The worlds of hip-hop and dance music have coexisted on similar planes for years. Whether you talk about the art of DJing, tearing up clubs, or driving youth culture, dance music and hip-hop almost trade places every few years as the top driver of youth trends. While there have been a number of situations in which the two worlds have borrowed from each other, when the two genres unite there can be inspiring... and frightening...results. More often than not, a rapper collaborating with a producer ends up disastrously. Issues can occur do to the open mindedness of both parties involved. Other times, it is as simple as the match working stylistically or not. When dance and hip-hop collide things can get hairy, but there are more than enough positive touch points.
In light of that claim: Let's celebrate the instances when artists in these two realms link up and make music that doesn't suck.
Bassnectar ft. Mighty High Coup - "The 808 Track"
Label: Amorphous Music
Year: 2010
ATL crew Mighty High Coup doesn't go crazy with the lyrics, but they found a snappy way to convey what the track was literally doing. They're party hypeman, part instrument in the track. And it knocks.
Diplo ft. Lil Jon - "U Don't Like Me"
Label: Mad Decent
Year: 2010
Is Lil Jon a rapper? Not necessarily, but he's one better: Lil Jon's grunts and chants play more like motivational speeches for clubgoers. For his dirty collaboration with Diplo, he does what he's been doing over a hypnotic dubstep-leaning rhythm. The epitome of crunk.
Noisia & Mayhem ft. KRS-One - "Exodus"
Label: Vision Recordings
Year: 2007
This wasn't KRS-One's first forray with drum & bass producers, and he dosn't even show up for about two-and-a-half minutes into the tune, but when the nasty hip-hop breakdown hits, he represents all the way from "Atlanta to Holland," giving Noisia and Mayhem dope shout outs before the beat rolls. It's a huge co-sign for a huge tune.
The Chemical Brothers ft. Q-Tip - "Galvanize"
Label: Virgin / Astralwerks
Year: 2004
The Chemical Brothers have spent years loving the hip-hop scene, and Q-Tip is no stranger to dance music, both as a collaborator and as a DJ. It still feels odd that the Chemicals and Tip didn't link up until 2004, especially over a track that isn't as bombastic as their earlier production work. That's to say that this doesn't jam; hell, it's a great representation of the two worlds colliding and meeting somewhere awesome in the middle.
Cypress Hill x Rusko - "Roll It, Light It"
Label: V2
Year: 2012
Rusko and Cypress Hill linking up just makes sense. They both love, um, enjoying the higher side of life, and rocking crowds. It is kind of funny that in 2012, their collaborator DJ Muggs went off to do his own thing, bridging the worlds of dubstep/bass music and hip-hop yet they'd not done anything in that vein together. B-Real knows how to ride this beat perfectly, and Rusko made sure that it didn't lose anything in terms of satisfying the dubstep crowd.
Dan Sena ft. Del the Funky Homosapien - "Song Of Siren"
Label: Dim Mak
Year: 2011
This is one of those tracks where the appearance of hip-hop in this track marks a sharp turn in the tune; Dan crafted this lush, beautiful dubstep track with Kylee Swenson's angelic vocal, only to have Del usher in the more mind-blowing bass onto the track. He has that West Coast flow that allows him to bounce perfectly over the 140BPM beat.
Flux Pavilion ft. Childish Gambino - "Do Or Die"
Label: Circus Records
Year: 2013
Childish Gambino is one of the more interesting personalities in the hip-hop game these days, and a meeting with Flux Pavilion turned into "Do Or Die," which found Gambino supplementing a sick verse... only to "stop when the beat come in."
Joker ft. Freddie Gibbs & Jessie Ware - "The Vision (Let Me Breathe)"
Label: 4AD
Year: 2012
Joker's "The Vision" had actually already impacted as a huge single with Jessie Ware's impactful vocal, but there's something about Gary, Indiana's Freddie Gibbs putting his two cents onto this track, playing the yang to Jessie's yin. Perfect voice to link up in this kind of dubstep track.
True Tiger ft. P Money - "Slang Like This"
Label: Virgin
Year: 2010
True Tiger made their mark after signing with Virgin by releasing "Slang Like This," which capitalizes on the UK slang of the moment; think of this as Big L's "Ebonic," set to a nasty UK bass music soundtrack.
Bassnectar ft. Lupe Fiasco - "Vava Voom"
Label: Amorphous Music
Year: 2012
Lupe Fiasco going in on this bleepy Bassnectar riddim? There's a lot going on in this track, from Lupe's lyrics of fury to the hyper breakbeats thrown in, but none of it feels out of place. You'd almost wish that more producers would feel free to add elements that give space for the MC but not be too concerned with totally drowning them out.
Kozzie - "Destruction (Spartan)"
Label: Pitch Controller
Year: 2010
"Spartan" is the riddim that put Spooky's name on the tips of many a grime lover's tongue. There have been many remixes, verses, and versions of this riddim out there, but Kozzie's aggressive bars fit this riddim like a glove, trust me.
Tiësto vs. Diplo ft. Busta Rhymes - "C'mon (Catch 'Em By Surprise)"
Label: Wall of Sound
Year: 2010
Tiesto and Diplo linking up is already a shocking measure; when heads heard "C'mon," they reacted accordingly, with those asking things like "why the hell are these two collaborating" being overpowered by the actual collaboration and how well it works. Busta Rhymes is a known beast on the mic, but hasn't done much in terms of house music. Maybe its the Native Tongues in him, but aside from telling people to "get their club on," you can't be mad at how he attacked this, or the result.
Coldcut ft. Queen Latifah - "Find A Way"
Label: Ahead Of Our Time
Year: 1990
Coldcut were truly ahead of their time, even before this Queen Latifah-featured single dropped. They were remixing Eric B and Rakim a few years before this, but giving Latifah a midtempo club jam to rock to, even giving them a dope drop with her "Coldcut's on the mix" in the third verse.
A-Trak ft. Juicy J, Jim Jones, Flatbush Zombies, El-P & Flosstradamus - "Piss Test (Remix)"
Label: Fool's Gold
Year: 2012
A-Trak and Flosstradamus occupy that intriguing space where rap and dance music meet, but usually we don't get so many diverse names on a track; Jim Jones, Flatbush Zombies, El-P and Juicy J on the same beat, all sounding like themselves over the massive trap track? This is the stuff dreams are made of.
Tempa T - "Boy Off Da Ting"
Label: n/a
Year: 2009
We're not sure what's bigger: Silencer's riddim or what Tempa T did to it. He's not only a character, but totally muscles his way all over any track he's rhyming on. The only thing more shocking than this tune is the fact that we've not received a full album from Tempz. He's like a UK M.O.P. with tunes like this.
Goldie ft. KRS-One - "Digital"
Label: FFRR
Year: 1997
Goldie and KRS-One linking up makes perfect sense, considering that both of their roots go back to the beginning of hip-hop. Goldie was a breakdancer and graffiti artist who had been to the U.S. way before he even started producing, and KRS-One is one of the pillars in the Temple of Hip-Hop, but him getting in on the drum & bass tip? He saw the vision early and laced Goldie with a pair of fresh ones, even what sounds like a freestyle later on in the tune.
Just Blaze & Baauer ft. Jay-Z - "Higher"
Label: Priority
Year: 2013
This bomb dropped in early 2013 and our worlds haven't been the same since its detonation. This isn't Just Blaze's first rodeo in the dance music scene, but it's his biggest (both in importance and sound), and dropped at a perfect time to push both his EDM phase and Baauer's growing presence in the dance music scene. Having "featuring Jay-Z" on this for his adlibs isn't what makes this an awesome dance/rap collaboration, though: it's the actual result, which blends everything you love about huge, club-shaking bass-driven beats and hip-hop attitude. Turn my music...
12th Planet vs. Ras Kass - "West Coast Dub"
Label: n/a
Year: 2009
When Ras Kass left his last bid, he hit the ground running. His travels lead him to collaborate with fellow West Coaster 12th Planet on one of the finest examples of why hip-hop and dubstep should coexist more often. And while most collabs in this vein are more club-oriented chants and sayings, Ras is too lyrical for that. His exercise in witty wordplay and flow is something that should be marveled.
Danny Brown - "Dope Song"
Label: Fool's Gold
Year: 2013
Detroit's own Danny Brown has that club background in him, yet is so hip-hop it's scary. Blending the two together has been part of his genius, and hearing him slide into this huge Rustie track for "Dope Song" not only signified the B-side to his Old LP, but highlights where the hip-hop/dance music collaborations will be going.
Kanye West - "On Sight"
Label: Def Jam
Year: 2013
Speaking of great ways to cap off parts of albums, how much of a shift was "On Sight" as track one on Yeezus? Daft Punk at the helm, giving us a cleansing round of fuzzy electronic noise before going into that electro distortion that Kanye chose to rhyme over was a thing of beauty. This set the tone for one of Kanye's most engaging and challenging albums to date. The rhymes matched the beat, and everything made you either feel super uncomfortable... or super intrigued.
Roni Size/Reprazent ft. Bahamadia - "New Froms"
Label: Talkin' Loud
Year: 1997
In the late 1990s, the backpack hip-hop set was huge into the jungle/drum & bass scene, and having Bahamadia's syrupy bars float over the dense Reprazent sound, on the title track from their Mercury Prize-winning album, was a huge coup for the dnb scene. This lead to Roni Size working with a number of heads in the hip-hop scene, from Redman to Cypress Hill, and helped elevate what you can do with the dnb scene like no other.
Deee-Lite ft. Q-Tip - "Groove Is In The Heart"
Label: Elektra
Year: 1990
When it comes to rapping over pop dance hits, Q-Tip won early for his verse on "Groove In The Heart." At a time where the Daisy Age was alive and well in the hip-hop scene, and the Native Tongues were all about experimentation, this felt like a logical progression from the Jungle Brothers' classic "I'll House You."
Redman - "I Got A Seecret"
Label: Def Jam
Year: 1998
The unexpected jungle groove that Roni Size produced for the last track on Redman's Doc's Da Name 2000 LP probably lept over the heads of diehard hip-hop fans, but with the amount of weed that the Funk Doc smokes, we're totally not surprised that "jungle music" had his "mind and body stimulatin'." It's pure Bristol jazz-influenced drum & bass with no huge drop... just a steady rhythm for Redman to coast over, effortlessly.
Jungle Brothers - "I'll House You"
Label: Idlers
Year: 1988
Hip-house is a thing that happened that many people don't want to remember. Maybe the late 1980s was early for the house/hip-hop fusion thing to go down, but a gem like the Jungle Brothers' "I'll House You," which they worked on with the legendary Todd Terry, is too important to ignore. Not only did they perfectly capture what it'd be for house music and hip-hop to coexist without sounding wack, the JBs made sure to play with the term "house," as well as giving stone cold hip-hop lovers an excuse to bug out in the dance. This could be the crown jewel of the hip-house movement, and was an important glimpse to the future of hip-hop and dance music collaborating.
Darq E Freaker ft. Danny Brown - "Blueberry (Pills & Cocaine)"
Label: Southern Hospitality
Year: 2012
After everything we've seen, the combination between rap music and electronic music isn't going anywhere. If tracks like "I'll House You" and "New Forms" showed how the hip-hop of the 1980s and 1990s properly reacted to dance music influence, Darq E Freaker linking up with Danny Brown for "Blueberry (Pills & Cocaine)" highlights the positives and negatives of the 2010s' PLURNT life. In a track that definitely isn't safe for work (or your church-going friends), Darq E's massive grime riddim gets flipped on its ear. Danny hears a beat and reacts, and this is an obvious club scorcher that is both sure of itself and not giving a fuck about you. An anthem for the anti, Danny and Darq E could drop an album of tracks like this and we'd ride it 'til the wheels fell off.