XXL celebrates 50 years of hip-hop with this function.

A few of the greatest issues in life are available pairs. Whether or not it’s hit information, one-off collaborations, or rapper-producer combos, nothing beats having the yin to a yang—musically talking. Duos in hip-hop actually have made their mark. With 5 a long time of rap formally arriving this summer time, there are many hip-hop duos which have emerged via the years

In actual fact, based on Nielsen SoundScan’s 2017 year-end music business report, the extra artists, the higher, particularly because it pertains to what’s topping the charts. Past the metrics, when sure artists are paired collectively, they will do no fallacious within the recording studio. Lyrically, they have an inclination to carry out the perfect in one another. At instances, it’s nearly just like the obstacles to competitors have been fully eroded via teamwork. And as an alternative of vying for who’s the perfect, rappers complement one another with a shared objective in thoughts: making nice music.

One of many earliest duos to take rap to new heights via collaboration is Eric. B & Rakim. Collectively, the esteemed DJ-MC combo delivered Paid in Full, which is extensively thought to be some of the vital rap albums ever created. Equally, OutKast, made up of André 3000 and Large Boi, helped popularize Southern rap with their distinctive vocal stylings and unorthodox takes on on a regular basis life.

As hip-hop has continued to evolve all through the years, notable tandems like Mobb Deep, Black Star and others have proved that there’s power in numbers—most frequently when that quantity is 2. In doing so, they allowed their particular person success to take a backseat to compatibility for the sake of making timeless tracks collectively.

With hip-hop turning 50 this 12 months, XXL takes a glance again at a number of the biggest duos to select up a mic.

See Best Hip-Hop Duos of All Time

With further reporting from Jordan Lebeau.