But it's 2016, baby! And it's time to start making good on your New Year's fitness resolutions. To help ease the transition, we've put together a banging playlist of tracks that will make rolling out of bed, dragging your ass off the couch, and hitting the pavement just that much less dreaded. So load up your Spotify and pop in your earbuds. Let's work it out, 2016.
1. Sylvan LaCue - Drop Your Plans Feat. Venus Amor
Start things off with a simmering track from two of South Florida's hottest young kids in the hip-hop and R&B games. Rapper Sylvan LaCue, formerly known as QuESt, and R&B princess Venus Amor both made our lists of best up-and-coming local talent in 2015, and their new collabo track "Drop Your Plans" has the just the right smooth, sultry flow to get you into the groove and pumped up for what's to come in 2016.
2. Wrestlers - Perennial Feat. Shy Girls
Houston's Wrestlers were one of the "busiest bands of Art Basel 2015" last month, bringing their disco-inflected pop and elctro-R&B sound to a whopping five different events surrounding Miami's international art-party bonanza. Their track "Perennial Feat. Shy Girls" for the coveted Red Bull Sound Select series is the sort of light and bouncing track perfect for hitting the pavement on a crisp early morning run. Channel its airy vocals and funk-infused beat as you really start to warm up. You've got this.
3. Justin Bieber - Sorry
We know this one's still stuck in your head, and you don't have to feel sorry about it. Rather than fight the Biebs, we say use the Biebs. His is a potent power, and we promise it will keep you moving through these early weeks of 2016.
4. Drake - Right Hand
Don't get us wrong, "Hotline Bling" and "Jumpman" still bang pretty hard, but their ability to get you working might have worn off a bit since bumping them back to back in the final months of 2015. Still, we couldn't make this workout playlist without including a track from Drizzy. Expect to hear "Right Hand" play out more as the "Bling" wears off. Released as a digital single in late summer, this deceptively simple, mid-tempo track will bring you the focus you need to keep powering through your workout.
5. ILOVEMAKONNEN - Flippin All Night
You may know ILoveMakonnen as the Drake protege who's had the clubs goin' up on a Tuesday since he released his breakout hit single back in 2014. This past November, the Atlanta sing-rapper had his first release on OVO Sound with the EP ILOVEMAKONNEN 2, and if you haven't given it a listen yet, consider yourself late. It's full of strange, sticky bangers like "Trust Me Danny” and “Second Chance," but our favorite might be "Flippin All Night." It's the kind of track you'll easily turn up to at the gym before turning up with your friends on a night out.
6. WatchTheDuck - Stretch 2-3-4 Feat. Pharrell Williams
Alright, things are getting pretty serious now, and Alabama DJ duo WatchTheDuck are the perfect pair to keep you on track. The self-described "BDM" (black dance music) producers have been churning out soulful, hard-working dance bangers with the likes of Pharrell, ScHoolboy Q, Jeezy, and T.I., and their track "Stretch 2-3-4" feels like it was made for this. Turn it up and don't stop now!
7. Diplo & Sleepy Tom - Be Right There
"Be Right Here" is a pure energy house track from the Mad Decent label head who can seemingly do no wrong. If you weren't feeling the burn yet, we're betting you will by the end of this four-minute powerhouse co-produced with Fool's Gold Records' Sleepy Tom.
8. Missy Elliott - WTF (Where They From) Feat. Pharrell Williams
Missy made a triumphant comeback in 2015, and turning up her aggressively upbeat track "WTF (Where They From)" with Pharrell Williams at the peak of your workout will pretty much guarantee that you're coming back strong in 2016, too.
9. Post Malone - White Iverson (Rozay's Remix)
There was hardly a wrapper who didn't remix Post Malone's super-trill breakout hit "White Iverson" last year. The up-and-coming Dallas rapper released his now ubiquitous track via SoundCloud back in February and has since blown up, collaborating with heavy-hitters like 50 Cent and booking throngs of impressive gigs like the upcoming highly anticipated Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival. We recommend keeping an eye on what's next for the rising rapper, and bump homeboy Ricky Rozay's "White Iverson" remix as you begin to wind down your workout.
10. Fetty Wap - No Days Off
If there was one thing we learned in 2015, it's that Fetty Wap is universal. The New Jersey sing-rapper dropped so many hits last year, we'd challenge you to find a single person with ears who can't name a Fetty track they bumped on repeat. While songs like "My Way," "679," and "Again" might have lovingly worn their welcome by this point, "No Days Off" from his recent debut full-length is still perfectly untapped and will provide you with that fresh Fetty Wap fix you've been fiending while you step off the bench or treadmill and stretch it out.
Here's to a happy, healthy 2016. Stay lit and fit, y'all.
