The 10 Best Warm-Up Songs

Back in high school, the warm-up mix always had to be on point. We used to argue over the songs, sometimes had trouble landing edited versions and even had one kid constantly try to sneak his own tape over to the guys running it. It was a never-ending argument. I still remember coming out my senior year to T.I.‘s “Bring Em Out” which would seem appropriate, except that I never liked that song. It didn’t get me hyped at all (if we were gonna have T.I., I argued, it better be “What You Know”).

Then in college, everything changes. Unless you’re big time, the vibe is just different. There’s less energy – crowds get smaller, which is really weird – sometimes gyms get larger and the intensity never seems to be quite as high. Sometimes the school has it’s own warm-up tape, and they used it for every sport. The spectacle just isn’t as big, surprising in a way when you think about it.

In high school, the entrances were epic. I still remember the song off a Diddy album (I can’t remember which one) that sampled the Alan Parsons Project music from the Bulls, and even though it wasn’t a great song, it immediately became the favorite for about five different high schools. Still, my ultimate warm up mix would play out something like this:

Re-Up Gang– “Pussy” (Remix)
Public Enemy– “Rebel Without A Pause”
Nas– “Made You Look”
Lil Wayne– “Bm J.R.”
Kanye West– “Hell Of A Life”
Eminem– “‘Til I Collapse”
The Diplomats– “Stop N Go”
Ice Cube– “When Will They Shoot?”
Mobb Deep– “Apostle’s Warning”
Diddy & BIG– “Victory”

I know I’m missing some, but if someone put together a playlist with these joints, I would be feeling good, and hopefully jumping just a little higher.

**right after I finished this, “Door Man” from the Clipse came on my iTunes. That has to make this list**

What are your favorite warm-up songs?

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