The Hip-Hop World's Bizarre Co-Sign Of Justin Bieber
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Hip-hop fanatic Justin Bieber
Rivaling his teenie fans' feelings for him, Justin Bieber has a big case of hip-hop fever. Despite being known for unabashedly poppy tunes, the Biebs takes every opportunity to break into rap verse and hob-nob with hip-hop stars. Perhaps most bizarrely, they unequivocally love him back.
Maybe it has something to do with Bieber's affiliation with Usher, but top rap talents are scrambling to work with him. Kanye West and Drake are scheduled to appear on his next album, which should come out early next year. Bieber's Christmas album, Under The Mistletoe, meanwhile, even has a frickin' collaboration with Busta Rhymes, of all people. But it doesn't stop there. Here are the floppy-fringed pop cherub's most notable rap moments.
DJ Tim Westwood is something like the UK's equivalent of Funkmaster Flex, an influential radio hip-hop tastemaker. So, of course, when Bieber hit London on a promotional tour he stopped by Westwood's show to drop a freestyle. "Cathing Bieber fever/ Forget the swine flu!" rapped Bieber. Other hot lines Biebs coined that day: "ATL, baby, is where I reside/ I'm a young white rapper and I don't get high!" and "I'm J Bieber -- I'm always in the fast lane!" 4. "Baby" (Justin Bieber Death Remix)
El-P
Proving the Biebs gets respect on the underground rap circuit, here one-time Company Flow member and Definitive Jux founder El-P tests his production skills on JB's mega pop hit "Baby." El samples Wings' "Live And Let Die" for his version of the song, and it comes together quite well. The word "bitch!" is also sprinkled liberally throughout the remix, as if some sort of ironic sonic punctuation. 3. "Runaway Love Remix"
Kanye West feat. Raekwon and Justin Bieber
Chubby Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon's appearance on this remix to Kanye's "Runaway Love" takes the track in an appropriately grimy direction; the original beat is also replaced with one based on "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nothing To Fuck With." Then, suddenly, Bieber pops up on the track, singing in a sickly sweet style. Somehow, RZA approved of the whole shebang.
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