10 Times Rock Musicians Appeared On Other Artists' Albums
7. Trent Reznor - I'll Sleep When You're Dead (El-P)
Trent Reznor is one of the biggest guys behind the scenes in music, scoring soundtracks and producing countless records for a number of artists. But his signature industrial rock sound and previous manifestation as a gothic punk adorned in leather, doesn't immediately lead one to think this guy appeared on a hip-hop record in the 2000s.
One half of Run The Jewels, El-P is a self professed rock head, stating, "I just like heavy music in general. Anything that gets to the more emotional and darker side of music. The stuff that really got me moving was the stuff that kinda punched you in the gut a little bit."
With that knowledge, maybe the idea of Reznor teaming up with EL-P isn't such a bizarre notion...
Nine Inch Nails were known for their dark lyrics and sinister sound, with Reznor's approach to producing industrial rock sharing many similarities with the way hip-hop artists would create break beats. Reznor originally approached El-P to remix a Nine Inch Nails track, Only, after catching wind of the hip hop producer in the early 2000s, and it was the start of a budding relationship.
El-P's third studio album contained several other contributions from the world of rock, including from The Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López, but it was Reznor's vocals that elevated the track Flyentology above the rest.