By L.G. Parker

For the black girls braiding hair all summer, the black girls looking up MFA programs for hours after work, the black girls who get misgendered,  the black girls who are stepping outside of their comfort zone to wear that two-piece to the pool, for the black girls who sometimes forget to take their medicine, the black girls looking for the right swimming trunks for the summer, for the black girls spending their first summer doing political organizing, the black girls working through depression, the black girls working a minimum wage job to get their first car, for the girls working through shame, the black girls dealing with the cat calls, the black girls spending the summer developing their start-up, for the girls gearing up for their first summer as a mother, the black bois with the sharp fades, and the black girls looking to have a good time after a rough spring and winter — press play & turn it up.

1. Nicki Minaj — Feeling Myself (Audio) ft. Beyoncé

2. D’Angelo — Everybody Loves the Sunshine

3. Kendrick Lamar — Blow My High (Members Only)

4. Lion Babe (feat. Childish Gambino) — Jump Hi

5. Beyoncé — Flawless (Remix) ft. Nicki Minaj

6. Fetty Wap — Trap Queen

7. Kendrick Lamar — i

8.     #shine!☀ x @brikliam

9.     Beyoncé — 7/11

10. The Internet — Dontcha

11. Lianne La Havas — Unstoppable

12. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment — Sunday Candy

13. Janelle Monáe — Yoga

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L.G. Parker is a poet and writer living in Richmond, VA. She is a Callaloo fellow and regular contributor to Elixher Magazine, Blavity, and the Black Youth Project.