Hit & Miss: Pop-Rock Collaborations in Hip-Hop
Andrew Hickey gives us the best and worst of hip-hop/pop/rock crossovers. Be afraid. Very afraid.
Words Andrew Hickey
Scroll on through to see the hits and misses of the hip-hop pop/rock collaboration history...
HIT // ASAP Rocky X LANA DEL RAY – ‘RIDIN’:
Both ‘misunderstood artists’, please humour me, this is one of modern rap’s most effortless collabos. While it appears a little strange on paper, Ridin’ is ultimately a win-win for everybody involved. The unrefined Harlem bad boy gets to clean up his image working with the angelic faced popstress, while she has the opportunity to up her street cred and play up her sexuality. Over a gorgeous flute-laden beat ASAP does his dirty mouthed thug thing while Lana sounds like a horny cheerleader on the hook, crooning “mama’s pretty party favour, he says I’m his favourite flavour.” Two true wordsmiths united.
MISS // COOLIO X KENNY ROGERS – ‘HUSTLER’:
Coolio gave us classics like Gangsta’s Paradise and Fantastic Voyage. Unlike the aforementioned Run-DMC, these contributions aren’t enough to overlook his musical transgressions, such as his ungodly collabo with Kenny Rogers, which saw them reimagine his hit The Gambler. The video of them sitting on a train together is quite priceless however. Not his only insult to hip-hop, Rogers teamed with Wyclef Jean and Pharoahe Monch for an abomination called Kenny Rogers (Pharoahe Monch Dub Plate). The white bearded one is a legend of his genre and had a damn fine chicken restaurant for a short time but these offenses are too hard to defend. We can just blame it on Wyclef though, everyone does that.
HIT // METHOD MAN X LIMP BIZKIT – ‘N 2 GETHER NOW’:
If anyone tested the patience of rap fans in the 2000s while also encouraging a generation of sexually frustrated suburban douchebags (probably myself included) it was Limp Bizkit. Front-man Fred Durst always fancied himself a Rakim style mic wrecker, when ultimately he was delivering nursery school level rhymes. There is one shining light in his rap aspirations however, but that is thanks to hip-hop chameleon Method Man. Durst’s yappy whine becomes tolerable over a springy DJ Premier production. Ol’ Freddy tests his credibility, as usual, name-dropping John Gotti but Meth keeps things real, equating himself to pro-wrestler Big John Studd. What you get is a Limp Bizkit track that you’re not actually embarrassed to throw on.
MISS // M.O.P x LFO – LIFE IS GOOD:
In a perfect example of “our manager told us to do it”, hip-hop headbangers M.O.P teamed with pop-rap trio LFO for a purpose still to be determined. Otherwise known as Lyte Funky Ones, the glorified boy band followed in the grand tradition of Snow, Vanilla Ice and other white boys who made feigned attempts at recording rap and reggae. While it was a hit single Summer Girls, which interpolated lines from Eminem, apparently wasn’t enough to establish their rap cred, which could sorta explain why this happened. It could almost be seen as a social experiment as LFO’s Sugar Ray-lite sound sits awkwardly alongside M.O.P’s lyrics about “blood, sweat and tears” in Brownsville.
HIT // WU-TANG CLAN X ISAAC HAYES – ‘I CAN’T GO TO SLEEP’:
If a rap track could ever be the musical equivalent of an orgasm, not a premature one either, it would have to be I Can’t Go To Sleep. Pairing two of music’s most seductive artists, Ghostface Killah teams with Isaac Hayes to rework his classic Walk On By. Ghost has never been so emotionally invested or this close to tears on a track before or since. RZA is there too but he is nothing more than a space filler. It’s hard to compete with maniacal lines like “call on the chariots, call on an ambulance/you better smile my nigga, you on candid cam”. If I rocked Isaac’s purple Jesus robe from the video I could probably get away with saying crazy shit too.
MISS // BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY X PHIL COLLINS – ‘HOME’:
In the late 90s there were few hip-hop acts as massive as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Their fusion of rapid fire, double-time flows and melodic hooks endeared them to listeners in and outside of the rap community. By 2002 however their fortunes had faded and interest had waned, amidst dissention in the group and Flesh-N-Bone’s prison sentence. Another artist looking to revive things was Phil Collins, who apparently liked the crew so much he wanted to collaborate with them. Home would be considered too soft to feature in a Kleenex commercial but it proved a massive hit in the UK and was enough for them to induct Philly boy into the group, under the name Chrome Bone.
HIT // NAS X KORN – ‘PLAY ME’:
Korn topping a list of best anything is an anomaly on its own and this track shouldn’t work, but it does. Fighting hard to place themselves into the arena of rap-rock credibility like their buddies Limp Bizkit, Jonathan Davis and co. have collaborated with everyone from Ice Cube to Xzibit. This is their most convincing, if fleeting, effort to date. Released in 2003, God’s son sounds oddly at home with the anti-Christ’s of good taste. Simplicity is usually what kills these hybrid collabos but in this case the basic guitar riffs, coupled with some eerie chanting on the hook, results in something that sounds natural and authentic.
MISS // ICE-T X SLAYER – ‘DISORDER’:
As a film, the 1992 action thriller Judgement Night is just passable. It starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and a pre-hair plugs Ari Gold (aka Jeremy Piven). The film did result in one of the most intriguing soundtracks of the 90s, which found some of hip-hop’s best names (De La Soul, Cypress Hill) collaborate with respected metal and alt. rock outfits (Faith No More, Sonic Youth). Onyx became certified rap-rock royalty thanks to their collabo with Biohazard. As always though there has to be someone to ruin the party. In this case it’s Ice-T and Slayer. In full Body Count mode, the gangsta rap pioneer growls unconvincingly over an unflattering metal backdrop.
HIT // KID CUDI X MGMT – PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS:
If any modern day rapper, apart from ASAP Rocky, could rank as the crossover poster boy for today’s borderless hip-hop collaborations it would have to be Kid Cudi. He couples the traditions of stoner rap with more artistic leanings and musings that go beyond guns and women. A true tastemaker, Cudi is clearly very particular about who he works with and how he presents himself. Pursuit of Happiness is possibly his most realised effort, which can also be contributed to his choice of collaborators, MGMT and producers Ratatat. Pursuit of Happiness is a gluttonous orgy of indie/hipster vibes and is highly hypnotic.
MISS // RUN-DMC – ‘CROWN ROYAL’:
Any discussion on rap-rock collaborations needs to include Walk This Way. The atomic bomb of a track catapulted Run-DMC to legendary pop culture status and revived the flagging career of 70s arena rock merchants Aerosmith. The enormity of this contribution to hip-hop’s expansion on a global scale is enough for us to give them a free pass for Crown Royal. The 1999 album found a past-their-prime Run-DMC looking to rekindle the flame by working with Everlast, previous offender Fred Durst and the dude from Third Eye Blind. The finished product sounds about as good as it reads. Legends will do what legends do.
One of America’s last true contributions to popular music, since jazz first emerged, rap music is unfiltered and emotional. As DJ Premier pointed out recently in Ice-T’s ‘Something From Nothing’ doco, which is well worth a look, some listeners have difficulty understanding the language and perspective of hip-hop. In this case he was referring to his 80 year old grandmother. To that end rappers have been working to ‘legitimise’ the genre in the eyes of the mainstream establishment and give it broader appeal dating back to the mid-80s.
Before hip-hop was the undisputed global movement of today, many pioneers were attempting to fuse raw rhymes with rock and pop rhythms to mixed results. Lovable obese rappers the Fat Boys were one of the first to get things rolling with two well meaning yet clunky collaborations, with 50s rocker Chubby Checker (The Twist) and surf pop icons the Beach Boys (Wipeout). You can’t help but find these collabos charming, as mind explodingly ridiculous as they may be today. Then there was Walk This Way, the epic union of Run-DMC and Aerosmith. It wasn’t until the 90s however that hip-hop and rock truly discovered their kinship thanks to the efforts of Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. Criminally overlooked band Smokin’ Suckaz Wit Logic also produced one of the finest rap-rock fusions with their single Mutha Made Em in 1993. That dirty whore of music known as nu-metal became an ally of hip hop in the 2000s, whether anyone wanted it to or not.
Today it seems that indie cred has become the desirable position for many of today’s rappers, just ask Kanye West and his pals Bon Iver. Then you’ve got odd collabos like Raekwon working with Justin Bieber and Lupe Fiasco teaming with Guy Sebastian, which throw everything out of whack. It’s a sordid tale but that won’t stop us from jumping into the history, as we look at the best and worst pop and rock collaborations in hip hop. Miss anything? Lets us know!
Scroll on through to see the hits and misses of the hip-hop pop/rock collaboration history...
HIT // ASAP Rocky X LANA DEL RAY – ‘RIDIN’:
Both ‘misunderstood artists’, please humour me, this is one of modern rap’s most effortless collabos. While it appears a little strange on paper, Ridin’ is ultimately a win-win for everybody involved. The unrefined Harlem bad boy gets to clean up his image working with the angelic faced popstress, while she has the opportunity to up her street cred and play up her sexuality. Over a gorgeous flute-laden beat ASAP does his dirty mouthed thug thing while Lana sounds like a horny cheerleader on the hook, crooning “mama’s pretty party favour, he says I’m his favourite flavour.” Two true wordsmiths united.
MISS // COOLIO X KENNY ROGERS – ‘HUSTLER’:
Coolio gave us classics like Gangsta’s Paradise and Fantastic Voyage. Unlike the aforementioned Run-DMC, these contributions aren’t enough to overlook his musical transgressions, such as his ungodly collabo with Kenny Rogers, which saw them reimagine his hit The Gambler. The video of them sitting on a train together is quite priceless however. Not his only insult to hip-hop, Rogers teamed with Wyclef Jean and Pharoahe Monch for an abomination called Kenny Rogers (Pharoahe Monch Dub Plate). The white bearded one is a legend of his genre and had a damn fine chicken restaurant for a short time but these offenses are too hard to defend. We can just blame it on Wyclef though, everyone does that.
HIT // METHOD MAN X LIMP BIZKIT – ‘N 2 GETHER NOW’:
If anyone tested the patience of rap fans in the 2000s while also encouraging a generation of sexually frustrated suburban douchebags (probably myself included) it was Limp Bizkit. Front-man Fred Durst always fancied himself a Rakim style mic wrecker, when ultimately he was delivering nursery school level rhymes. There is one shining light in his rap aspirations however, but that is thanks to hip-hop chameleon Method Man. Durst’s yappy whine becomes tolerable over a springy DJ Premier production. Ol’ Freddy tests his credibility, as usual, name-dropping John Gotti but Meth keeps things real, equating himself to pro-wrestler Big John Studd. What you get is a Limp Bizkit track that you’re not actually embarrassed to throw on.
MISS // M.O.P x LFO – LIFE IS GOOD:
In a perfect example of “our manager told us to do it”, hip-hop headbangers M.O.P teamed with pop-rap trio LFO for a purpose still to be determined. Otherwise known as Lyte Funky Ones, the glorified boy band followed in the grand tradition of Snow, Vanilla Ice and other white boys who made feigned attempts at recording rap and reggae. While it was a hit single Summer Girls, which interpolated lines from Eminem, apparently wasn’t enough to establish their rap cred, which could sorta explain why this happened. It could almost be seen as a social experiment as LFO’s Sugar Ray-lite sound sits awkwardly alongside M.O.P’s lyrics about “blood, sweat and tears” in Brownsville.
HIT // WU-TANG CLAN X ISAAC HAYES – ‘I CAN’T GO TO SLEEP’:
If a rap track could ever be the musical equivalent of an orgasm, not a premature one either, it would have to be I Can’t Go To Sleep. Pairing two of music’s most seductive artists, Ghostface Killah teams with Isaac Hayes to rework his classic Walk On By. Ghost has never been so emotionally invested or this close to tears on a track before or since. RZA is there too but he is nothing more than a space filler. It’s hard to compete with maniacal lines like “call on the chariots, call on an ambulance/you better smile my nigga, you on candid cam”. If I rocked Isaac’s purple Jesus robe from the video I could probably get away with saying crazy shit too.
MISS // BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY X PHIL COLLINS – ‘HOME’:
In the late 90s there were few hip-hop acts as massive as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Their fusion of rapid fire, double-time flows and melodic hooks endeared them to listeners in and outside of the rap community. By 2002 however their fortunes had faded and interest had waned, amidst dissention in the group and Flesh-N-Bone’s prison sentence. Another artist looking to revive things was Phil Collins, who apparently liked the crew so much he wanted to collaborate with them. Home would be considered too soft to feature in a Kleenex commercial but it proved a massive hit in the UK and was enough for them to induct Philly boy into the group, under the name Chrome Bone.
HIT // NAS X KORN – ‘PLAY ME’:
Korn topping a list of best anything is an anomaly on its own and this track shouldn’t work, but it does. Fighting hard to place themselves into the arena of rap-rock credibility like their buddies Limp Bizkit, Jonathan Davis and co. have collaborated with everyone from Ice Cube to Xzibit. This is their most convincing, if fleeting, effort to date. Released in 2003, God’s son sounds oddly at home with the anti-Christ’s of good taste. Simplicity is usually what kills these hybrid collabos but in this case the basic guitar riffs, coupled with some eerie chanting on the hook, results in something that sounds natural and authentic.
MISS // ICE-T X SLAYER – ‘DISORDER’:
As a film, the 1992 action thriller Judgement Night is just passable. It starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and a pre-hair plugs Ari Gold (aka Jeremy Piven). The film did result in one of the most intriguing soundtracks of the 90s, which found some of hip-hop’s best names (De La Soul, Cypress Hill) collaborate with respected metal and alt. rock outfits (Faith No More, Sonic Youth). Onyx became certified rap-rock royalty thanks to their collabo with Biohazard. As always though there has to be someone to ruin the party. In this case it’s Ice-T and Slayer. In full Body Count mode, the gangsta rap pioneer growls unconvincingly over an unflattering metal backdrop.
HIT // KID CUDI X MGMT – PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS:
If any modern day rapper, apart from ASAP Rocky, could rank as the crossover poster boy for today’s borderless hip-hop collaborations it would have to be Kid Cudi. He couples the traditions of stoner rap with more artistic leanings and musings that go beyond guns and women. A true tastemaker, Cudi is clearly very particular about who he works with and how he presents himself. Pursuit of Happiness is possibly his most realised effort, which can also be contributed to his choice of collaborators, MGMT and producers Ratatat. Pursuit of Happiness is a gluttonous orgy of indie/hipster vibes and is highly hypnotic.
MISS // RUN-DMC – ‘CROWN ROYAL’:
Any discussion on rap-rock collaborations needs to include Walk This Way. The atomic bomb of a track catapulted Run-DMC to legendary pop culture status and revived the flagging career of 70s arena rock merchants Aerosmith. The enormity of this contribution to hip-hop’s expansion on a global scale is enough for us to give them a free pass for Crown Royal. The 1999 album found a past-their-prime Run-DMC looking to rekindle the flame by working with Everlast, previous offender Fred Durst and the dude from Third Eye Blind. The finished product sounds about as good as it reads. Legends will do what legends do.
One of America’s last true contributions to popular music, since jazz first emerged, rap music is unfiltered and emotional. As DJ Premier pointed out recently in Ice-T’s ‘Something From Nothing’ doco, which is well worth a look, some listeners have difficulty understanding the language and perspective of hip-hop. In this case he was referring to his 80 year old grandmother. To that end rappers have been working to ‘legitimise’ the genre in the eyes of the mainstream establishment and give it broader appeal dating back to the mid-80s.
Before hip-hop was the undisputed global movement of today, many pioneers were attempting to fuse raw rhymes with rock and pop rhythms to mixed results. Lovable obese rappers the Fat Boys were one of the first to get things rolling with two well meaning yet clunky collaborations, with 50s rocker Chubby Checker (The Twist) and surf pop icons the Beach Boys (Wipeout). You can’t help but find these collabos charming, as mind explodingly ridiculous as they may be today. Then there was Walk This Way, the epic union of Run-DMC and Aerosmith. It wasn’t until the 90s however that hip-hop and rock truly discovered their kinship thanks to the efforts of Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. Criminally overlooked band Smokin’ Suckaz Wit Logic also produced one of the finest rap-rock fusions with their single Mutha Made Em in 1993. That dirty whore of music known as nu-metal became an ally of hip hop in the 2000s, whether anyone wanted it to or not.
Today it seems that indie cred has become the desirable position for many of today’s rappers, just ask Kanye West and his pals Bon Iver. Then you’ve got odd collabos like Raekwon working with Justin Bieber and Lupe Fiasco teaming with Guy Sebastian, which throw everything out of whack. It’s a sordid tale but that won’t stop us from jumping into the history, as we look at the best and worst pop and rock collaborations in hip hop. Miss anything? Lets us know!
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