Coordinating On Your Collaborations - Why It's Important

You probably won't find a guy less interested or informed about fashion than myself... but even I understand that if Pepa puts on the red elastic bodysuit at a concert, then Salt's gotta put on the white and Spinderella the black. It just wouldn't work the same if two of them walked out on stage in red elastic body suits. And it's even more important for artists to get in sync with each other within the confines of same song.

Case in point: Remember Luke's "Cowards In Compton" record with The Poison Clan dissing Dre and Snoop? (If you don't, check out the video I did about it in '09.) They were responding to Snoop's verse dissing Luke, and make particular reference to the following lines...

"If it ain't another ho that I gots ta fuck with,
Gap teeth in ya mouth so my dick's got to fit;
With my nuts on ya tonsils,
While you're on stage rappin' at your wack-ass concerts..."

Now, I'm not one to put hip-hop's awful legacy of homophobia on a pedestal; but JT Money sort of had a point about how suspect that quote was when he responded:

"Real niggas don't talk that gay shit,
Talkin' about lettin' another nigga suck ya dick.
Only punks talk like that.
I won't even bust ya; I'll slap you with my gat!
Frontin' like a gangsta, but you're a faggot."

I mean, let's face it. Machismo, rap boasting, prison talk... it can get jumbled into some oddly homoerotic talk sometimes, exemplified by Canibus's infamous line where he brags, "you don't have the skills to eat a nigga's ass like me!"

So, okay. Snoop sets 'em up, JT knocks 'em down. It all makes sense, typical diss rap exchange... But I guess Luke never bothered to actually sit down and listen to what JT was saying on his record before dropping in his own ad-lib parts of the record, because he comes on and says:

"Dre, you ain't nothin' but my bitch; I'ma make you my bitch! You look like you could suck a nigga' dick, hoe-ass motherfucker!"

Get on message here, guys! You don't talk that gay shit in Miami, or you do?

I don't see any distinction where Snoop's quote could be said to have any more of a blatantly gay underpinning than Luke's. They're both overtly saying they want to make the other guy fellate them. And I get that it's a power thing, asserting dominance; but that's still about as (homo)sexual as you can get. I guess JT had to walk up and slap Luke with his gat after he heard that, right? Mind you, I'm not supporting that kind of treatment of homosexuals, but those are the standards established on Loke's own record! You've already established only punks talk like that.

That's why it's important to work together with your guest rappers and pay attention to what's being said on your own record. Don't embarrass yourself. Coordinate, before you wind up the subject of your own disses.