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Earlier this month west-siders Lil Kemo and Dlow released tunes that teach some simple moves to the playful and intuitive Chicago-born dance style known as bop; before the kings of the scene rap through the how-tos for “Kemo Step” and “The Dlow Shuffle,” each gives a shout-out to the other bopper. Those brief acknowledgements on the melodic party tunes are emblematic of the inviting and positive nature of bop. The wriggly dance moves are not only easy to pick up, but there’s a communal element to the dance that comes through when scores of kids are giving it a try at the same time—anyone can do it, but it’s really a party when everyone is doing it. While Kemo and Dlow are bop’s reigning royalty—just take a peek at their awesome athletic moves—they’re entirely supportive of each other, working together to make the scene bigger and better.

  1. The cover art for ShowYouSuck’s “XXX (Straight Edge)”

  2. Serengeti giving directions on “Directions”

Bon Iver main man Justin Vernon and Chief Keef provide Kanye’s “Hold My Liquor” with much of its strange, mournful aura. Their Auto-Tune washed voices fit together surprisingly well, and simply putting indie-rock’s darling woodshedder and the infamous, mush-mouthed MC on one track makes for one of the WTF concepts on Yeezus, but it’s not the most unexpected combination on the album, or even the song; one of the other contributors is Che “Rhymefest” Smith, the socially conscious rapper who, among other things, wrote a blog post last year criticizing Keef for representing “the senseless savagery that white people see when the news speaks of Chicago violence.” Since then Rhymefest worked on a track that also features Keef, but you’d have to comb through the liner notes in order to figure that one out. The idea of seeing these two distinct figures on one track is, among other things, a reminder that both rappers call Chicago home—so many different people do as well, yet occasionally there’s something that can bring together people who appear to be diametric opposites. In this case it’s Kanye.