What do you do when you’re signed to Strange Music and you need an incredible feature? Easy: hit up your label mates.

In celebration for the upcoming Tech N9ne Collabos – Strangeulation, we’re highlighting what we feel are some of the best Strange Music collaborations of all time. In this case we’re going to stick to collaborations that feature fellow Snake and Bat representatives.

What makes a great collaboration? Well obviously the song has to be dope, but beyond that it’s when the other artists on the track take each other to a place they couldn’t have gone on their own.

We feel that the following songs exhibit this quality quite well.

“Unfair” – Welcome To Strangeland
(Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, CES Cru)

Over Seven’s orchestral and cinematic score of a beat, Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko and CES Cru flex skills elite and leave competition in their wake. If you want to know what mastery sounds like, play this track. Tech adopting the character of a hip hop Smeagol leaves the listener wondering if there’s anything this guy can’t do.

“I Been Dope” – Black Gold
(Kutt Calhoun, Tech N9ne)

Kutt Calhoun and Tech N9ne do the old school, bar-for-bar thing over a production that sounds like the golden age got transplanted into the age of right now. This is a prime example of what happens when the dopeness of one emcee feeds off the other and something that’s greater than the sum of its parts is the result.

“Too Much” – Killer
(Tech N9ne, Kutt Calhoun, Krizz Kaliko)

Part song, part battle cry and part thesis statement, this song from Tech N9ne’s double album makes it abundantly clear that what you get from Strange Music is often too much for the average head to comprehend. The production sounds like something that a Viking warship would play before battle (had they had stereos) and Tech and Kutt’s verses go straight for the jugular.

“The Baptism” – 2 Birds 1 Stone
(Stevie Stone, Rittz, Tech N9ne)

The most gangster-sounding Christian rap song ever? Is there even another candidate for this title? The gloomy production sets the stage for Stevie Stone, Rittz and Tech N9ne to display that faith is more than being kind to your neighbor, it’s a hardcore sense of resolution in the face of adversity. Tech’s final lines state his belief with startling efficiency.

“Strange March” – Thrift Store Halos
(¡MAYDAY!, CES Cru, Brotha Lynch Hung)

An electrifying guitar riff and hard-hitting drums lay the foundation for ¡MAYDAY!, CES Cru and Brotha Lynch Hung to induce the stinky face. This song is bars, bars and then some more bars. The back and forth style of the verse structures only add to the infectious nature of this beast of a track.

“Slave” – Welcome To Strangeland
(Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Calhoun, Tech N9ne)

Is this blues? Gospel? Soul? Hip hop?

Who cares? It’s amazing, and that’s all you need to know. Krizz, Kutt and Tech sing their way to salvation and away from the pain of their constant grind in this touching song from Welcome to Strangeland.

“Down For The Block” – Bad Season
(Jay Rock, Kutt Calhoun, Big Scoob, Tech N9ne)

It’s soo woo season on this masher from the Bad Season mixtape. From Jay Rock’s devastating verse which opens the track to Tech N9ne’s most g’d-out verse in his career, this track is for the streets and by the streets.

“Can’t Stand Me” – Klusterfuk
(Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko)

Production, chorus and emceeing come together in slick perfection on this standout from Tech’s most original-sounding EP. Production from ¡MAYDAY! takes Tech and Krizz to a different space than usual as Tech tells tales of old while Krizz Kaliko laments in Spanish in one of his best crooning jobs to date.

“Down” – S.I.C.
(Krizz Kaliko, Tech N9ne)

“Say what?” you say. While there are a countless amount of other songs that have these two making great music, this one is a great example of Krizz laying down the carpet for Tech to step into another dimension, in which he exorcises his demons on the track in a fashion that’s simultaneously delirious and deadly serious. This verse is what a Klusterfuk really sounds like.

“Jumpin’ Jax” – The Gates Mixed Plate
(Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, Stevie Stone)

As if there weren’t enough songs about asses moving up and down, Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko and Stevie Stone offer this dedication on The Gates Mixed Plate. However, as is the case most of the time, whatever you can do, Strange can do better. Rather than settle for a boring plod-fest of a track, Tech picks this hype beat and him, Stevie and Krizz express pure joy in the face of gluteus maximus.

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TECH N9NE COLLABOS – STRANGEULATION

• – What did you think of the list?
• – What did we leave out?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.