If I had one wish...

Dream Teams
written by JusHH

There aren’t too many things more exciting than a good collabo. Reading the song title and seeing who’s featured on a song can develop anticipation like no other. Sometimes these collabo’s don’t live up to expectations and sometimes they just surprise the hell outta you. So with Just K giving PTM’s first props to the collabo, I’m going to dedicate the next 3 weeks to it.

This week, we’re going to talk about my favorite collabo’s that never happened. Those times when you asked the rap god’s, “please, please let these two guys rap on a song together.” (for the longest, my wish was Nas and Jay… thank you rap gods). So I’m going to drift away to JusHH land where all collabo’s are possible and give you a few of my favorites…

“Riot Act” – Xzibit ft. DMX and Ice Cube (prod. by Dr. Dre) (1999)
Before the pimped out rides, the countless arrests and the “Are We There Yet?” movie series, these three emcees were some of the most aggressive rappers on the planet. With Xzibit and DMX trading verses with their deep rugged voices and Ice Cube attacking the hook, they all take the hard knock Dre bass lines to another planet. Mother****king right!

“Lunch Meat” – DJ Drama feat. Big L, Cassidy, Jadakiss, Lil’ Wayne & Joe Budden (prod. by the Neptunes)
Its very, very simple. Drama asked Pharell to give him a “Grindin’” style beat. Pharell asked who would be on the song. Once Pharell was told, he had a beat back to him in 48 hours. Drama put the group together in a room and these 5 emcees proceeded to give us the most incredible punchlines ever. Medical reports state that this song resulted in disfigured faces, crossed eyes and shortened breath from constant “oooh weee’s”.

“Armed Robbery” – Onyx ft. M.O.P. (1995)
This song was only heard once because too many fights began breaking out all over the country. It is currently being held at a secret location in a vault. Rumors had it that it would have been released once more if Obama didn’t win the election in November.

“The Meanest” – DJ Premier feat. Eminem & Canibus (prod. by DJ Premiere) (2000)
Premo was putting together his highly anticipated album and he wanted to make history. He had this one particular beat that he made two years prior that he didn’t release because he felt he needed the perfect song. When two of the hungriest rappers alive came onto the scene, Premo made the phone call and asked if they would hop on the song. After hearing the beat, they were all in. They didn’t disappoint, the song was so ridiculous that it forced every other rapper to step their game up. The argument to this day is who had the better verse but this is just going to be one of those debates that will last forever.

“My Lady” – Fabolous ft. Ludacris, LL Cool J and Faith Evans (prod. by Jermaine Dupri) (2003)
Who was rapping to the ladies better than Fab and Luda at this time? The two got together to make the ladies dance one more. With Faith on board it was a perfect union. The surprise was when LL found out about the song, he wanted to be apart of it too. With Faith providing the vocals these three each told a story about the woman they love.

“Men At Work” – Mary J. Blige ft. Lauryn Hill & MC Lyte (1997)
This song was actually Mary’s idea. After being on so many songs with male rappers, she wanted to put two of her favorite female emcees on a song and go to work. Lauryn was down from the start because Lyte was one of her idols and Lyte couldn’t wait for another opportunity to show her skills. When the collabo was announced people thought that it would be a slower, ode to the strength of the black female type song. But we were all wrong. Over the Kool G. Rap sample, Mary told Lyte and Lauryn to spit as if they were battling the guys. Add in that classic Mary J. Blige hook and what you had was one of the greatest Hip-Hop songs of all time.

“Notorious P.U.N.” – Big Pun & Notorious B.I.G.
Being two of the greatest emcees of all time (and the largest for that matter), Fat Joe decided that this collabo needed to happen. So he hit up Puffy and made it work. It was announced on Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 radio show as the Heavyweight match of the century. Every one stood still as the song was finally released. We weren’t ready for B.I.G. flipping a punchline in Spanish or Pun claiming his pockets were fatter than “ two ‘BIG’s’, 3 Fat Boys and one Joe”. Flex played the song 5 straight times and dropped a record 85 bombs on it.

“Extraordinary” – Kanye West ft. Andre 3000, Lupe Fiasco, Chester of Linkin Park & Jimi Hendrix (prod. by Kanye West) (2007)
In an interview, Kanye said that he was working on and I quote, “the greatest song in the history of humanity and aliens.” Somehow, he manage to get a hold of Hendrix’s catalogue and put together an incredible rock/ rap hybrid beat. With Chester’s voice driving home the chorus, these three emcees got an opportunity to explain to the world why they are truly extraordinary. Reaching #1 on the billboard charts, “Extraordinary” was heard everywhere. As usual, this song inspired a few copy cats but nothing even came close.


How great would it have been if these songs could have been made? What are some of your dream teams?

Next week, a tribute to the greatest collabo artist ever.