change the song. But then I got high.

Bone Thugs 'N' Harmony - The Weed Song: 'Nuff said. Now go have a great 4/20.