On this, my 24th Thanksgiving, I have realized that I am thankful for many things in life. Of them all, however, the one that stands out is hip hop collaborations.
At least that’s what I told myself when I sat down at my tv tonight. Dinner was done, the family was in bed, I was beer & wined up. Perfect time to toss on Fuse’s Top 20 Hip Hop Collaborations. I kept a running diary of the event, with music videos and lovely commentary for all to enjoy.
- 11:59pm - First thing’s first. They just called them “collabos”. Hopefully this sticks throughout the entire show. Also, Forgot About Dre better make the top three or I will never watch Fuse again. Which would pose major problems to my livelihood.
- 12:01am - #20 - Young Money - Bedrock - Obviously a very solid start. This song was my introduction to the lovely Nick Minaj, quite possibly the greatest female rapper ever.
- 12:03am - There’s a gawky, lanky white guy in this video. Certainly didn’t expect that.
- 12:04am - Gudda Gudda has an excessive amount of tattoos on his torso. I just tried finding a picture on google images, but apparently he isn’t nearly popular enough to have topless pictures online.
- 12:06am - #19 - Nelly, P Diddy, & Murphy Lee - Shake Ya Tailfeather
- 12:08am - Diddy is sporting a Brazilian soccer jersey. I guess that’s gangsta.
- 12:10am - #18 - Juvenile feat. Lil Wayne & Mannie Fresh - Back That Azz Up. I think I just realized just how great this countdown is going to be. What a solid start… This video has some unbelievable booty shaking in it. Hopefully it wasn’t censored for tv.
- 12:11am - It’s not. Nice.
- 12:12am - Lil Wayne was 17 when this song was released. When I was 17, I was a secondary character in our school play. Tom = Lil Wayne?
- 12:13am - #17 - Keri Hilson feat. Timbaland - Return the Favor. Honestly I’ve never heard this song before. Timbaland always has tight beats, but I can’t imagine it’s a top 20 collabo of all time.
- 12:16am - It’s not. If they’re going to pick Timbaland and Keri Hilson, why not The Way I Are?
- 12:18am - #16 - Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell - Beautiful. Back on track. There are lots of thongs in this video.
- 12:19am - I’m 95% positive that Snoop has a Priest Holmes jersey on. That’s so baller.
- 12:21am - #15 - Ludacris feat. T-Pain - One More Drink. Never loved this song, but I’ve also never seen the video. Luda usually has solid videos, so it’s definitely worth a chance.
- 12:23am - Miniature T-Pain, grenades left and right, literal beer goggles. Thank you Ludacris. Thank you.
- 12:24am - #14 - Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - Low. This song always reminds me of Dr. Kristin Bennett, a hot young professor in Wake’s education department. I had her my second semester senior year when this song was huge. One class, she spent about fifteen minutes talking about how she heard this song on the radio. I wanted to jump her.
- 12:26am - I guess this song came out before Flo Rida was ridiculous jacked. He certainly has guns here, but they’re nothing like his / my pythons.
- 12:27am - I hope that Kristin finds this tumblr, figures out it’s me, and asks me on a date.
- 12:29am - #13 - T.I. feat. Rihanna - Live Your Life. Given how insanely popular this song was, I’m a little surprised it didn’t crack the top ten. Love the song. Love T.I. Love Rihanna. She’s definitely in my top ten.
- 12:31am - WHOA DOMINOES
- 12:35am - #12 - 50 Cent feat. Snoop Dogg & G-Unit - P.I.M.P. I was never the biggest fan of this song. But holy Moses there are some sexy ladies in lingerie in this video.
- 12:37am - There are probably 75 girls in this video who are at least an 8.5 out of 10.
- 12:42am - #11 - Terror Squad feat. Fat Joe & Remy - Lean Back. Great song. Too bad Remy fell off the map, she had some flow.
- 12:44am - I just looked up Remi on wikipedia. Apparently she fell off the map BECAUSE SHE SHOT SOMEBODY. I guess that’s justified.
- 12:46am - #10 - Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Eminem - Forever. A true collabo right here - exactly what this list is about. The video features LeBron being a dbag, but whatever.
- 12:52am - #9 Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans - I’ll Be Missing You. I’m going out on a limb and predicting that Diddy will be the only artist who appears on this list with two different names.
- 12:54am - I forgot how ridiculous this video is. A shot of Puff falling off a motorcycle while dressed in all black. Another shot of Puff rapping in all white while on the walkway at O’Hare from Terminal B to Terminal C. Really? O’Hare?
- 12:55am - “Missy Elliot leads a school full of hip hop stars, next on the top 20!” Excuse me while I puke.
- 12:56am - #8 Missy Elliott feat. Ludacris - Gossip Folks. I forgot this song existed, which is probably for the best. I LOATHE Missy Elliott. Easily my least favorite female rapper.
- 12:57am - Stop trying to dance, Missy. You look ridiculous in your oversized blue jump suit.
- 12:58am - EVE SIGHTING IN THE BACKGROUND
- 1:00am - #7 - Usher feat. Ludacris & Lil John - Yeah. This is a great song and an even better video. Luda’s verse is unbelievable. Urrsher has disgusting dance moves. And, of course, there are some lovely ladies.
- 1:01am - Plus there are tons of laser lights. You know you’re getting some when there are laser lights.
- 1:04am - #6 - Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger. Amazingly, I don’t even consider this one of Kanye’s twenty best songs, especially with the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Basically the perfect party song, though.
- 1:08am - #5 - Snoop Dogg feat. Dr. Dre - Nuthin’ But A G Thang. It would have been a crime if this didn’t make the list. One of the original great collabos.
- 1:12am - #4 - Notorious BIG feat. Puff Daddy & Mase - Mo Money, Mo Problems. This list suddenly got old school.
- 1:13am - Diddy is dancing like a doofus in this video. Diddy is also a golfer. Way before Tiger was popular. What foresight.
- 1:17am - #3 - Jay-Z feat. Kanye West & Rihanna - Run This Town. Getting down to the wire. I really like the song, but I’m not sure it deserved a top-three collabo spot.
- 1:20am - Kanye’s verse isn’t nearly as good when it’s censored.
- 1:22am - #2 - Dr. Dre feat. Eminem - Forgot About Dre. Excellent. Easily my favorite rap song of all time. Three sick verses. I could recite every lyric in my sleep. Real happy it got the respect from Fuse that it deserves.
- 1:24am - “All I know is that I’m upstairs listening to my Will Smith CD, and I’m seeing all these flames everywhere… Hold on a minute… DETROIT WHAT? DETROIT WHAT?” God, I love Eminem.
- 1:25am - And they just cut off the song before Dre’s last verse. I could throw my laptop through the tv right now.
- 1:26am - #1 - Aerosmith feat. Run DMC - Walk This Way. Blah. Very predictable. Good song and somewhat revolutionary, but there are certainly better songs.
- 1:27am - I really don’t want to see Steven Tyler’s ugly mug on the #1 hip hop collaboration of all time.
- 1:32am - Most glaring omissions. Jay-Z & Eminem - Renegade, T.I. feat. Kanye West, Jay-Z, & Lil-Wayne - Swagger Like Us, Kanye West feat. Jay-Z - Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Tupac Shakur feat. Dr. Dre - California Love
- 1:35am - Well that was fun. Over the next few days I’m also recording both Fuse’s Sexiest Hip Hop Videos and Fuse’s Sexiest Under 25 list. There may be updates on both.
