50 songs for 50 states: Florida

A musical celebration of the 50 states. One song each week over the course of the year.

Miami Nights – Wale

It was surprisingly difficult to pick a song for Florida. Despite a fair number of great artists hailing from the state, none of them ever wrote any particularly Florida-centered songs. Arguably, you could go with Petty’s “American Girl” which mentions highway 441), but c’mon, that song is about L.A. And there has been plenty of great rappers from there, but very few songs that are specifically about the place. It’s possible that I’m just completely missing some Latin classic that’s never crossed my radar. But I dug a bit and didn’t find anything obvious.

So anyways, we end up with a perfectly cromulent Wale song about strolling along South Beach, taking in the sights (strip clubs, fine restaurants, and a whole lot of different types of women), and casting a little bit of shade. I’m not saying it’s the best song in the world, but you could certainly do worse.

And no, I did not consider the theme song from Miami Vice. I have standards.