PUMP UP THE VOLUME: Make The Party Rock With The PROJECT X Playlist

Project X, frathouse-friendly (and literal FRAT HOUSE) filmmaker Todd Phillips and legendary mega-producer (and Ultimate Frisbee co-creator) Joel Silver’s ribald found-footage paen to party-hardy teenage bad behavior has been in theaters for almost a month now and during that time has thus far unsurprisingly managed to pick nearly 75 million bucks from the pockets of impressionable youth and those sorely missing those good old glory days perhaps a bit too much the world over with a reported production budget of about $12 million and no stars to speak of. Warner Bros. officially announced their intentions to pursue some sort of sequel just 4 days after its debut, lassoing screenwriter Michael Bacall back to bang out a story treatment for another round of mirth and mayhem. Several copycat house party hosts all over North America have launched their own attempts to rival or surpass the merry madness so outrageously exhibited and brazenly glorified in the flick. One could fairly safely say that it’s made something of an impact.

Say what you will about the movie itself – while it’s indeed unhealthy yet infectious junk food cinema and a glee-filled guilty pleasure, I personally found it extremely difficult to ignore its unfortunate and not-so-latent streak of casual misogyny and relentless parade of female objectification – but there’s really no denying one thing: the guys responsible for unleashing this randy beast went out of their way to compile quite the killer soundtrack for the increasingly over-the-top proceedings and that is what this post is all about.

The Project X: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack dropped on disc and iTunes digital download on February 28, 2012 from WaterTower Music and its track listing is as follows:

1. Pusha T (ft. Tyler The Creator) – “Trouble on My Mind”
2. AMG – “B*tch Betta Have My Money”
3. J-Kwon – “Tipsy (Club Mix)”
4. Far East Movement (ft. Pitbull) – “Candy”
5. A-Trak – “Ray Ban Vision”
6. Shiny Toy Guns – “Le Disko (Boys Noize Fire Mix)”
7. Nas – “Nasty”
8. Kid Cudi – “Pursuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix)”
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)”
10. Wale (ft. Gucci Mane & Weensey) – “Pretty Girls (Benny Benassi Remix)”
11. Dr. Dre (ft. Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg & Kurupt) – “The Next Episode”
12. D12 (ft. Eminem) – “Fight Music”
13. Machine Gun Kelly – “Wild Boy (Ricky Luna Remix)”

As you can see, this track list includes merely 13 tracks for a grand total of just a little over 50 minutes of tunage from the likes of Kid Cudi, MGK, J-Kwon, Shiny Toy Guns, Far East Movement and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll automatically realize that this really only accounts for a small sampling of the sick jams and phat beats that comprise the soundtrack to the flick and that there have been some glaring oversights. Now, it’s definitely nothing to scoff at and a pretty enjoyably exuberant mix to which you could quite readily find yourself involuntarily pumping a fist or bumping a grind but you’ll definitely be left hungry for more.

Overall, it’s a very tasty but ultimately less-than-satisfying appetizer for the massive and hearty main course that is the uncut Project X soundtrack playlist; a pretty incredible and suitably epic compilation which I have meticulously researched and assembled and am now precisely 11 words away from fully detailing below:

(In no particular order, really.)

1. 2 Live Crew – “We Want Some P***y”
2. Wiz Khalifa – “When I’m Gone”
3. Yeasayer – “O.N.E.”
4. Trick Daddy – “I’m A Thug”
5. Pusha T (ft. Tyler The Creator) – “Trouble On My Mind”
6. AMG – “B*tch Betta Have My Money”
7. SB (ft. PC) – “FnG”
8. James Blunt – “You’re Beautiful”
9. Queens Of The Stone Age – “You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire”
10. The Hundred In The Hands – “Dressed In Dresden”
11. YACHT – “Psychic City (Clasixx Remix)”
12. Lloyd Banks (ft. Juelz Santana) – “Beamer, Benz Or Bentley”
13. Eminem – “W.T.P.”
14. Far East Movement (ft. Pitbull) – “Candy”
15. J. Cole – “Blow Up”
16. Salt-N-Pepa – “Push It”
17. Bang On! – “Hands High”
18. Bassnectar – “Paging Stereophonic”
19. Suni Clay – “In A Hood Near You”
20. Animal Collective – “My Girls”
21. A-Trak (ft. CyHi Da Prynce) – “Ray-Ban Vision”
22. Dead Prez – “Hip Hop”
23. DJ Replay – “Avatar”
24. White Arrows – “City Boy (KKS Remix)”
25. Shiny Toy Guns – “Le Disko (Boyz Noize Fire Mix)”
26. Nas – “Nasty”
27. Bonde Do Role – “Marina Do Bairro”
28. Kid Cudi – “Pursuit Of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix)”
29. Drake – “Over (HYPER CRUSH Remix)”
30. R. Kelly – “Bump ‘N Grind”
31. Soul P – “Turn Around”
32. Lil Jon (ft. LMFAO) – “Outta Your Mind”
33. Daniel Lenz – “Final Step”
34. The Bangerz – “Free Falling”
35. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)”
36. Small Black – “Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix)”
37. The Kills – “Cheap And Cheerful (Sebastian Remix)”
38. Wale (ft. Gucci Mane & Weensey) – “Pretty Girls (Benny Benassi Remix)”
39. Kanye West & Jay-Z – “H.A.M.”
40. Amon Tobin – “Rhino Jockey”
41. Metallica – “Battery”
42. Four Tet – “She Just Likes To Fight”
43. Dr. Dre (ft. Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg & Kurupt) – “The Next Episode”
44. The xx – “Intro”
45. LCD Soundsystem – “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House”
46. D-12 (ft. Eminem) – “Fight Music”
47. SB – “We Just Made It”
48. Machine Gun Kelly (ft. Waka Flocka Flame) – “Wild Boy (Ricky Luna Remix)”
49. J-Kwon – “Tipsy (Club Mix)”
50. MSTRKRFT (ft. N.O.R.E.) – “Bounce (All I Do Is Party)”
51. LMFAO (ft. Lil Jon) – “Shots”
52. Pusha T (ft. Diddy) – “Changing Of The Guards”
53. Kovas – “Deed It Main”
54. Ice Cube – “Click, Clack – Get Back!”
55. Mike Posner – “One Foot Out The Door”

There you have it, folks. Now THAT’S more like it. A party mixtape meltdown the masses can truly, madly, deeply RAGE to all night long. You know, if you’re into that kind of thing…raging, I mean.

Ohh, and can you guess which one is entirely unlike all the others? I’ll give you a hint: it’s beautiful, it’s true.

As you can clearly see, there is indeed a little something for everyone within this electric and eclectic auditory force of nature and more than a few tracks up there that didn’t make the cut on the actual soundtrack release. I’m genuinely sorta shocked at some of the glaring omissions and egregious oversights made with the song selection on the official album, actually; I mean, there are some truly great cuts prominently featured in the film that are inexcusably M.I.A. R. Kelly’s immortal panty-dropper Bump ‘N Grind? Nope. A complete and utter lack of 2 Live Crew’s hopelessly crude yet classic horndog anthem? What were they thinking?! Obviously, that widely-varied 55-track pack would be cartoonishly cost-prohibitive to completely license for proper soundtrack album release(s) but I can’t help but feel that there had to have been a much more satisfying compromise that could have been made.

Nevertheless, I implore you to do as I have done and raid your CD collection, ransack your iTunes library, peruse paid and legal digital download catalogs and purchase the official soundtrack in a valiant attempt to recreate this amazing assembly as fully and faithfully as humanly possible for yourself and strongly encourage you to subsequently utilize that gift to fuel your own sweaty, boozed-soaked evening chock-full of relatively harmless depravity and good-natured debauchery….just remember to politely refrain from stealing decorative novelty gnomes from shady (and presumably dishonorably-discharged) ex-soldiers beforehand.

(What is essentially the unofficial-official Project X theme song – memorably played during the trailer for the flick.)