but the third point misses some of the subtlety. The collaborations in rap work in several different ways, often together in the same product, sorry, I meant song.

The most basic is as you say – get a famous artist to endorse an emerging artist. This is good for both parties, the newb cos he gets exposure and the star gets an injection of new blood into his material; and he usually has the new boy signed to his record label.

Another approach is for a seemingly unknown artist to appear on the record of a star, but often this is a hardcore rapper, someone with real credibility. This bolsters the star’s credibility and launches the career of the cult star in the mainstream. Remember, although many rap stars claim to come from ‘the streets’ you can only swan about in ermine cloaks for so long before you start to lose you core fans.

Finally there is the obvious crossover – a rap star works with somebody of similar standing in another music genre, which opens up whole new markets for all parties. This has to be handled well as the material is the key.

The Snoop Dogg song Signs has several of these elements.

Don’t deny it sucka!

Great post my man! Great lessons to be learned by all.

And I do listen to rap and we all know you do too!

Ripple — or should I say….RIPPLIN ON MY BRUTHA FROM ANOTHER MUTHA!

Peace Ooooouuuuuttt!

Harp-Daddy