ITM presents... When dance and rap collide

Man was always going to go to the moon. How could we not? It’s up there, hanging over us, just teasing us to come over and check it out. So of course it had to be done. Likewise, it’s only natural that the worlds of dance music and rap would collide at some stage, the producers of both genres getting the urge to make the giant leap over to the other side to explore such uncharted terrains.

What is surprising though is how quickly and with how much enthusiasm the fusion of dance and hip-hop has been embraced by artists in both camps. While rap and dance have crossed paths many times before thanks to artists like Afrika Bambaata and Grandmaster Flash, the current craze really kicked off with Busta Rhymes and Kanye West jacking beats from Daft Punk. Now we’re seeing Jay-Z take inspiration from the electro big-wigs like Justice and Empire of the Sun.

On the other side of the coin, one need look no further than Future Music Festival headliner David Guetta, who’s swimming in a sea of crossover success thanks to his collaborative-heavy house/hip-hop record One Love, featuring guest spots from pop heavyweights Akon, Black Eyed Peas, Ne-Yo and Estelle.

With more and more dance producers bearing their hip-hop influences for all to see and rappers using dance music to add edge to their sound it would seem as though there’s no end in sight to this current craze. With that in mind, we’ve been shuttling through our libraries here at ITM, compiling a big list of the good, bad and just plain ugly moments of when dance and rap collide. Check them all out in the gallery below and stay tuned to ITM to find out when Armin finally bites the bullet and gets Ice Cube on a track.

> ITM pres. When Dance and Rap Collide