The Year of the Rap Collaboration Album

Future and Young Thug’s Super Slimey made its debut in October at no. 2 on the Billboard 200. On November, 21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin released Without Warning and debuted at no. 4 on the album charts. And Quavo and Travis Scott’s collaboration, Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, is set to debut at no. 2 on the Billboard 200 to bring in the new year.

This sudden upsurge in joint albums is intriguing, and on its surface, has no obvious creative explanation. The only viable explanation is that, rap is poppin and rappers intend on riding this wave towards all its success.

In the late 90’s, rap had become a more household genre of music and its financial opportunity was evident. Representations of rap’s acceptance shone through pop culture and the rap world became more acutely aware of the genre’s money-making potential – think Will Smith with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and LL COOLJ with In the House. Like I said, rap was poppin; and what’s better than one rapper? Two.

Started with a Remix, Now We Here

The early-to-mid 2000’s was the Age of the Remix. Any massively popular song would automatically inherit a remix. This happened more often with R&B songs that earned a revised hip-hop beat and verse from a rapper – such as Mariah Carey’s Honey (remix) and Fantasy (remix), and Brandy’s I Wanna Be Down (remix). In rap, it was standard for any hit song to merit a remix filled with as many other big-name artists as possible. DJ Khaled’s I’m So Hood (remix) is a well-known example – which featured Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Rick Ross.

Engineered for the same purpose as 2017’s collaborative albums, these songs served as a royalty check. These new songs also drew attention back to the original versions, thus making more money. It’s an easy way to make money, you must admit. And it’s even easier and more efficient now than it would’ve been in the past.

The music production software and file-sharing technology has enabled rapper to complete projects without ever meeting face-to-face. This, alongside marketing and distribution shortcuts in the form of streaming services and social media platforms, has worked to make the collaboration process much easier. And if it’s that easy to make ONE song, imagine how much time can be saved when creating a whole album.

Rap is King

Regardless of the ease of recording or the number of artists squeezed onto a remix, the most important aspect when it comes to these rap collaborations is that RAP IS KING.

“The Rapper has ascended from pop culture figure of interest to the center of the pop culture universe. Where the “rapper” was once a faceless do-rag and baggy-T-shirt-clad monolith in the eyes of the public, they are now some of the world’s biggest stars with fully formed, idiosyncratic, and recognizable brands.”

To be able to have two or more talented rappers and producers working together to create a project for consumption is exciting. To those who are fans of either contributing artist, it serves as another release from their favorite rapper. It also keeps us wanting more. The collaborative album serves as a premium product that we can’t receive all the time, while it reminds us of what is to come.

Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho was released on December 21, 2017.

Travis Scott’s AstroWorld is set for release sometime soon, we hope.

The Migos’ Culture II is set for release in early 2018.

See? They just keep us wanting more.

Go DJ: The Producer's Glory

These days, songs are being considered more than the lyrics and vocals. Producers are finally gaining recognition for their role in the creation of a successful song, and it’s about time! I can admit to being uninformed when it came to music producers. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until I started listening to the drops on rap singles and matching them up to their producer’s identity that I began to understand true ownership of songs.

Music listeners are beginning to take notice and turning into fans. And major artists are beginning to take notice as well. Many notable rappers have been very forthcoming with producers that they turn to when they are looking for a BANGER. More often now than ever, rappers are even teaming up to create full projects with their favorite producers. Being a producer has always been a lucrative job – especially before many rappers began to take control over producing their own music – but now that their names can sit right beside the artist’s name, things finally seem fair.

In the humble beginnings of DJ Khaled and DJ Mustard, the notion of a DJ creating a song seemed much easier. They enlisted artists that they wanted to feature on the beat that they created, and arranged them in whichever way they chose. In that way, it was always more of the DJ’s song than the artists themselves – which is why DJ Khaled and DJ Mustard are listed as the ‘Album Artist’ of the songs on their albums. With the star power of some of the most successful singers and rappers at their disposal, creating hit songs has become a lucrative career for the likes of Mike WiLL Made-It, DJ Esco, and Travis Scott.

In nearly 10 short years, the responsibilities of the producer have not changed, but the attention that they received has. There aren’t many examples in rap’s past where one producer contributed all the music on a project. And in those few times, it was not listed as a project featuring the producer as a contributing artist.

Mannie Fresh was the infamous DJ that Lil Wayne proudly and loudly claimed in “Go DJ,” and he was the producer to Wayne’s entire Tha Carter project. Timbaland worked side-by-side with Missy Elliot to create her debut album, Supa Dupa Fly. And although it was well-known knowledge that Timbaland was always Elliot’s production partner, he was listed in the credits but not on the sleeve cover. And whether we chose to acknowledge it or not, Eminem would not let anyone forget that Dr. Dre was his mentor and that he executive produced The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. The praise, in the end, went primarily to the Detroit-raised rapper who earned his own record label and status of a high-profile celebrity from it.

In the present day, artists who can produce their own music, like Pharrell Williams and Travis Scott, are the “chosen ones” of the rap game. But producers are all the rage! And when they choose an artist’s music to host or to produce a project in its entirety, the anticipation is usually uncontainable.

DJ Drama was a significant player in this style of mixtape. Although he made mixtapes that served as collaborations with multiple artists, his Gangsta Grillz mixtape collection has plenty of projects with a solo artist. Some of his most famous being: Lil Wayne’s Dedication 2, Young Jeezy’s Trap or Die, and Meek Mill’s DreamChasers.

DJ Drama boasts building the mixtape blueprint, and he’s correct. Not only did DJ Drama spread different sounds from region to region (the underground rap cyphers of New York were being heard in the Dirty South), but he also provided an outlet for new and upcoming rappers to shine. Over time, the Gangsta Grillz mixtape series became one of the most trusted brand names in hip-hop.

“Weezy and Dram’ – we are the Mixtape Blueprint

Hahaha! You welcome.

A Dedication!” – DJ Drama

DJ Drama also accomplished making money off a mixtape. At his peak, DJ Drama’s mixtapes had album artwork and jewel CD case, it had a barcode, and a place next to albums produced through record labels. This, along with using non-copyrighted music, is what got the DJ into some trouble. Some of the sampled songs on many of the projects were not authorized for use nor were they paid for. For DJ Drama to make money from any of those sale was considered piracy and copyright infringement, and what lead DJ Drama to evolve along with the times. "The streaming and various platforms have kind of made the mixtape DJ somewhat irrelevant, to be honest. Things are changing," he explains his choice to host his mixtapes online.

What’s interesting is the formula that Lil Wayne and DJ Drama came up with in 2005 is what is happening more and more these days in rap. DJ Drama boasts ever-so-humbly in the intro song off the highly-anticipated Dedication 6, 

"Y'all done copied the rhymes
Y'all done stole the artwork
Tried to emulate my shit-talkin'
Weezy and Dram' - we are the Mixtape Blueprint
Hahaha! You welcome
A Dedication!

When you hold titles such as one of the biggest mixtape DJs EVER, with one of the biggest mixtape series EVER (Gangsta Grillz), and Billboard requests that you do an oral history on The Mixtape, you have the right to be cocky.

“I make a beat, he raps to it… And we’d do it all over again.”
-Zaytoven

After the arrest of DJ Esco in Dubai, Future was left with nothing. DJ Esco had a hard drive with him that contained all the music that he and Future has been working on for the past few years; it was then in police custody. Future turned his sights to the next producer who he trusted with the creation ofhis mixtape. Zaytoven, the trap maestro, was his guy. "Really, the work was done in two to three days. The rest was justy picking which record we wanted to use," Zaytoven explains. "For somebody else to come in and see us doing the work, it would blow your mind... We might've gotten 40 songs done as we were putting this tape together. That's us doing songs back-to-back. I make a beat, he raps to it... And we'd do it all over again. We might do 10 songs a day." 

Beast Mode was the first release after his public breakup with Ciara. It gave Future a chance to shake his image as rap Romeo, and further his retreat into the flashy bachelor lifestyle. With the help of Zaytoven's dark intricate piano melodies and shaking basslines, Future can delve into himself and produce songs that reveal some struggle that he endured. The chemistry between the two succeed in creating a mixtape that forces growth from both parties. And while Zaytoven is still known as Gucci Mane's producer, and he has created countless hit songs for many Southern rappers, Beast Mode is a testament of trusting your DJ to get the job done.

“If Young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon shoot ya…”

There is not a harder working producer in the game right than Metro Boomin. In 2016 and 2017, he was responsible for such hits as:

• The Migos - Bad and Boujee featuring Lil Uzi Vert
• Future - Mask Off, Low Life featuring The Weeknd, Wicked
• Kanye West - Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1
• Lil Uzi Vert - You Was Right
• 21 Savage - X featuring Future, Bank Account
• Kodak Black - Tunnel Vision
• Post Malone - Congratulations

… to name a few, and that’s ONLY a few. With hits like these under his belt, it’s no wonder artists would kill those who Metro Boomin claims to distrust. All jokes aside, Metro Boomin seems to have the Midas Touch, or whatever the equivalent to the “Platinum Touch” would be in this music game.

Metro has teamed up to produce projects for 21 Savage (Savage Mode), 21 Savage and Offset’s collaboration (Without Warning), Big Sean (Double or Nothing), Gucci Mane (Droptopwop), Nav (Perfect Timing), and most of Future’s DS2. His discography speaks for itself.

"One of the most original, vivid, important voices in rap right now belongs to a guy who doesn't rap, whose voice never appears on records. It belongs to a guy who speaks entirely through his music. And right now, he's saying a whole lot."

This group of creators, plus many before and after, are a testament to the power of music. They are tilting the world of the music industry upside down, but in a good way. In a healthy way, that gives praise and recognition to all who are deserving.

My Music History

I couldn’t name my favorite song. My all-time favorite song? No way. Does anyone have one? Can anyone have an all-time favorite song?

I know that in my younger years I loved Michael Jackson, Brandy was my favorite singer, and… my secret confession was that MC Hammer was my favorite performer (I used to say that I wanted to be a dancer with him when I grew up). 

I now couldn’t imagine music without Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Amy Winehouse.

The first pop song that I heard was I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys in the front seat of my dad’s car, which struck me as odd because I had never heard my dad listen to boy bands or Caucasian groups for that matter.  After that moment, Britany Spears, Christina Aguilera, The Spice Girls, and NSYNC entered my music repertoire.

Hall and Oates are the most underrated duo in musical history. Dolly Parton’s Jolene is my favorite country song. And the Eagles remain my personal blue-eyed version of Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Motown and their artists were the only records played in my grandma’s house when we visited. I knew all the steps to the Temptations My Girl routine.

Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone, Corrine Bailey Rae, Snoh Aalegra, Duffy, Lianne La Havas, and Adele have broadened the culture of music as I know it. These ladies have enough soul to have been on Motown’s roster in its heyday.

Whenever my nanny played Kenny G’s Songbird around the house when she cleaned, I always pretended that it was I who could create such a beautiful sound. Oh, how I would have loved to know how to play an instrument!

I’ve fallen in love with the compositions of Carter Burwell and Alexandre Desplat. Miri Ben-Ari ignited my love for the whimper of the violin. I still don’t know how to play an instrument, though I’m now more inclined to learn.

Digital Underground introduced me to Tupac Shakur, the one rapper who most credit their success (unless they’re apart of that whole East-West coast rivalry thing). He, unknowingly, created what I call the “Tupac-reform” – prison stint, self-evaluation, rehabilitated criminal with heightened celebrity status and popular influence.

Lil Boosie, T.I., Lil Wayne, and Gucci Mane have all followed suit – coming out of their unfortunate legal situations, staying under the criminal radar, and producing hits.

My mother HATED when I got mad at her. I knew to play Evanescence, Fall Out Boy, and PANIC! At the Disco LOUDLY to irritate her. She never knew where I learned about the rock genre, and I never knew why she didn’t give it a chance – I understood the raw emotions of the songs.

The first time I heard Sail by AWOLNATION, I knew that my relationship at that time was never going to survive – how can a song move you like that? Use Somebody by Kings of Leon stopped me dead in my track in the middle of a grocery store – you ever heard one of those songs that halt time and space to command your attention? And don’t get me started on when I FINALLY learned all about Jimi Hendrix!

One song, just one song? It may be possible, and I figure the more knowledge I have on the music that I love, the easier it might be to choose one song. I plan to explore topics of music’s history and the future that it has to offer. And in the end, I might just find that one song.