SuppliedIn today’s musical landscape, ventures into genre-bending collaborations are not all that uncommon (think, Big Boi and Phantogram’s new project Big Grams or Kanye West, Rihanna and Paul McCartney‘s track “Four, Five, Seconds”). In these collaborative genre-defiers, few seem to intermingle better than rock and rap acts. There just seems to be an innate and irresistible pleasure when you hear your favourite rapper’s spot-on vocal cadence over a mix of heavily distorted guitar-chugs, stadium-sized reverb, and heavy (acoustic) drums hits. Often, these two worlds of music could not seem further apart but if these five songs are any indication of what is possible when the genres are set on a collision course, let’s hope that more hip-hop and rock artists get together to bring tha noize!
5. Kendrick Lamar & Imagine Dragons “Radioactive/m.A.A.d. City (Live at The Grammys)” (2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImE8QV5Fs0
As the first notes of this seemingly mismatched mash-up began, fans from both rap and rock camps let out a collective *sigh* as they un-eagerly awaited the almost certain butchery of their favorite songs at the hands of a Grammy Awards desperately trying to stay “relevant”. Things took a turn for the downright shocking however as ScHoolboy’s Q’s, now classic, YAWK! YAWK! YAWK! YAWK! came crashing through the loudspeakers. The raw energy of the performance, the booming percussion from the Imaginary Dragons and the sheer rock-superstar-ship of Mr. Lamar, all came together to give fans from both genre teams a one-off, explosive track that would perfectly encapsulate how much fun a rap-rock collab could be.
4. Gorillaz and Del The Funky Homosapien “Clint Eastwood” (2010)
“Clint Eastwood” is the perfect modern example of a genre-blending track that took significant influence from the next two features on our list. While this track does not as clearly demonstrate a rapper spitting over a hard rock backing track, it instead exemplifies the unity of two artists traditionally associated with each genre in question. Damon Albarn who is originally a member of English rock band Blur, and Del The Funky Homosapien come together in perfect unity and establish the perfect center of the rap rock Venn diagram. This track also played a significant role in reducing the significance of specific genre definition in modern music.
3. Public Enemy and Anthrax “Bring Tha Noize” (1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6dUAaftfzw
Public Enemy re-released their 1988 single “Bring The Noise” in collaboration with American thrash metal band Anthrax. “Bring Tha Noize” (as it was renamed in the collaboration) was extremely influential in solidifying rap-metal as a serious genre in the music world. While our list’s #2 track was arguably the first rap-rock combo to become popularized, undoubtedly “Bring Tha Noize” played an integral role in eliminating the rap-rock dichotomy that traditionally segregated rap music fans and fans of rock.
2. Run-D.M.C and Aerosmith, “Walk This Way” (1986)
The release of this single was nothing short of groundbreaking and was one of the first examples of a rap-rock collaboration that became hugely successful. Not only would this track make Run-D.M.C. the first hip-hop group to place on the Billboard top 5, but would also help Aerosmith renew their popularity with audience’s worldwide. This single was also accompanied by a very cool (and very literal) music video where the two bands literally break down the wall that was previously segregating the two genres. “Walk This Way” provided the framework for the numerous collaborations of this variety that would follow in the years to come.
1. Jay-Z & Linkin Park “Numb/Encore” (2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcOwJh4F40M
Reading this mash-up’s title alone should be enough to send a tsunami-sized wave of early-2000’s nostalgia rushing through your body but it’s when Linkin Park’s iconic intro-piano, to hit song “Numb”, enters that you are truly reminded of the epic scale and undeniable irresistibility this hip-hop/rock collab had and still has. Unlike the other mash-ups on this list, Jay and the boys from LP delivered a full EP (MTV’s Collision Course) of rap-rock perfection. The two groups’ sounds, as different as they are, blend with such cohesion that it is almost unfathomable to believe the tracks are repurposed ones and were not written together. “Numb/Encore” brings together all the best elements of these superstar’s, genre-collision and shows listeners in 3 short minutes why each group should be revered as an unstoppable force in not only their own genres but in all of music. “Numb/Encore” sits as a king on Collision Course, an album that stands as a god amongst other rap-rock mash-ups and rightfully so, takes the #1 spot on our list of rapper-rocker collabs.
