What are your rap DREAM COLLABORATIONS?

I'll admit, Shady XV has got me feeling all types of dreamy and wondering what to expect from it, and admittedly some of these thoughts have expanded into bigger ones. Things like when are they releasing a track list, who's going to be featured on the album, and why are they making me wait are just a few questions I had at first about the anniversary compilation. But then I got to thinking about bigger things, outside of Shady, outside of compilations, anniversaries, or any sort of other reasonable rap theories. So the same questions I asked myself, I ask you, rap readers; what are your DREAM rap collaborations?

So obviously there have to be a few terms and conditions to what these dream collaborative tracks will consist of, and I've come up with 3 possible song types defining what type of track I personally would like to hear (although you can come up with your own, these just happen to be 3 song types I could think of at the moment): story telling tracks, lyrical onslaughts, and party songs. Now normally you would think there would be a bit more of a broad selection of types of tracks, but if you REALLY got to hear what you wanted to hear, would it really matter?  My point exactly. Now if you're still confused on the details or the ramifications of these mythical dream tracks, allow me to give a few examples of what I would like to hear on my very own "If I died and could make songs in my own personal version of afterlife" playlist.

Eminem + Nas / Storytelling Track

This song would be absolutely insane. I honestly have to ask... WHY HASNT THIS SONG BEEN MADE YET?!?!  Both of these emcees are practically the lyrical masters of what they do, and the weirdest thing to me is that Eminem & Jay-Z have been on a song together (once, as far as we know, "Renegades"), Eminem & The Notorious B.I.G have been on a song ("Dead Wrong"), and Nas has been on a song with Jay-Z ("Black Republican", "Success", also including multiple other tracks with other rappers), and hasn't been on a song with B.I.G, but apparently was in discussions with Biggie about a Tupac diss track back in the day that never happened. So it probably doesn't add up "statistically" to fans or any sort of logical way like that, but the history of each emcee is highly storied, which only makes sense for them to tell a story on this song!  But of course how can you make a Nas/Eminem collaboration without adding in their trademark lyricism and legendary flows into the picture?  You certainly can't. And that is why this collaboration needs to happen.. like... NOW!

Slaughterhouse + D12 / Lyrical Onslaught

This "dream collaboration" might have been a result of thinking about Shady XV and the possibilities of what will happen on the compilation album, but does that make it any less exciting to think of the possibilities of it?  I'd like to think not. Your attention span would have to be an extra 10 times bigger listening to this song (that's IF all of the remaining D12 members agree to get back together), but it certainly would be one for the ages. This song would be (including Eminem) a 9 person vocabulary-flexing track that you would have trouble ignoring even if you weren't a fan of Eminem, Slaughterhouse, or D12 (although you'd probably avoid it if you didn't like any one of the rappers included, in that case, I say good riddance, who needs you anyways!). The best thing about this "dream collab" is that our dreams could possibly become a reality when it's time for that Shady XV compilation album to drop. An "alleged" track list of the album leaked not too long ago, and the list included a track of not only Slaughterhouse and D12, but also Shady label mates Eminem and Yelawolf as well!  I wouldn't get too excited until an official track list is given, but the idea of this collab is certainly a possibility.

Kendrick Lamar & J. Cole / Story Telling + Lyrical Capabilities

Maybe I had to include these guys just because I'm still obsessed with the idea of this album happening (and it will, I have faith), but honestly, is there a better pairing in hip hop today than these 2?  When you have the possibility to make a perfect track, starting from lyrical capabilities (two of the best) leading to story telling abilities (again, two of the best), while also thinking about social power and speaking on issues (AGAIN, two of the BEST), and also thinking about just making good music in general (do I have to say it again?), who REALLY is better than these 2 right now?  Putting them on one song together would blow up the internet, let alone an entire album (which we've discussed before, do I really have to come back to this discussion?  Doesn't matter, I'm willing to anyways). We've seen tiny little previews of what these two can do together (production on songs from one and hooks on songs from the other), but the fans will always crave more, and I can almost say that's a fact, because I'm a contributor to the discussion!

So these are just a few of the examples of collaboration ideas that are constantly on my mind that would blow the music world up (and step up its game particularly if you ask me, another reason why I need to be an "idea man" for those guys over at Interscope, but that's a discussion for another day). Some other dream collaboration ideas I've recently come up with are Drake & Big K.R.I.T (Houston influence would play a big key with a slow, bumping track, you'd definitely need subs for that one), and even something like an ASAP Mob and TDE collaboration might not be too bad (the discussions of a TDE and Slaughterhouse battle came up in an interview with Ab-Soul recently). The ideas are certainly endless, and this is where the real fun comes into play!  I want to hear about your wildest and biggest dream collaboration tracks. Be sure to give me the type of song you believe it would be (again, no limit to the types I've listed, you can mention your own type of track), and the reason you believe your collab would be so awesome. Make sure to hit me up on twitter (@SuperNovaRover), Google+, or even just leave a comment on this post detailing your dream collab. I can't wait to see the ideas for this one!  





      













             

Big K.R.I.T's See Me On Top 4 Review

Big K.R.I.T's new album campaign is officially kicking off, and what better way to excite your fans than to put out a mix tape before hand to build the anticipation?  THERE IS NONE. If that was your answer then good for you. Want a cookie?  Well too bad, I'd like one too, but we all got quite the treat when this wonderful mix of Krizzle dropped in the early afternoon yesterday. Yes ladies and gents K.R.I.T is back at it again, and thankfully enough it seems not a thing has changed for the incredibly underrated Mississippi-bred rapper.

I mean really though, I'd like to take a second and say if you're sleeping on K.R.I.T, then shame on you. BAD!  You should know better than that!  Anyways, back to this body of work. K.R.I.T has always been one to show his roots through his music, and See Me On Top 4 is no different. His southern brand of trunk banging, drum thumping music is always very pleasing to the ear for whoever takes the time to listen, and the bangers have "no chill" (as the kids say nowadays) on this project. Songs like "Ridin Dirty", "Ridin Low", and "Shook Up" bring that brand of heavy, strictlyforyocaddys type of bangers that K.R.I.T knows so, so well and really makes better than anyone else in the game right now.

But if you know K.R.I.T, you know that he certainly isn't one dimensional. He shows his range on songs for the ladies like "Mind F*ck", a cleverly-titled slow jam where K.R.I.T simply wants one thing that he establishes on the hook; "let me f@#! your brains out." He also addresses other topics, like the "broke" life and the struggle on the almost inspiring jam "Never Going Back". The talks of hustling and the struggling life in the streets take over this song and he establishes very clearly that he's "NEVER GOING BACK" on the hook of this one. I must say when I heard this I thought to myself "LETS DO IT KRIT!" The struggle is different for everybody, and I might not have grown up in the streets, but we all have our struggles no matter what our background, so don't judge me!

K.R.I.T's hustle never slows down as you know, and he shows that his producing ways haven't slowed down either having produced 13 of the 22 tracks on the tape. He even shows a little bit of "stepping outside of the comfort zone" on a freestyle on Lil Wayne's "Believe Me" instrumental. The rest of the production on the tape was handled by Jim Jonsin, Slade Da Monsta, WLPWR, Scott Storch, and more.

So this definitely turned out to be a pretty nice surprise for fans altogether. It's pretty safe to say that K.R.I.T practically never disappoints. I mean really, NEVER disappoints. The only thing I can honestly say I had to complain about on this tape was the tags and the talking over every record, but that comes with practically every mix tape. It was really sweet, and almost a blast from the past to seemingly hear this entire tape flow from song to song, almost as if the entire tape was 1 song in itself (Nate Dogg anyone?). The features on this project weren't too shabby, but we didn't see many of them. It's hard to say whether or not you expect that from K.R.I.T, although I'd like to say I enjoy solo K.R.I.T a bit more anyways. K.R.I.T handled a huge portion of the production on this one as usual, but switched up the pace a little bit by adding some help this time around. Is this a sign that his album will include more outside production?  I guess we'll find out when Cadillactica drops in November. Check out a stand out cut from the tape, "Drinkers Club" featuring Juicy J, Rittz and ASAP Ferg below.

               
                                 (*I do not own this song, or the rights to it or any of these artists)