So I walk into the campus gym, hoping to see some people on their own, just jamming away to some tunes in their head. 

That wasn’t the case.

I go up to a group of three students: Dylan Lupien, Nate Coulter, and Ethan Ringquist, and I ask them the big question: “If you had to pick two must-have songs on your workout playlist, what would they be?”

All six songs I got were rap songs, and I’m gonna be honest, I’m not a huge rap guy. But let’s give it a shot anyway.

The songs Lupien suggested were: “BIGGEST ALLEY OOP” by Quavo – The opening is mellow, like the kinda song to listen to during your warmup sets. It picks up a little bit, but not much. I’ll add it to the playlist, but if it pops up in the middle of the workout, it’s probably getting skipped.

“RAPSTAR” by Polo G – Again, pretty laid back, and I’m just not really feeling it. It isn’t really the style I’m into. In all honesty, one of these two has to sink so the other can swim, and this one’s definitely not floating. 

Coulter suggested: “Percs” by Denzel Curry – Now we’re rolling. This one’s got attitude and fire. The bass is strong enough to wake you up, it’s quick and loud. I’m a fan of it. This one definitely got me amped up. 

“Supra” by “some Russian person, I don’t know how to pronounce the name” – I’m a huge fan of this one as well. It’s rap with some dubstep in it. The drawback is that it’s all in Russian, but even though I can’t understand the lyrics, I can understand the flow and rhythm. It pops, it’s loud, and it’s got a lot of energy to it. Nate got me way more amped up. This one’s definitely going in.

Let’s see what Rinquist has:

“Demon Time” by Trippie Redd – This one’s not bad. The bass is pretty solid, and there’s a quick pace to it. I’ll put it in. 

“Really Redd” by Internet money – I had high expectations here, because Ethan said this one gets him “fired up,” but I’m just not feeling it. The flow’s really slow, and the beat is just sad. The last ones were pretty solid too, and this one just didn’t run with the bulls. 

Then I ran into Will Austin, who says he has “a very diverse taste in music,” and lately he’s “been back in the ’80s.” 

I like the sound of that. 

Will I be biased? 

Probably.

Lets see: “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd – An icon of rock music. The first four-ish minutes aren’t really prime workout material, but the other five?

WOOOOOOOOO!!

Need I say more? 

“Fool In the Rain” by Led Zeppelin – Another long one, and pretty chill, but in a good way. 

A fun way. 

The piano is bouncy, the hats hit just right, I’m actually struggling to not break into a mid-workout dance. The stress of school and life just melts away. Then about halfway through it just goes crazy. It’s almost incomprehensible, but the mix of easygoing and total anarchy are perfect. Definitely got me amped up.

Out of the eight songs I got, six passed, and two failed. Let’s see what gets added next time on amped up.