Booty Bouncers

These all stars are leading the charge for electro-hop

By Liquid Todd

LMFAO make it look easy, but they’re not the only ones to take hip-hop rhymes and mash them up with a TR-808. Whether you call it robot hip-hop, electronic rap or if you just like the sound of a squelch-y, synth-y bleep in the middle of the dance floor, here are five other artists with a weakness for electro-hop.

Kid Cudi

“Day ‘n’ Nite” was a melodic but mellow song from Kid Cudi’s debut album until the Crookers toughened it up and created an electro-hop anthem. It didn’t take long for “Day ‘n’ Nite” to cross over to Top 40 radio. Since then, the native Ohioan has collaborated with Snoop, Shakira and Sharam. But it took another dance producer, David Guetta, to realize his next hit, “Memories.” Most recently he teamed up with Kanye West on the rock-leaning radio hit “Erase Me.” His new album is Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.

Kanye West

You can see this erratic super-duper-star’s fingerprints all over electro hop. You could probably argue that he led the charge to wed electronic music with hip-hop. The results have been a string of radio and club hits from the often-controversial producer/singer. Lately he’s been on a manic recording and release schedule and—if his Twitter page can be believed—will be dropping two more albums by summer of this year. If you include My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (which dropped November 2010) and the upcoming album with Jay-Z (due out in a month or so) that adds up to three full-length albums in less than a year. How much Kanye can the world absorb in one year? I guess we’ll find out.

Pretty Lights

Derek Vincent Smith is an electronic producer from Colorado who has built a reputation for killing it at big festivals. Last year—with a drummer in tow—he played Coachella, Evolve, Nocturnal and turned in an impressive set to an appreciative crowd at the Electric Zoo festival in NYC. Giving away a ton of free music has resulted in a fanbase that has mushroomed over the past year into a formidable—and devoted—following. At the moment, visitors to prettylightsmusic.com can download a collection of unreleased remixes from 2010 for free. The collection includes Pretty Lights’ re-workings of Jay-Z, Pink Floyd and Kanye West—among others.

Far East Movement

The double-platinum certified “Like a G6” seemed like an unlikely song to storm radio waves and dancefloors in 2010. Loud and glitchy with a deadpan female vocal supplied by Devin Star Tailes, “Like a G6” was written by Hollowell-Dhar from the Cataracs and was one of only eight Billboard No. 1 singles that returned to the No.1 slot after dropping off for two or more weeks. This L.A.-based group describes their lifestyle as “Free Wired” and the phrase served as the title for their first major album, released on Cherrytree Records late last year which also included their second radio single, “Rocketeer.”

David Guetta

Guetta is mainly known as a house producer with a string of massive club bangers and remixes. Several of his house hits have crossed over as genuine Top 40 hits as well. His One Love album went electro hop in a big way, featuring a star-studded cast of superstar collaborators including Flo Rida, Kid Cudi, Ne-Yo, will.i.am and Akon—and yielded no less than four hit singles. Guetta doesn’t just twiddle knobs in the studio—where has become one of the most sought-after producers around—he also tours the world doing the superstar DJ thing. His latest single is “Who’s That Chick?” featuring Rihanna.