Kanye West feat. Bon Iver: "Lost in the World"

Juke Box Hero joins us with your weekly dose of indie cred -- this time pairing Bon Iver's Justin Vernon with rapper Kanye West. What will they think of next?

Collaboration is the seed of evolution. The combination of two unique entities creates something new that’s a step forward, unique unto itself. (Ok, I’m not talking about making babies, though there are obvious ties.) When two artists work together, especially coming from different genres, their joint creation often surpasses and transcends anything either may have created alone. That’s part of the beauty of art: its inherent room for experimentation and evolution.

It shouldn’t surprise many that I’m following that last lofty sentence with one that includes the name Kanye West. Say what you will about ‘Yeezy’ – and many have said not-so-savory things – but despite all his antics, the man draws from an inexplicably deep well of creative force. From his throwback R&B-chipmunk sampling as a Jay-Z producer, to today's jam, a live cross-genre sampling with Bon Iver’s Grammy-winning Justin Vernon, for a track on his also-Grammy-winning album My Dark Twisted Fantasy, Yeezy's career has been filled with unusual match-ups.

With the Bon Iver teaming in particular, Mr. West put on a decidedly indie hat – though jury’s out on how he’d actually look in a trucker. His "Lost in the World" cut features the backbone of Bon Iver’s "Woods," which appears not on the group’s breakthrough record For Emma, Forever Ago, but on the less popular EP Blood Bank. Hipster cred, yo! Vernon’s already auto-tuned falsetto seems pre-suited to various pairings, but to feature prominently on the final cut of what would be the biggest rap album of the year, if not the last decade? Where did that come from? What was West thinking? Probably that Vernon and Bon Iver would end up where they have, fresh off their Grammy win for Best New Artist – add visionary to the Yeezy’s resume. Who of his peers would’ve chosen to collaborate with a folksy indie crooner?

But more than just a sample, West and Vernon created a new song together, combining the unique strengths of each. West’s lyrical laundry list of dichotomies seems to highlight the unlikely pairing of artists, and yet, the song works with Vernon’s melancholy siren sustaining and growing; it all drives forward, develops into an infectious tribal beat that no one – indie, rap, country, classical – can resist.

Maybe I’m just a naïve idealist, but in this Coachella performance, it at least appears as if true musical collaboration happens in real time. More than just live sampling, Vernon and West actually look to be feeding off of each others' energy in true duet form. It’s hard to believe that Kanye could give up that much performance independence, even to a Grammy winner, but maybe even Mr. Gay Fish understands what it takes to evolve the species.