Dance music meets hip hop

Dance music meets hip hop

27 August, 2010 | 12.56AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: club rap, hip-hop, hip-house, ragga

Tribal allegiances aside, hip-hop and electronic dance music are deeply, inextricably connected—entwined like the double helix of a strand of DNA.

They emerged in parallel: back in the ‘70s, disco DJs like Walter Gibbons were digging into the breaks of funk and disco records as the same time as hip-hop originators like DJ Kool Herc.

Kraftwerk, who laid the foundations of what would become Detroit techno, also sowed their seeds in hip-hop’s soil, thanks to Afrika Bambaataa, who sampled the German techno-pop act for 1982’s ‘Planet Rock’. Electro, freestyle, Miami bass, ghetto tech—all of them are products of a dynamically tangled lineage.

Breakbeat hardcore, drum & bass, and grime never would have existed without the influence of hip-hop. Even Autechre were B-boys before they were programmer boffins, a history that comes through again and again in IDM.

Surely we don’t need to remind you of hip-house—it may have flamed out quickly, but it did give the world ‘I’ll House You’. That’s a more enduring legacy than most flash-in-the-pan genres can claim.

And in the past few years, hip-hop has been learning from dance music again, from crunk’s trance-inspired synthesizer stabs to the Kid Cudi/Crookers connection. Increasingly, big-name, big-budget hip-hop acts are turning to producers like David Guetta, Boys Noize, Switch, and Rusko to provide them with fat beats and club cred.

Inspired by this perennial tug-of-war, we’ve selected 60 of our favorite tracks that illustrate the exchange of ideas between hip-hop, house, electro, jungle, dubstep, and more. No matter what style of music you play, we’re betting you’ll find something here for your sets: we’ve gathered tracks from the past 25 years or more, and from a huge array of labels—from Delicious Vinyl to Desolat, from DJ International to International Deejay Gigolos, Ninja Tune to Crosstown Rebels.

Listen to all 60 tracks in the players below, and explore more by clicking on the section headlines to view the charts on Beatport.com.

Hip Hop and Dance Music 1

Chad Jackson, ‘Hear The Drummer (Get Wicked)’ [Simply Recordings]
Samples Chuck D’s infamous vocal.

Rebel MC, ‘The Wickedest Sound feat. Tenor Fly (Swemix Records)’ [Simply Recordings]
Classic ragga / hip hop combination.

Jimpster, ‘Left & Right (Ron Basejam Remix)’ [Freerange]
Deep house grooves with sublime hip hop vox.

Green Velvet, ‘Shake & Pop’ [Relief Records]
Long before the Ying Yang Twins, Green Velvet was perfecting his own style of spoken-word mayhem.

Tiga, ‘Hot In Herre’ [K7 Records]
The infamous Nelly cover.

I:Cube, ‘Can You Deal With That feat. RZA’ [Versatile]
Years later, still one of the more bizarre collabos ever.

Tyree Cooper, ‘Turn Up The Bass (Julian Jumpin Perez Jumpin Mix)’ [Supa Dupa]
One of the biggest hip house records ever.

Royal House, ‘Yeah Buddy’ [Idlers]
Hip hop turntablism over house beats.

DJ Fast Eddie, ‘Hip House’ [DJ International]
A classic, early mixture of house and hip hop.

Jungle Brothers, ‘I’ll House You’ [Idlers]
This one really doesn’t need an explanation, does it?

Hip Hop and Dance Music 2

Kresy, ‘Many Man’ [Hivern Disc]
An unlikely cameo turns up on this underground house track from Barcelona’s Hivern Disc.

Drums Of Death, ‘Got Yr Thing’ [Greco-Roman]
Quirky, tweaky hippity-hoppity from the Hot Chip extended fam.

DJ Hell vs. P.Diddy, ‘The DJ feat. P.Diddy (SIS Remix)’ [International Deejay Gigolos]
Aery unusual combination here, but huge results, and an impeccable remix from SIS.

Jamie Jones, ‘Galactic Space Bar feat. Egyptian Lover’ [Crosstown Rebels]
Mr. ‘Summertime’ turns to an electro legend for this outer-space journey.

Diplo, ‘Newflash’ [Big Dada]
Before he was all funk carioca, Diplo kept it street with this dirty jam for Ninja Tune’s hip-hop sublabel.

Loco Dice, ‘Pimp Jackson Is Talking Now (Luciano Remix)’ [Desolat]
Loco getting loco with the underground hip-hop vibes.

Riz MC, ‘Radar (Loco Dice In The Box Remix)’ [Crosstown Rebels]
Once again, Crosstown with an unlikely collision of styles and characters.

Audio Bullys, ‘Flickery Vision’ [Vizo]
Rude-bwoy vocals over heads-down, subtly electro mischief.

Nick Nolder, ‘No More Dating DJs (John Ciafone Vocal Mix)’ [NRK]
A soft-spoken hip-hop vocalist over the deep house stalwart’s broken beats. (Don’t let your girlfriend hear this one.)

Makossa & Megablast, ‘Like A Rocket’ [G-Stone Recordings]
From Kruder & Dorfmeister’s label, a spaced-out, breakbeat groove blurring the line between upbeat and downtempo.

Hip Hop and Dance Music 3

WTF? and Dead Prez, ‘It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop UK (Sidney Samson Remix)’ [Breakbeat Kaos]
A classic from NY’s Dead Prez gets a massive dubstep rerub.

Janelle Monae, ‘Tightrope (Robbie Rivera Remix)’ [Bad Boy]
Robbie Rivera drops a commercial house remix for Diddy’s Bad Boy label.

Dizzee Rascal, ‘Holiday (Laidback Luke Remix)’ [Dirtee Stank]
Grime legend Dizzee Rascal gets a going-over from the king of electro house. Who’dathunkit?

Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins, ‘It’s Like That’ [Kontor Records]
A massive, massive remix that made Jason Nevins a household name in club land.

Snap!, ‘The Power (7” version)’ [Luma Music]
The crossover anthem of crossover anthems. Ah, 1990.

Sharam w/ Diddy, ‘PATT w/ Diddy’ [Ultra]
Hitmaking, Diddy style: find a hit record, talk over it, re-release.

A-Trak & Laidback Luke, ‘Shake It Down’ [Mixmash]
Former DMC turntablism champ, Kanye’s tour DJ, and all-around party-smasher par excellence joins forces with Laidback Luke for this unexpected smasher.

Kid Cudi, ‘Day ‘N’ Nite (Crookers Remix)’ [Fool’s Gold]
The crossover anthem that birthed “club rap” and blew Crookers sky high to fame town.

Diddy, ‘Come To Me feat. Nicole Scherzinger (ATFC Remix)’ [Bad Boy]
What will those suits think up next? Diddy, a Pussycat Doll, and ATFC. Vegas, baby!

Young MC, ‘Bust A Move (Don Rimini Ravekid Extended Mix)’ [Delicious Vinyl]
New-school electro don busts a move over 1988’s ginormous chart-rap hit.

Hip Hop and Dance Music 4

Pete Tong & Dave Spoon, ‘Muchness’ [Size Records]
Brassy, buzzy electro house and a ballsy sample. (Spot it!)

Like Mike & Dimitri Vegas, ‘Pump Up The Jam’ [Refune Records]
A faithful remake of the classic hip-hop/dance crossover anthem. Now with extra sirens!

Uffie & Pharrell Williams, ‘Add SUV (Armand Van Helden Vocal Remix)’ [Ed Banger Records]
The Glock-poppin’ pipsqueak ropes in a Neptune, turns to AVH for club cred. Ke$ha, eat your heart out.

David Guetta, Chris Willis, LMFAO, Fergie (Black Eyed Peas), ‘Getting Over You (Avicii Vocal Remix)’ [F*** Me I’m Famous]
We’d hate to see the contracts involved with getting a record like this made.

Major Lazer ‘Pon De Floor feat. Vybz Kartel’ [Fontana North]
Diplo, Switch, and Jamaica’s fire-spitting Vybz Kartel turn dancehall inside out.

Aniki, ‘Hip Hop Thrilla’ [Sick Recordings]
Electro riffs and MC samples thrown in a blender set to “puree”. Or maybe that’s “impuree”

Sidney Samson, ‘Riverside’ [Sneakerz Muzik]
“Riverside, motherf*cka!” Tupac, too strong.

Felix Da Housecat, ‘Jack U (Angello & Ingrosso Remix)’ [Rude Photo]
Diddy on the mic, Chicago versus Sweden behind the mixing board.

MC Flipside & Deadmau5, ‘Hi Friend’ [Mau5trap]
Former Toronto D&B MC joins the electro house world with this smash hit.

Boys Noize, ‘Oh! (A-Trak Remix)’ [Boysnoize Records]
One of Boysnoize’s top-selling records. No wonder both Kelis and the Black Eyed Peas have tapped Boys Noize for beats.

Hip Hop and Dance Music 5

Loefah, ‘Disko Rekah’ [Deep Medi Musik]
Woo-ha! Welcome to Bustah-step.

Joker, ‘Digidesign’ [Hyperdub]
Often classified as modern R&B, Joker is massively supported by the likes of Craze and A-Trak.

Starkey, ‘Gutter Music’ [Planet Mu]
Philly’s Starkey credits hip-hop—specifically crunk—for the nasty edge of his gutter dubstep.

Kid Sister, ‘Pro Nails (Rusko Remix)’ [Fool’s Gold]
Rusko wobbles his way into Kid Sister’s heart.

Modeselektor, ‘20000007 feat. TTC’ [Bpitch Control]
German beats + French rap = Verdun-style devastation.

Matty G, ‘50,000 Watts’ [Argon Records]
The ghost of Schooly D schools sucker dubstep pretenders on the importance of sub-bass.

Rebel MC, ‘Humanity feat. Barrington Levy & Tenor Fly’ [Simply Recordings]
A drum & bass classic blending hip-hop chat with a singjay chorus.

TC, ‘Deep feat. Jakes’ [Dstyle]
A modern d&b classic that highlights MC Jakes’ influence on today’s sound.

Natural Born Chiller, ‘Rock The Funky Beats’ [Urban Takeover]
Drum & bass breaks down into hip hop—and back up to d&b.

Dope Skillz, ‘6 Million Ways (Remix Two)’ [Frontline]
Old-school d&b on the ragga hip-hop tip.

Hip Hop and Dance Music 6

Skream feat. Murs, ‘8 Bit Baby’ [Tempa]
Skream teams up with LA MC Murs for a bleepy hip-hop joint off his new album.

The Herbaliser, ‘Starlight feat. Roots Manuva’ [Ninja Tune]
Roots Manuva livens up the Herbaliser’s nodders’ delights.

Soul Clap, ‘Noneadatwhitestar Feat. G Titty’ [Crosstown Rebels]
Soul Clap turn hip-hop samples into a sexy, downbeat house jam.

Ladybug Mecca, ‘Doggstar feat. Raheem Devaughn (Kenny Dope Remix)’ [Om Hip Hop]
Remember this one? Digable Planets’ Ladybug Mecca sings, Kenny Dope brings an infectious R&B beat.

Icasol, ‘Givin’ It Up feat. Capitol A’ [Pulver]
Somewhere between hip-house and deep house. Philly in da house!

Stanton Warriors, ‘Shake It Up feat. Beatnuts’ [Punks]
Breaks and party raps courtesy the Beatnuts.

J Boogie, ‘Afros In Ya’ [OM Records]
Instrumental hip-hop vibes from Mark Farina’s famous Mushroom Jazz project.

Evil Nine, ‘Crooked Feat. Aesop Rock’ [Marine Parade]
Def Jux’ Aesop Rock lends his voice to Evil Nine’s evil breaks.

Krafty Kuts & A Skillz, ‘Tricka Technology’ [Finger Lickin’]
Breaks faves bring back the Native Tongues sound with A Skillz on the mic.

Freestylers, ‘B Boy Stance feat. Tenor Fly’ [Freskanova]
Tenor Fly’s ragga chat tops off Freestylers’ classic, ‘90s-style hip-hop productions.

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