Collaborations?

Collaborations are very common in contemporary hip hop. Rap artists feature others artists on their songs, their albums, and in some cases even work together to produce an entire album like Watch The Throne- which is a collaborative album created by Jay-Z and Kanye West. Usually an artist who is being featured on another rappers' song is given one or two verses of the entire song to rap over. Also there is no limit to the number of artists that can be featured on one song, as evidenced by Drake's 'Forever' song, which features Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem. 

Watch the Throne

These are examples of ingenre collaborations. Basically, these collaborations that I have talked about are all created by hip hop artist working with other hip hop artists. But hip hop collaborations are the most interesting when they are created between artists from two different genres, which is also common. Over the past years we have seen collaborations between; Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson, Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj, Nelly and Tim McGraw, B.o.B and Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Adam Levine, Busta Rhymes and Stevie Wonder, and Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.

These collaborations are more interesting because they illustrate the intersections of music genres. Typically, it is a rap artist working together with a country or pop artist to create something that still sounds like hip hop. Now that's not to say that singers like Stevie Wonder and Willie Nelson need to rap on the songs that they are featured on, but they do have to change some aspect of their style in order to make the song hip hop. Meanwhile rap artists have to figure out how they can fit a singer into their song. Obviously rap artists know how to collaborate with singers, this has been done before, but I think it is easier for a rapper to co-produce a song with an R&B singer than a country or pop singer. 

Multigenre Examples:

Kanye West ft. Adam Levine

50 Cent and Justin T

Lil Wayne and Bruno Mars

*Questions:

Is it easier for a rap artist to make a collab song with an R&B artist than a pop or country singer?

A wide array of possibilities exist for collab hip hop songs. What does this say about the versatility of hip hop?

What is your favorite collab song?

Lil' Kim - A Big Momma Thing

“I used to be scared of the dick, now I throw lips to the shit, handle it like a real bitch.”  Is she saying that to be a real “bitch” or woman you have to….

This is a rare type of rap song.  She has a very “Slutty” attitude.  Usually female rappers have a feministic type of flow, while Lil’ Kim seems to go against all feministic norms.  Lil’ Kim loves to dress very “pornographically” as well.  There is a term today know as “slut-shaming.”  This is where men try to make women feel inferior or guilty for dressing a certain way, having multiple sexual relations, and being proud of those two things.  Lil’ Kim seems to see no shame in these, and actually tries to promote them.  I am not saying that either ways of going about hip hop, or life.  I am just pointing out a very rare style of rapping.

Wiz Khalifa – Stoner Rap

 Popular rapper Wiz Khalifa released his first real studio album called rolling papers in 2011 and sold almost two hundred thousand records in the first week of its release.  He claims that he does not want to be limited to stoner rap, but in almost all of his songs, he promotes or talks about smoking weed at some point.  He came out promoting smoking joints from the first album that he released.  Wiz Khalifa has a youtube channel that is just videos from his “every-day life” called “Day today.”  I have seen quite a few episodes and do not believe that any of the episodes show Wiz Khalifa not rolling multiple joints and smoking them.  Many people, including many of my friends, really dislike his rap because “he always raps about the same thing” which is weed, sex, and alcohol.

Why do you think that Wiz Khalifa says that he does not want to be known as a stoner rapper when he continues to promote it?

Hip Hop and Kids

So it seems today that the target age for hip hop continues to get younger and younger and in some ways this could be a sign that it is becoming more a part of our culture and widely accepted which I see as a good thing because it is an art that should be appreciated. The ad below is not the one on TV the other day but since I cannot find the one that has the kids break dancing with mickey in the baggy jeans and flat brim hats this will have to do.

When I saw this I could not believe my eyes. Fisher price which is a toy company with a main target age of 8 years and younger made a break dancing Mickey. And honestly it is pretty up to par for actual break dancing moves for a kids toy. I think it is somewhat shocking how young kids are starting to be introduced to hip hop. I mean I heard it growing up but I did not fully become immersed in in until about the 7th or 8th grade. So this new target age is something to be curious about and see how it effects the hip hop culture.

Progression of Hip Hop

In the early years of Hip-Hop the public did not perceive it very positively. The drugs and violence expressed in many artists’ lyrics did not sit well with many American households. As years have passed, this genre of music has gained a large amount of popularity and many of the artists, who express a positive message within their rhymes not only for the youth, but also to our country, have gained national exposure. Who would of thought that Marcy projects raised Jay-Z would one day perform for the President of The United States' inauguration?

To Kool For School

Having just finished finals, academics are on the brain. How many hip-hop artists have a college degree? Do they really need one? Is the music industry always going to be based off of people finding you and promoting you, and when this happens does your education matter? All of these rappers in this video went to college. In having a college degree has this shaped their success in the music business in any way?

Before universities and big institutions had very pronounced musical programs, going to school with a talent that could get you places was a dumb idea. In a way it is like pro athletes, when they get picked up by a team they quit on school and go with the pro athlete life. For rappers it is the same. These people have chosen this lifestyle and I am asking if there is a difference between those that get an education and those that don’t when you have an expendable talent like some of these rappers. 

Politics and Hip Hop

During the 2008 election Obama got the name of being the first "hip hop president". There is much speculation on this because yes he is black and so this can be viewed as a stereotype. But he also received many endorsements from hip hop artists and was included in some songs by people such as Nas, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Big Boi, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, will.i.am, Three 6 Mafia and Young Jeezy. Even in this past election Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce remained huge supporters of him. 

It is known however that Obama won the youth vote by a land slide in 2008 and he did so again in this past election. Hip hop is a popular thing in our generation and the target voting group of 18-30 that politicians fight to win the vote of. I believe Obama used this title as "hip hop president" in his favor. He does not support a lot of the meaning and connotations of the lyrics but believes the genre to be an art. Do you think hip hop helped Obama win some of the youth vote? Here are some things I found, both from 2008 and 2012 election times.

The ever famous song after he won

And then I just had to include this one for kicks. It went viral so I am sure many of you have heard this but I figure its pertinent since it is a parody to the song by Eminem "The Real Slim Shady"