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Hip Hop fans love a good feature and the more ambitious the better – but some are just plain weird.
Nowadays, features and collaborations have become the lifeblood of modern hip hop. Iconic pairings from yesteryear such as Dido & Eminem on ‘Stan’, as well as Jay Z & Linkin Park on ‘Encore’, brought disparate styles together to create influential masterworks. Early noughties mashups between seemingly disjointed musical styles opened up the sonic landscape for future artists, paving the way for countless hits and albums that still draw from their influence today.
Itโs a rare and wonderful thing when two entirely different artists fuse their styles to create something that can fill dancefloors even decades after its release. Not everyone can stumble upon winning formulas such as ‘Old Town Road’, of course, but that doesn’t stem the temptation from many artists to pursue a career defining collab.
Weโve waded through a vast sea of cultural detritus on the web to find the hidden gems of hip hop’s weirdest collaborations, and (predictably) we stumbled on a whole bunch of what our Music Editor Charlie calls โhot garbageโ. You can decide which is which for yourself, though we’ve thrown our own opinions in for good measure.
Get ready to have your expectations flipped and ears thoroughly perked up.
Kanye West & Paul McCartney โ ‘Only One’
Does it work?
Yes.
No, thatโs not a typo, we just intentionally put Kanye Westโs name in front of the seminal genius that is Paul McCartney.
Rest assured though, weโre not taking Kanye at his own personal estimations. Macca just happened to feature on Yeezyโs 2014 single ‘Only One’. The song is a tribute to Westโs daughter North, and is sung as a message to Kanye from the perspective of his mother Donda West. Take your time to process that.
The former Beatles and Wings frontman can be heard faintly on the auto-tuned backing vocals, playing a gentle piano piece that gives the single a subtle, sentimental edge. The song is one of Kanyeโs more soulful tracks and McCartneyโs influence shines through nicely.
‘Only One’ also provided the 77-year-old with his first top 40 hit in the US in over 25 years. Props to Kanye for providing this bourgeoning talent with his big break.
will.i.am, Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez โ ‘T.H.E (The Hardest Ever)’
Does it work?
Not in any way, shape, or form.
If you havenโt heard will.i.amโs 2011 track T.H.E, consider yourself lucky. However, if youโre brave enough โ for strictly investigatory purposes โ click above to subject your ears to some Class A bullsh*t.
Following The Black Eyed Peasโ barren spell around 2010, will.i.am went through a strange phase of creating crass electro pop tunes with early noughties hype beats and synths. Granted, a few of them were catchy and well received in gyms or on grubby dancefloors at 3am. This was not one of them.
Will.i.am and Jenny (from the block) spend around four minutes telling us all to, โgo hardโ, whatever that means, before Mick Jagger rocks up and raspingly shouts inane similes e.g. โhard like geometryโ. If I had my way, Mickyโs ludicrous appearance in this video would accompany the word kitsch in the dictionary.
~ Disclaimer: Weโre not liable for the inevitable loss of braincells this video will induce ~
Dappy & Brian May โ ‘Rockstar’
Does it work?
Kind of, weirdly.
Brian May; unquestionably one of the greatest lead guitarists of all time, teamed up with Dappy; your run-of-the-mill UK rapper identifiable by three ubiquitous noises โna na naiiโ, back in 2012.
Apparently, May had been a fan of the rapper in his early days and personally contacted the N-Dubz frontman to shower him with praise, or โbig him upโ as Dappy described it, for his 2011 single Ivor Novello.
Just like that, the Queen axeman was in the studio with a future Celebrity Big Brother runner-up. Itโs safe to assume Dappy wouldโve seen this as his careerโs loaded moment, but unfortunately the pairing fell a little flat and the song didnโt really take off.
Rockstar is a pretty fun listen though. It conjures up old school punk anthem vibes with decent flowing rap verses, a big chorus, and a shredding solo from May thrown in.
Should we mosh, or?
Blink 182 & Lil Wayne โ ‘Live Tour’
Does it work?
No… as if.
If it didnโt sound weird enough on paper โ the pioneers of punk pop, teaming up with the godfather of mumble rap โ in practice, itโs something of a car crashโฆ and itโs still ongoing.
Lil Wayne is currently co-headlining Blink 182โs US tour in support of the groupโs forthcoming eighth studio album, as well as Wayneโs previously released twelfth studio albumย The Carter V, and the tour concludes later this month.
We donโt know whether Blink are trying to replicate the success of Jay Z and Linkin Parkโsย Collision Courseย album from 2004, or if theyโre just looking for ways to stay current in a constantly changing musical landscape, but roping in the services of veteran rapper Lil Wayne was certainly an odd choice and it sounds just as youโd expect.
Some seem to be rating the new project, but our first listen to the โWhatโs My Age Againโ x A โMiliโ mashup in the office led to nought but sniggering and head shaking. Having grown up with both, the dissonance of an aging punk band and a, letโs say, limited rapper is just a little too strong.
Maybe we just miss Tom.
