A hip-hop album will often sound like a room full of people. Friends, rivals, legends, newcomers—voices bumping into each other, handing the mic back and forth. From the beginning, hip-hop understood something many other art worlds still miss: collaboration is strategy. When you put someone on your track, you’re not just sharing the beat—you’re sharing audiences, histories, and trajectories. You’re letting worlds collide in real time. It’s a way of saying, my work isn’t an island. And in the process, you make something bigger than any single voice could carry alone.