One thing I’ve always enjoyed as a music fan is the concept of microphone marriages.
What’s a mic marriage?
A mic marriage is a song with one male artist and one female artist. Not only does it offer 2 different voices, but it also offers 2 different perspectives of the same story. It doesn’t have to be a love song (although it almost always is), it could be any type of record.
From a business perspective, this can prove to be a great method of combining 2 separate fanbases with similar tastes and traits, that can easily crossover to each other, as well as create a new market for the collaboration of the 2 artists together (in other words; 1 massive pool of fans & 3 different streams of products to sell them).
On a personal, music fan tip though, I love the combination of 2 great artists offering 2 separate voices to the same story.
One example of a mic marriage is Kenny Lattimore & Chante Moore. They recorded an entire album together called, “Things That Lovers Do”. (This album is a must for your mood music collection). These two are actually married, but a mic marriage doesn’t have to be two people tied to each other in any other way other than on the song itself.
As a music fan, if you could pick one mic marriage pair-up to record an entire album together, which one would it be?
I asked this question on Twitter a few days ago and I was overwhelmed with how many people replied with the same answer – Method Man & Mary J. Blige.
That’s probably one of the best examples there is.
Others answers included Ginuwine & Aaliyah, Nas & Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z & Beyonce and Avant & Keke Wyatt.
I like all of those pair ups, but truth be told, if I could pick only one, there’s another pair-up that I could only pray to the music gods to have them record an album together. They’re both well known artists, but their collaboration together is not as well-known.
Before you click on the play button, in order to really enjoy this song, you need to be in your personal zone. If you’re at home; shut off the TV for a few minutes, close your eyes and listen. If you’re at work or school; just put on your headphones, zone out and just… listen.
Ladies and gentleman… This. Is. Music:
Lauryn Hill ft. D’Angelo – Nothing Even Matters
[audio:lauryndangelo_nem.mp3]
That’s my favourite mic marriage. What’s yours?