Vox Gets Into Treble: The weird world of rap-rock

Blending the slick beats and swift vocals of rap with the aggressive instrumentation of rock, the musical mode known, rather uncreatively, as “rap-rock” tends to repel fans of either genre as often as it attracts. Encompassing polished mash-ups like “Numb/Encore” from Linkin Park and Jay-Z, guitar-heavy nu-metal like Hollywood Undead, and hip-hop riffs on rock classics like Lupe Fiasco’s “The Show Goes On” (which borrows from Modest Mouse’s “Float On”), this genre-bending style offers nothing if not surprises.

Photo: Masao Nakagami via Flickr