15 Underrated Rockin' Rap Songs We Can't Live Without
Music has seen its fair share of rock/rap mashups by now. The early 1980’s set the stage for the Beastie Boys to step in as rambunctious punkers only to later make a bold crossover to hip-hop. Run DMC remade Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” in 1986. Oh, and remember the Shop Boyz’s “Party Like a Rock Star” from 2007?
2012 has arrived, and it’s looking like we finally have that Kid Cudi/Dot Da Genius rock opus on its way. Cudi first announced the coming of WZRD (then spelled “Wizard”) in January 2011, pushing it as a “rock album, no raps, just singing. Brand new thing. Flavor.” Surprise! The Twitter realm went wild, and after two title changes and the November release of “Brake,” the Cudder man gave the album an official release date of January 30th, 2012 and all was grand with the world.
Well, it’s looking like fans will now be waiting until February 28th (Dot announced the pushback via Twitter not too long ago),and although we have about another month left until we finally get our hands on WZRD, we figured we’d pass the time by paying chronological homage to 15 underrated rockin' rap songs. – Stephanie Long
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Intro
B.O.B. and Haley Williams-Airplanes
Listeners first got a taste of Bobby Ray and his guitar long before The Adventures of Bobby Ray hit shelves. “Airplanes” would later serve as an extension of B.O.B.’s versatility, tapping Paramore front woman Haley Williams for the hook that would later send the single onto mainstream radio stations genre-wide.
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Beastie Boys--Sabotage
After the Beastie Boys recorded and performed their first rap track “Cooky Puss” in 1983, it was all history from there. Three years later came Licensed to Ill, and by the time Ill Communication dropped in 1994, the Beastie Boys had their rap/rock package down pat. “Sabotage” is timeless proof.
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DMX and Marilyn Manson--The Omen
DMX first introduced us to his multiple personalities via 1998’s “The Omen,” which featured the rapper conversing back and forth with his alter-ego Damien. Further adding to the distortion was none other than Marilyn Manson, who was of the most controversial rock artists during that time.
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Ice Cube and Korn--Children Of The Korn
“Freak on a Leash” aside, Follow the Leader was a pretty damn successful album. It was also the first album to gain Korn mainstream success, and was one of the first times listeners would hear the band collaborating with a hip-hop artist. See another instance of Korn/rap collaboration mentioned at #7.
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Ice-T and Slayer--Disorder
Ice-T had an interest in heavy metal even before the Judgment Night soundtrack dropped. After leaving his birth city of Newark, New Jersey, the rapper set out to Los Angeles where he later co-founded and fronted heavy metal band Body Count. Collaborating with Slayer? Psh. That was nothing, and would later lead to his cameo appearance on Black Sabbath’s Forbidden in 1995.
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Jay-Z and Linkin Park--Numb Encore
Speaking of Jay, who could forget the Collision Course album he did with Linkin Park that same year? If you weren’t a Linkin Park fan before you heard the project, you absolutely were then (and vice versa). And while “Numb/Encore” played a huge part in Collision‘s success, it was ultimately the project as a whole that would send the two artists to #1 on the Billboard 200.
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Jay-Z--99 Problems
Does this song really need an introduction? Never mind the fact that it was the third single off of what was supposedly Jay’s last album (can you imagine?), but this would also be the first time we heard a Rick Rubin production in years. The song contained samples of rock and roll greatness heard in Billy Squier’s “The Big Beat” (which you probably know from Run DMC’s “Here We Go”) and Mountain’s “Long Red.” Jay would later perform this track in a rock medley at the BET awards, which featured Kid Rock, Dave Navarro, The Roots and Sheila E.
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Lil Wayne and Eminem--Drop The World
Let’s face it: Rebirth wasn’t exactly what one would call rock and roll royalty (songs like “Get a Life” and “Da Da Da” left most of us scratching our heads). But something special happened when Weezy teamed up with Eminem, and the next thing you know, “Drop the World” was released as a single and triumphantly went platinum.
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OutKast--Hey Ya
You could call “Hey Ya!” the result of blending Andre 3000 with The Beatles, The Ramones and a little of The Smiths. The track won a Grammy at the 46th Grammy Awards and brought the Beatles back to life for its music video where Andre remade their famous Ed Sullivan Show performance.
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Public Enemy and Anthrax--Bring The Noise
“Bring the Noise” first hit ears via 1987’s Less Than Zero soundtrack before it was re-recorded in ‘91 with metal band Anthrax. The remake went on to become one of the first praised rap/metal mash-ups and was featured in a handful of popular video games down the line.
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Q-Tip and Korn--End Of Time
Up until Amplified, listeners hadn’t really heard this side of Q before. “End of Time,” was gritty, edgy and dark, and even more unexpectedly featured Korn front man Jonathan Davis. While it may have been an interesting pill to swallow back in 1999, there’s no denying its incredible sound.
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Run DMC--Kings Of Rock
Sure, we’re all familiar with that Aerosmith collab, but it was really Run DMC’s King of Rock that saw this trio breaking hip-hop barriers. While it’s no secret that rock’s roots lie with black artists, Run DMC took a risk with the album’s title track and challenged rock while paving the musical evolution into today.
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Shop Boyz--Party Like A Rock Star
Now before you suck your teeth and say “seriously, though?” let’s take a moment to look back on this one, shall we? Not only did 2007’s unofficial rock star anthem reach top five on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop charts, but it even earned itself a Grammy nom at the 50th Grammy Awards. And who can really sleep on verse two’s epic Marilyn Manson reference? (“Me and my band, man / on the yacht with Marilyn Manson getting a tan, man / Uuwaa!”) Yeah, the music video did stretch some stereotypes (we’re totally aware there’s much more to rock than mohawks, chains and boisterous behavior), but is “Party Like a Rock Star” deserving of its mention in our top 15? Totally, dude.
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Wu-Tang--My Heart Gently Weeps
In 2007, the Wu-Tang Clan dropped “The Heart Gently Weeps” as the first single from 8 Diagrams. The song contained an interpolation of The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” inspired by blues guitarist Jimmy Ponder’s George Harrison cover and featuring Dhani Harrison (son of The Beatles’ George Harrison) on acoustic guitar. The song also had the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante on lead guitar, easily earning itself legitimate rock standing.
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Yelawolf and Kid Rock--Lets Roll
The best part about Kid Rock contributing his vocals to Yelawolf’s “Let’s Roll” is the fact that Kid Rock used to be a rapper himself. No, we’re not referring to “Bawitdaba” or even ”Is That You” with Insane Clown Posse; we’re talking about a rapper as in his 1990 album Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast where Robert James Ritchie spit rhymes about being the “Pimp of the Nation” and a “Super Rhyme Maker”. Of course, Mr. Rock would later go on to venture into the rap/rock realm and even lend his chops to some country-inspired numbers, but “Let’s Roll” is just a pleasant reminder that, although he isn’t rapping, he, too, was once where Yelawolf is.
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