Words By David D.

The Roots & D'Angelo

Pic courtesy of OKP

The “Digital Age” can be blamed for a lot of things.

Bad record sales. No more blockbuster releases. Bad singles. The fall of Western Civilization. Etc.

But, the saddest casualty of these last point and click few years has been the apparent death of the collaboration.

Now, I know that there are tons of songs featuring multiple artists, but they aren’t true collabos. Instead, these songs are simply verses cut and pasted together with disjointed and unrelated verses. Think about the mass-production of collaborations coming out of the Miami contingent of Khaled, Baby, Wayne, Jeezy, Rick Ross, Plies, etc. These guys just pass the beat around like it’s an over-zealous jump-off for the rappers to put their mark on.

Artists now simply get emailed a beat, write the hook or a verse and then we’ve got ourselves a “collaboration.” Hell, even Outkast hasn’t recorded an album in the same studio since Aquemini. Granted, this phenomenon has led to (for better or worse) the ascension of Lil Wayne and T-Pain over the last year or so. However, can you really say that of all the songs Weezy has been featured on, he’s collaborated with the artists whose songs he’s appeared on? For instance, though Ludacris and Big Boi were on the “I’m So Hood” remix with Lil’ Wayne, can one say that they worked on the song together? I think it’s safe to assume that there was no interaction or even mention of the other artists.

In fact when I sent this post in to Gottyâ„¢, he directed me to an earlier posted convo he had with Phonte in which Tigalo said “Yeah, that’s technology for you I guess. On one end it made it easier for ‘collabs’ to take place, but in some instances it kinda took the heart out.”

Ironically, Little Brother took part in one of the most heartless Lil’ Wayne-featured songs in which Weezy literally mailed his verse in. (“Play fair like roller coasters and clowns”…?).

When I think of artists really making a song together, I picture them in the studio trading ideas off of each other, actually, y’know…ciphering.

I’d give anything to be a fly on the wall watching Jay and Biggie trading bars and ideas, nodding along to each other’s lyrics while they cook up “Brooklyn’s Finest.” When I hear two rappers really go in on a track together, I can tell. The chemistry is there. The magic of two rappers really feeding off of each other is what really gives that authentic feel to collaborations. Over the last few years, that feeling has all but disappeared.

Enter EMC: Masta Ace, Punchline, Wordsworth, and Stricklin.

Their first group album “The Show” is not only a return to the concept album (they are going through a day of getting ready for a performance); it also marks the return of the collaboration. These brothas create a chemistry we haven’t seen from a group of rappers in a long time. The dynamic between Punch and Words has always been there with these two finishing each other’s sentences as if they have a singular brain. Ace and Stricklin join in creating almost chaotic songs resembling a cipher.

Case in point is their non-stop title track from the album. The four guys are at the eleventh hour trying to get to their show with each member stressing over their own pre-show anxiety. The structure of the song mimics this chaos as the crew’s lines overlap and run over each other with nearly no set amount of bars before this happens. What results is a song that can’t be created via email just for the simple fact it would be too damn hard to make a song like that. Furthermore, the track is just plain fun to listen to as EMC creates an atmosphere that appears as though we are looking in on a freestyle between close friends.

Hopefully other rappers will see the magic these four MCs create on their album and use it as a catalyst for the return of the collabo.

Stray Shots

YZ – The Ghetto’s Been Good To Me EP – 1993

Trackstar The DJ Presents Boogie Bang 11 (Hosted by DJ Drama, Willie the Kid and La the Darkman)

The Doors – The Very Best Of (40th Anniversary Edition)

Stevie Wonder – Best Ballads

Annie Lennox – MTV Unplugged

Richie Rich – Seasoned Veteran (1996)

Prince – Dreams (Unreleased Songs: 1982-1997)

DJ Skee Big Mike And Omar Cruz 2007 B.C. (Before Cruz)

Stray Shots

Mendoza 83

Are You Crew?