Collaboration is a foundational part of hip-hop, music, and art as a whole. When collaboration works at its best, it’s a dazzling display of chemistry. Two artists and their best instincts meshing and bouncing off of one another. In hip-hop, there’s an abundance of classic records all centered around this interplay.
Consequently, Noisey has selected seven of the best collaborations scattered across hip-hop history. Different decades, different regions, different styles, proof of how much the genre has grown and the beautiful art it creates.
The Best Collaborations in Hip-Hop History
“Devil in a New Dress” by Kanye West & Rick Ross
One of the finest examples of opulence in rap history. Excess is just Rick Ross’ character on “Devil in a New Dress”, with some vivid imagery glazed atop rich, fatty Kanye production. It’s not just enough to have expensive cars. He has to have so many of them, the DMV thinks it’s mail fraud. He balls forever; all he has to do is pick the right sport. No rapper has ever boasted so elegantly.
“Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)” by UGK & Outkast
A rare song where every rapper is performing at the peak of their powers. Everyone tends to synonymously agree that André 3000 has the best verse on the record. However, a more inspired choice would be Pimp C, where there’s a quotable at every turn. He’s smashing up his gray Bentley and buying the red one before the day is even over, while telling all the women that are the cream of the crop that they get the most, not the least. Bun B and Big Boi have stellar verses as well, the former wanting to make the special woman in his life the eighth wonder of the world and Big Boi warning the audience about child support.
“Money Trees” by Kendrick Lamar & Jay Rock
Another one of the all-time guest verses, where Jay Rock situates the setting and the stakes with immense intensity. “‘Magine Rock up in them projects where them n****s pick your pockets. Santa Claus don’t miss them stockings,” he grunts. It’s one of the most vivid portraits of street living in hip-hop history, all because Rock unflinchingly examines why desperate people make desperate decisions. All in pursuit of the money trees.
“Otis” by Jay-Z & Kanye West
A song so epic, it took Funk Flex 22 minutes, 25 restarts, and 60 bombs sounding off to finish during its premiere. Jay-Z and Kanye West trade some of their best bars of all time on a deeply soulful Otis Redding loop. “Luxury rap, the Hermès of verses, sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive,” Ye snarls. “Photoshoot fresh, looking like wealth, I’m ’bout to call the paparazzi on myself” was a Hov line that Flex fixated on all 22 minutes.
“Respiration” by Black Star & Common
Hard knock life put on wax by some of the greatest rappers of all time. Common shines in particular next to Mos Def and Talib Kweli, mulling over how he could love Chicago, even at its most tragic. His friend passed away, gentrification is massacring his neighborhood, and grappling with the constant violence. “Outta the city, they want us gone. Tearin’ down the ‘jects, creatin’ plush homes. My circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones, surrounded by hate, yet I love home,” Common raps. In the era of shiny suits and expensive samples, “Respiration” entrenched itself in the soil.
“Life’s a B****” by Nas & AZ
It’s shocking that “Life’s a B****” was AZ’s debut, an existential masterpiece about the absurdities and tragedy of life. Why does anyone truly sin if not to try to survive and live a little comfortably? How can you judge people who only know pain? Money is the only solace, even if it means risking everything. “Life’s a B****” argues that the risk is worth it just to make it in this tragic life.
“Nuthin’ But a G Thang” Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg
Arguably, the song that set hip-hop into its prime. G-Funk launched rap into its commercial prime, expanding beyond the poppy dance records of Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer. Instead, it emphasized the legitimacy that all the timers led with in the 80s, with a funky, dangerous edge. It also launched the iconic career of Snoop Dogg, arguably the best West Coast rapper of all time. Few records are as important as “Nuthin’ But a G Thang”.
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