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Whether it be references in songs or stepping into the squared circle, professional wrestling and hip hop have had a long-lasting connection with one another. WWE has seen a number of legendary artists from the genre within the company over the years. Snoop Dogg is a WWE Hall of Famer. Bad Bunny has stepped into the ring on a number of occasions. The relationship between the two has always been strong, but during the Attitude Era it was taken to a whole new level. WWE partnered with a number of hip hop legends in order to produce a collaboration project entitled, WWE Aggression.
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Aggression Was Not WWE's First Entry Into Music
WWE was no stranger to releasing albums. They had released projects like The Wrestling Album, WWE: The Music, and WWE Full Metal: The Album. But this was their first endeavor into releasing a full length hip hop project. The concept behind the album was to take a number of entrance theme songs from some of the biggest WWE superstars at the time and paired them with different hip hop artists to do a remix of them with hip hop artists and instrumentals.
In partnership with Priority Records, the album was released on March 21, 2000. It was very successful, reaching number 8 on the BillBoard 200 and 10 on the BillBoard Top R&B/Hip Hop charts. In a Cult of Whatever review, where discussing if the album was worth it, Steve Sky wrote, “Overall… yes. I think it is, especially for hip hop fans.”
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Hip Hop And WWE's Biggest Stars Come Together
In order to create the project, some of hip hop’s biggest names were assembled to be a part of the album. This included names such as the legendary The Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man and Ol Dirty Bastard, Snoop Dogg, Run-DMC, Redman, Ice-T, and many more. Producers on the project also included Jam Master Jay, Binky, and more. Artists were paired with some of the Attitude Era’s biggest stars at the time, including The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and Mankind, to create songs that brought in various aspects of their character.
The songs were named after catchphrases, nicknames, sayings, and other lines that were associated with the stars of WWE. For instance, Method Man’s song for The Rock, “Know Your Role.” The song begins with The Rock’s signature catchphrase, then changing to a very electrifying beat. Method Man then raps lines such as, “Enter the squared circle with the Great One/Most electrifying moves, don’t change the station.” On another track was made for the “Texas Rattlesnake.” On the song called “Hell Yeah”, Snoop Dogg and WC rap over a remixed version of the three-time Royal Rumble winner’s theme. WC has a line where he raps, “Total chaos, deadly as snake eyes.” The album was successfully able to combine the elements of hip hop and wrestling in a way that allowed both to shine. In addition, tracks from the album were actually used for the entrances for the wrestlers who had songs named after them.
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Professional Wrestling And Hip Hop's Long-Lasting Relationship
Hip hop’s relationship with professional wrestling transcends this one-off album that WWE did. Numerous hip hop artists have paid tribute to professional wrestling. Action Bronson, Smoke DZA, Wale, Griselda, JPEGMAFIA and many more have all expressed their love for professional wrestling in their lyrics and projects. Likewise, professional wrestlers have also embraced hip hop and incorporated it into their presentation, like AEW’s The Acclaimed and John Cena’s time as the “Doctor of Thuganomics.” In some cases, like that of Action Bronson and Bad Bunny, they have stepped into the ring and competed. Many wrestlers and rappers are also genuine friends in real life.
As hip hop celebrates its 50th birthday in 2023, it is interesting to see how professional wrestling and hip hop came together to create a joint album with one another. However, the crossover between both has continued to flourish and grow over time. The mutual respect and appreciation that both have for one another is apparent and will never go away. Throughout numerous promotions, like WWE, WCW, AEW, and many more, this relationship continued to grow. WWE Aggression is but one example of this. The project was able to combine hip hop and professional successfully. Taking big names from hip hop and wrestling, it worked. Perhaps one day WWE will revisit this concept again one day with modern day hip hop artists. Or, maybe another company will do it. Regardless, the WWE Aggression album showed the coming together of two worlds to create something that was truly unique and interesting for fans to hear.
