Top 5 iconic artist/music collabs

Jewel Ogungbamigbe

Music Journalist

Who doesn’t love a good old fashion collab? Some of the best songs in history have been created because of a collaboration between two or more talented artists combining their shared expertise to produce something astounding and great. This is why I’ll be sharing some of my favorite artist collabs that you may or may not know of.

Pursuit Of Happiness (Nightmare)- Kid Cudi, MGMT, Ratatat

Pursuit Of Happiness is a popular and timeless masterpiece from Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon album, released in 2009. The early 2000s experienced a lot of breakthroughs for the music scene, especially with genre crossovers and this song in particular was one of them. The song is credited as one of the prime examples of the famous rap and indie music collabs of this era. Even though almost 15 years have gone by since the first release, this song remains a beloved classic for many generations as well as influencing many other music collabs.

All Flowers in Time Bend Towards the Sun- Jeff Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser

Would this really be an article I wrote, if I didn’t manage to talk about Elizabeth Fraser? If you’re an indie, shoegaze lover who’s a fan of Cocteau Twins/Elizabeth Fraser and Jeff Buckley, like I am, then you’re going to be shaking in your Docs once you find out that they made a song together. If that isn’t shocking enough they also used to date; talk about a power couple. This fact makes listening to the song a tad bit personal and vulnerable. Fraser appeared in an interview after Buckley’s death talking about her relationship with him and how the song was never supposed to be released as it was unfinished. The song is only available to listen to on YouTube and I suggest checking out the track. Truly this is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. Both Buckley and Frasier’s vocals harmonize in a sacredly intimate way, and honestly feels like you’re eavesdropping on something, but 100 percent worth the listen.

Be Somebody- Clams Casino, A$AP Rocky, Lil B

This is a song that I’ve had on repeat these past few weeks and I have to say that I’ve come to truly appreciate the collaborations between A$AP Rocky and Clams Casino. As well as being featured on each other’s songs. Clams Casino has also produced a handful of Rocky’s own songs, some of my favorites being “LVL” and “Wassup”, both off of Rocky’s Long Live A$AP album. “Be Somebody” also features hip hop and cloud rapper artist Lil B, whom Casino also has a relationship with producing Lil B’s song “I’m God” of his 6 Kiss album released in 2009. Lil B is featured on many of his own songs as well. Clams Casino is one of my favorite producers as a lot of the songs he creates and produces invoke a feeling of nostalgia within its listeners especially his most popular song “I’m God” which sampled and featured Imogen Heap. Casino has also let A$AP and Lil B sample and remix “I’m God” as part of his productions. Anytime I listen to “Be Somebody” as well as the other songs I mentioned, I’m instantly transported to the 2013-2016 era, when Tumblr was still thriving and people still posted pics using filters on Instagram.

Get It Up- Santigold, M.I.A and Gorilla Zoe

I’m a big fan of both M.I.A and Santigold. Both were women of color who were popular in the early 2000s pop/hip-hop scene, which was why I was ecstatic to find this song recently while browsing through YouTube. I don’t think this song was ever officially released back in 2008, as the track is not available on any streaming platforms unfortunately. The song is catchy and is a cultural mixture of indigenous beats and native chants with choruses and verses from both M.I.A and Santigold. I wish these two would have done more collabs in the early 2000s during their prime as they would have been an influential and unstoppable force but for now, I’ll just enjoy this small and reminiscent relic.

Numb/Encore- Jay Z, Linkin Park

A lot of people consider this the song that truly marked or opened the gateway to the crossover collabs of different genres for the early 2000s. “Numb/Encore” was released in 2004 for MTV’s mashup series and quickly became popular as fans of alternative rock and hip hop alike seemed to enjoy the legendary collab. Not only is the song labeled as one of the greatest collabs and crossovers of this generation, but it made people realize that rock and hip hop go along well together and paved the way for other collabs for these two respective genres.