Kanye vs. T-Pain

Once the year 2007 rolled around, there were two people dominating radio music with hit after hit after hit. It was the irrepressible Louis Vuitton Don and Teddy Penderassdown.

Though their early careers couldn't have been any more independent from one another, their unrelenting commercial stardom caused the crossing of paths. Now everyone can attach them effortlessly with the single degree of autotune usage. Simple enough. The first collaboration was gifted to us by Ye relieving Yung Joc of his "Buy U a Drank" rapping duties. Then when Graduation and Thr33 Ringz made their hyped releases, of course both men had to obligingly feature on each others' tapes. Understanding the resulting formula was a monster, DJ Khaled, GLC, and Rick Ross all managed to get the vocally adjusted duo on board for some tracks together before Pain went on his recent self-imposed exile. Who knows what the future holds for the two working together, but Kanye was adamant about making sure the world knew Teddy was a genius in his recording process, so the respect should always be there ... unless Pain's post-"D.O.A." Jigga shots muddied up the waters a little.

2007
T-Pain - Buy U a Drank (Remix feat. Kanye West, UGK, & Trey Songz)
Kanye West - Good Life (feat. T-Pain)
2008
T-Pain - Therapy (feat. Kanye West)
DJ Khaled - Go Hard (feat. T-Pain & Kanye West)
2009
GLC - Flight School (feat. T-Pain & Kanye West)
Rick Ross - Maybach Music 2 (feat. T-Pain, Kanye West, & Lil' Wayne)

... and do the John Wall.

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Bobby vs. Charles

Bob was prolly the only guy that Charlie wound up not getting pissed of at from the '09 Freshman Class. And Asher, too. I guess no one else wanted to hop on the "Change Gonna Come" joint with 'em. Regardless, you prolly already know that B.o.B and Charles hold high honors in my book as some of the freshest newcomers possible. And as soon as I type that I regret it and wanna throw KiD CuDi, J. Cole, and (most of the time) Wale in there. Dah ... the painstaking choices of doling out tips of the hat ...

Moving beyond the XXL cover, B.o.B and Charles shared some studio time and came up with "Fool for Love" off Bob's pre-Adventures mixtape, May 25th, plus CH's loose "Paperboy" joint back when he was temporarily playing the whole scarcity card. Now all that's come to the forefront of my mind due to the first incarnation of All City Chess Club being released on the masses with the newly minted "We Beamin'" remix. Enjoy.

2009
B.o.B - Change Gonna Come (feat. Asher Roth & Charles Hamilton)
2010
B.o.B - Fool for Love (feat. Charles Hamilton)
Charles Hamilton - Paperboy (feat. B.o.B)
All City Chess Club - We Beamin' (Remix with Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, Lupe Fiasco, The Cool Kids, Blu, Diggy, Dosage, & B.o.B)

... and do the John Wall.

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Kweli vs. Kanye

In Kanye's College Dropout outro, "Last Call", Ye says the following about Talib Kweli:

"My relationship with Kweli I think was one of the best ones to ever happen to my career as a rapper. Because, you know, of course later he allowed me to go on tour with him. Man, I love him for that."

That's enough for me to compile a "Favors" segment on them. From Quality to the aforementioned College Dropout to as recent as Ear Drum, this one-time underground duo traded bars. They have extensively more stuff together, but it's all Kweli over Kan beats on albums and unreleased compilations alike, like on "Young Man", "I Try", "What I Seen (Lonely People)", "Get By", "Good to You", and "Momma, Can You Hear Me". But I decided to just link up when they were both vocally on the same joint. You just gotta deal with it. Or utilize Google.

2002
Talib Kweli - Guerilla Monsoon Rap (feat. Black Thought, Pharoahe Monch, & Kanye West)
Talib Kweli - Get By (Remix feat. Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West, & Busta Rhymes)
2004
Kanye West - Get 'Em High (feat. Talib Kweli & Common)
Consequence - Wack N****s (feat. Kanye West, Common, & Talib Kweli)
2005
Kanye West - We Can Make It Better (feat. Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Common, & Rhymefest)
2007
Talib Kweli - In the Mood (feat. Kanye West & Roy Ayers)

... and do the John Wall.

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Game vs. Nas

It's crazy to me that these guys got so many tracks together. The old school era-defining Queensbridge emcee with the cocky, name-dropping leader of the New West? Oh well. Their mic chemistry works crazy nice. Maybe it was their mutual hatred of 50 Cent that makes it work so well. Whatever it is, it started on Game's super long "Why You Hate the Game" cut and continued on the same Doctor's Advocate album with the monster "One Blood" remix. Then they just kept swapping cuts on every single release with Hip Hop is Dead, L.A.X., N***er, and most recently the Brake Lights project. They're apparently legally required by the Pac&Biggie Convention to collaborate on everything for the rest of their lives.

2006
Game - Why You Hate the Game (feat. Nas & Marsha Ambrosius)
Game - One Blood (East Coast Remix feat. Jim Jones, Fabolous, Clipse, Juelz Santana, Nas, Jadakiss, Styles P, Fat Joe, N.O.R.E., & Ja Rule)
Nas - Hustlers (feat. Game & Marsha Ambrosius)
2008
Game - Letter to the King (feat. Nas)
Nas - Make the World Go Round (feat. Game & Chris Brown)
2009
Busta Rhymes - Don't Touch Me (Remix feat. Nas, Lil' Wayne, Big Daddy Kane, Spliff Star, Game, & Reek Da Villain)
2010
Game - Street Riders (feat. Akon & Nas)

... and do the John Wall.

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Jigga vs. Talib Kweli

This one's a little more hypothetical, but I love the premise. Every Black Album aficionado should immediately recognize the line:

"If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli."

And any Black Star aficionado should immediately remember the lesser known response in "Ghetto Show" where Kweli says:

"If lyrics sold then truth be told, I'd probably be, just as rich and famous as Jay-Z."

This all happened after Kanye helped to bridge the gap between these two Brooklyn emcees on the remix to Kweli's own Ye-produced single. And now you got enough music for a new "Favors" segment on this blog right here.

2002
Talib Kweli - Get By (Remix feat. Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West, & Busta Rhymes)
2003
Jay-Z - Moment of Clarity
2004
Talib Kweli - Ghetto Show (feat. Common & Anthony Hamilton)

... and do the John Wall.

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Jigga vs. Big Boi

It's interesting to me that only 1/2 of OutKast has properly collaborated with Jay-Z and it's not the one of the "Hey Ya" variety. Back in 2002 and 2003, the Jigga Man and Big Boi swapped featured on each others' The Blueprint 2 and Speakerboxxx albums. And even more interesting is the fact that pre-Purple-Ribbon-beefing Killer Mike tagged along for both of the joints. Twista joins in to make "Poppin' Tags" a full posse cut between the four of them. The original Slaughterhouse, anyone? Down below in the "Izzo" video, Big and Dre both actually make a 2-second appearance at the 2:07 mark where I conveniently have it starting. I figure if you're going to take a couple songs off from rhyming with the greatest rapper of all time, why not go with the second greatest? Sir Lucious Left Foot knows what he's doing.

2002
Jay-Z - Poppin' Tags (feat. Big Boi, Killer Mike, Twista, & Sleepy Brown)
2003
Big Boi - Flip Flop Rock (feat. Killer Mike & Jay-Z)
Bonus Mrs. Jay-Z: Beyonce - Hip Hop Star (feat. Big Boi & Sleepy Brown)



... and do the John Wall.

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Bun B vs. Drake

One of the oldest in the game and one of the youngest. One of the southest and one of the northest. Bun B & Drake: the King of the Underground and the King of Canadian Teen Television Dramas.

The two first got together on wax over So Far Gone's Boi-1da banger "Uptown". Of course, Bun happened to only be tagging along as the third wheel of the 87th Drake/Wayne collabo. After that, Daddy must've recognized that his children were playing nice together because Birdman reprised their collective combo in the song "Mo Milli" (produced by ... Boi-1da) for his Pricele$$ album.  Bun B took the initiative from there and kept Drake on two additional (guess who ...) Boi-1da beats for his new Trill O.G. album. I guess that double take made up for Drake only letting Bun have a half-bar ad-lib on "Miss Me" instead of fully recreating the Drake/Bun/Wayne triumvirate. And to finish it all off in historic style, Drake's most recently made an appearance on Pimp C's posthumous album, The Naked Soul of Sweet Jones, on the Bun-approved UGK joint "What Up". I don't exactly know why the two hit it off as great as they did, but obviously the music is there to prove there's a legitimate respect between the two hip hop giants.

2009
Drake - Uptown (feat. Bun B & Lil' Wayne)
Birdman - Mo Milli (feat. Drake & Bun B)
Bun B - It's Been a Pleasure (feat. Drake)
2010
Bun B - Put It Down (feat. Drake)
UGK - What Up (feat. Drake)
Bonus: Drake - Miss Me (feat. Lil' Wayne)

... and do the John Wall.

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Big Boi vs. Janelle Monae

I've only run two editions of the "Favors" segment, but I'm already shaking things up. This one's all about Big Boi and the crazy talent that he discovered and labeled up, Janelle Monae. That's pretty much the extent of Purple Ribbon that's left, ain't it? Sucks that the rest of them didn't work out, but at least Janelle's a keeper.

She debuted on Big's record label compilation, Got Purp, Vol. 2, with two song features by the names of "Time Will Reveal" and "Lettin' Go". With a little help from Diddy and Bad Boy, the rest is history.

2006
Big Boi - Call the Law (feat. Janelle Monae)
Big Boi - In Your Dreams (feat. Killer Mike, Janelle Monae, & Sleepy Brown)
2010
Janelle Monae - Tightrope (feat. Big Boi)
Big Boi - Be Still (feat. Janelle Monae)

The duo's musical hook-ups surfaced on OutKast's Idlewild, Janelle's The ArchAndroid, and Big Boi's brand new Sir Lucious Left Foot. Their individual sounds are absolutely monstrous and it's just another level of epicness when they join forces. He raps. She sings. And the records speak for themselves.

... and do the John Wall.

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Wayne vs. Em

This second edition of "Favors" features two guys that I never thought would be on the same cut. Lil' Wayne and Eminem. Wayne had been practically begging in interviews for years about wanting to trade bars with the white kid, but everyone pretty much just accepted that a Weezy collabo was below Em's standards as Wayne was whoring himself out at the time to any artist whose label would cough up $75,000 for a feature, regardless of quality. Apparently, stuff changed.

2009
Drake - Forever (feat. Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, & Eminem)
Lil' Wayne - Drop the World (feat. Eminem)
2010
Eminem - No Love (feat. Lil' Wayne)

The first one was LeBron's fault. Isn't everything? Forming Voltron with Drake and Kanye, the newly minted quartet created the smash hit "Forever" for LBJ's More Than a Game movie. Everybody got free range on their verse to make their stand as the emcee who would deserve bragging rights over the other, though all were pretty much guaranteed to dominate the airwaves concurrently as much as they pleased. Eminem was easily the biggest winner as he freed himself from his Encore and Relapse ruts for the first time by double-timing his flow and coming off as aggressive as ever. Beyond that, this track was pedestal for the next two Em/Wayne tracks to take place on their respective upcoming albums.

Even though everyone pretty much pretends that Wayne's Rebirth rock album was never even released at all, it did have its one saving grace in the form of "Drop the World". With its general epicness and glorified duality between the types of spitting going on between the world class rhymers, it was the one joint thrown into the album that wasn't a forced failure at a new age genre buster. And while this effort was the resounding street single that was playing as Wayne was being ushered into his resident jailhouse, he left the world one more smash collaboration that was kept secret for a little while longer. With Eminem finally back honed in on his true sound, the album Recovery quickly formed. Guess who the sole guest rapper allowed to borrow a verse from Em's stream of consciousness was. Weezy on the Just Blaze banger "No Love" (which hilariously samples Haddaway's "What is Love").

... and do the John Wall.

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Game vs. Kanye

I got a new recurring post segment. It's called "Favors". And it has nothing to do with that guy taken before Boogie in the draft who won't really be that good. All it is is me quickly detailing the collaborative efforts back and forth between artists. Today's opening example is Kanye and Game.

2005
Game - Dreams
Kanye West - Crack Music (feat. Game)
2006
Game - Wouldn't Get Far (feat. Kanye West)

The combination of the two, verging on parody territory, was actually joked on in their music video to the song "Wouldn't Get Far". The L.A.-native who claimed Blood and was a former G-Unit start-up paired up with the early Chicago backpacker who was famous for his sped-up soul sampling beats and colorful polos. But they actually managed to find a creative medium and make dope music together.

The first incarnation was "Dreams" produced by Ye, Game's biggest hit outside of his 50-assisted singles. It brought out the heavy, introspective material in Game's lyricism that let the car bragging and gun toting take a backseat to relating a heartfelt story. Then the two jumped from Game's debut to Kanye's sophomore effort on the track "Crack Music" where Game lent his vocals to highlight the anthemic chorus. Apparently there was supposed to be a guest verse as well, but money issues got in the way at the time of the album's release. The two finally got a full collaboration out on the aforementioned "Wouldn't Get Far" where they traded musings on the rap game's video vixens. As an added bonus, they collected their promo checks by jumping on a commercial with Luda for Boost Mobile. You prolly remember that one, now.



... and do the John Wall.

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