Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 Review: July 2020

Welcome back to another Top 40 Review where I look at some of the most popular songs in the Hot 100’s Top 40. Let’s get started.

BILLBOARD HOT 100 OF JULY 18, 2020

#39. 44 Bulldog-Pop Smoke: For the first time ever, I finally get to talk about Pop Smoke, an upcoming Brooklyn rapper who was tragically killed in a home invasion earlier this year. Recently, his debut album was released posthumously and thus, we got a bunch of his songs on the charts. Let’s start with 44 Bulldog, which is a good representation of his music. Dark, ominous production, Pop Smoke’s gruffer delivery, and a whole lot of gangsta content. It’s not anything unique, but for a gangsta rap song, it gets the job done fine enough. I give it a 3.5/5.

#37. Gangstas-Pop Smoke: Next is Gangstas, which is pretty self explanatory. The 50 Cent influence is strong with this song with a piano-driven beat and a more melodic hook. The most noteworthy thing about this song is that he took a subliminal shot at a certain rainbow-haired troll who shall remain unnamed. Yeah, Pop Smoke gets an extra point for that. I wish the song was longer and that the intro was shorter. Otherwise, I like this. It’s getting a 4/5 from me.

#34. Aim For The Moon-Pop Smoke ft Quavo: This is a Migos song. The swampy production, the heavy amount of materialism and sex talk, and a feature from Quavo doing what you expect Quavo to do. This song isn’t bad, but it ain’t good, either. It’s a 2/5.

#33. Bluebird-Miranda Lambert: It’s alright. Not something I would go back to and Miranda has made better songs. It’s a 3/5.

#31. Got It On Me-Pop Smoke: Back to the Pop Smoke show with Got It On Me. The gothic choirs alongside the standard trap beat sounds pretty cool and the Many Men interpolation is both interesting and haunting, especially when you consider what happened in real life. Overall, I give this song a 3.5/5.

#29. Savage Love-Jawsh 685 & Jason Derulo: So Jason Derulo is back. With help from TikTok and producer Jawsh 685, he’s made the ultimate simp anthem of 2020 with Savage Love, where he complains about an ex who used him. I’m sure August Alsina can relate. The best part of the song is the production, which has that fake Jamaican sound that’s bouncy enough to make it a hit and make people overlook the fact that Derulo’s screeching falsetto is still annoying after all these years. There’s probably a bunch of people who like this song, but I’m not on-board with it. I give this a 2/5.

#28. Go Crazy-Chris Brown & Young Thug: I’ll spare you the Chris Brown rant and get straight to the point: Go Crazy sucks. It’s a hookup song where both Chris and Young Thug say they can change this girl’s life over some clumsy production and Chris Brown is being a horny dipshit who can’t stick to one girl. This is another “no” for me. I’m giving it a 1/5.

#22. Dior-Pop Smoke: We’ve finally reached the big hit from Pop Smoke. This song has been on the charts ever since he died, clenching itself a spot for the Year End chart of 2020. So what do I think of Dior? I hate to say it, but I don’t like this. The beat is weirdly-mixed and it’s nothing more than just empty flexing, brand names, sex, and not fucking with people because they’re gay. Yeah, that last one doesn’t sit well at all. This is getting a 2/5 from me.

#20. The Bigger Picture-Lil Baby: If you were to tell me in 2018 that Lil Baby was going to release a more conscious song and it was good, I would laugh at your face. But here we are. The Bigger Picture is pretty much Lil Baby’s best song as he addresses the social-political issues that affects his community, his own insight of the situation at hand, realizing that he should use his status to bring awareness and make the world a better place. I’d expect this type of song to come from a Kendrick or a J. Cole or a Run The Jewels, but the fact that this song was made by Lil Baby, who’s really popular with the kids, is something really special and it only helps our cause. Hats off to Lil Baby for this. If there’s any song from him that I want to see stick around, it’s this. I would give The Bigger Picture a 4.5/5.

#19. One Margarita-Luke Bryan: It’s Luke Bryan making a beach song and it’s forgettably average at best. 2.5/5.

#14. We Paid-Lil Baby & 42 Dugg: In contrast to how good The Bigger Picture was, We Paid is trash boiled in sewer juice. Swampy beat, horrible Auto-Tuned performances from both Lil Baby and 42 Dugg, and more flexing, shooting people, and sex talk. It’s no different from any other Lil Baby song of its ilk, so I don’t see why it’s getting any special attention. It’s an easy 1/5.

#11. The Woo-Pop Smoke ft 50 Cent & Roddy Ricch: Since 50 Cent was one of Pop Smoke’s biggest influences and he executive-produced the album, it made sense that there would be a collaboration between the two of them, plus Roddy Ricch. And what we got is a mediocre sex jam with the only redeeming factor being the guitar-driven production. All three men don’t really impress as they go into graphic sex talk along with a Travis Scott-like hook and a Candy Shop interpolation. Yeah, I’m not a fan of this song, either. I give it a 2/5. The beat alone saved it from a 1.

#6. For The Night-Pop Smoke ft Lil Baby & DaBaby: We’re at the final Pop Smoke song, which is a collaboration with the two Baby rappers bragging about their one-night stands and more luxury porn over a glossy trap beat. Pop Smoke’s Auto-Tuned crooning is devoid of personality and charm, Lil Baby is still annoyingly one-note, and even DaBaby underperforms. This is getting a 1/5 from me. So where does this put me in terms of what I think of Pop Smoke overall? Well, he’s at his best when doing the gangsta shit, but his sex songs are not good. As for that album of his? 3/5. It’s okay at best. There was room for him to grow that we’ll sadly never see. Condolences to Pop Smoke’s family and friends for their loss and I look forward to seeing his murderers share a prison cell with the dude who killed Nipsey.

BEST

The Bigger Picture

HONORABLE MENTION

Gangstas

WORST

We Paid

DISHONORABLE MENTION

For The Night

And that was another Top 40 Review. Stay tuned next month when I do another one. This week, I begin the Modern Rock Tracks Review with a look at the number one songs on that chart in 2000.

Peace!!