The year of 1993 brought its own very special joining of rap and rock music with a very unique tale as to how it all came together. Rolling Stone brings us that tale about the music to the soundtrack to 1993 chase thriller Judgment Night — a project on which 10 rap artists collaborated with 11 rock groups,including rock band Faith No More. It may have appeared downright revolutionary at the time, however, it was not a concept without precedent. The album had arrived nearly a decade after famous rock-rap pairings Run-DMC and Aerosmith’s 1986 “Walk This Way,” and Public Enemy and Anthrax’s 1991 “Bring the Noise.”

Years later, producer Muggs, of Cypress Hill, and Everlast started encouraging the idea of another cross-genre collaboration with executive producer Happy Walters. Despite some hesitancy over the quality of the movie itself, Everlast and Muggs devoted themselves to working on what would eventually be the beginnings of the soundtrack.

It took some convincing, but the positive feedback from managers and their artists began to roll in. Faith No More was one of those enthusiastic artists.

Said Bill Gould, bassist of Faith No More, “We were pretty popular back then, it was right after Angel Dust. So we got offered a lot of being on compilations, but there wasn’t really a thing with, like, real hip-hop bands collaborating with rock bands, as a thing. We were like, this could actually be something that we could do that’s kind of cool.”

Gould first met the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. on a recording trip to Samoa. “The thing about Samoa is that they do this a cappella music, they grow up with it, it’s beautiful. It’s like five-point harmony, incredible stuff. I just asked, “Can you get ahold of Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.? Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. are these Samoan guys, I bet they can sing like motherfuckers.”

Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton was personally so inspired by the by the Samoan Nation Anthem that he wanted to dump the rock-rap collaboration completely. It didn’t play off so well.

We worked the whole thing up and we played it for ’em and they just, like, laughed. They literally laughed in our faces,” said Patton

Gould added, “ And they were like, “Eh … That’s lame [laughs]. Why don’t you just come over here and bring your instruments and let’s make some noise?” Boo-Yaa, they all play instruments, they’re all musicians, which I didn’t realize.” The members of Faith No More opted for an impromptu jam session that effectively broke the ice between the two groups.

Despite the dissipation of the initial tension in the studio, cultural differences reared their heads to lead to some very unusual encounters.

“They all had guns on the mixing console. And the producer was trying to move the guns. And we were playing and he was, like, pointing it through the glass and stuff,” Gould laughed.

Regardless of any differences, the groups eventually hit it off, particularly on a musical level. There was even talk of a joint tour that unfortunately never materialized.

Patton said they all remained close even past that one initial recording. “For as mean as they look, they were super sweet.”

Photo credit:Raymond Flotat