A Wild Rapper Appears

"Oh, crap! A random rap!"

- dascottjr, "Friday", Literal Video Version

You're listening to a Pop song, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a rapper jumps into the song. Then, almost as suddenly as he appeared, he disappears into the night, and the song returns to normal.

It can be, but is not necessarily, a rapping bridge. This is generally due to deals made by record companies, since they want to make the most money possible. A similar practice existed in the early 1940s (which could be called A Wild Texan Appears), where a guy with a southern accent suddenly started talking over the music without warning.

Compare with Stealth Hi Bye.

Anime & Manga

 * The opening theme to the anime Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai, "Treat or Goblins", features Megumi Hayashibara singing half-English, half-Japanese hip-hop -- with an obviously-American rapper providing a counterpoint to her almost-incomprehensible lyrics.

Films

 * Who could forget the rapping dog in Titanic: The Legend Goes On?
 * The sequel to the other animated Titanic movie gives us a rapping shark. Yo, yo, yo! Look at my teeth!
 * In a similar vein, the rapping Cheshire Cat in Care Bears in Wonderland.

Live Action TV
""Why is there a rapper here?
 * "Climax Jump (Gun Form)" and "Climax Jump (Den-Liner Form)", two of the many versions of Kamen Rider Den-O's opening theme, both feature a random rap by Ryutaros in the middle.
 * Also from Kamen Rider, a non-bridge example is "Te wo Tsunagou" from Kamen Rider OOO which features random rapping by Ankh.
 * The Conan O'Brien parody of "Friday" had a rapper show up, utterly confused by his own role in the song.

What exactly am I here?

Did I just rhyme 'here' wit 'here'?

I am getting out of here!"

"That was a rapper,

Which makes this a real song!""


 * The German Olympic skater Katarina Witt appeared in several Christmas TV specials in the early 1990s. In one of them, out of nowhere she suddenly breaks into a full-on rap.

Music
"And now the token rap verse that doesn't make any sense
 * Katy Perry's "California Gurlz" features a rap by Snoop Dogg.
 * Also by Perry, a version of "E.T." (featured in the music video) had Kanye West doing a rap in it.
 * "Friday", by Rebecca Black, is a well-known example of this trope, provided by producer Patrice Wilson.
 * Justin Bieber frequently has rappers do this in his songs. The weirdest is "Never Say Never" with Jaden Smith, who isn't very good at it.
 * Ludacris and Lil Wayne frequently enter this as they work in basically everything (the former is one of those who worked with Bieber).
 * Subverted in "Rapture" by Blondie, although considered the Ur Example. Instead of someone else rapping in her song, Debbie Harry does it herself.
 * Jenna Rose's song "My Jeans" has a rapper named Baby Triggy show up in the middle of the song.
 * REM’s "Radio Song" has KRS-One rapping at the end. Much later Q-Tip would contribute a rap verse to "The Outsiders".
 * "Underneath It All" and "Hey Baby" by No Doubt - but note that Lady Saw and Bounty Killer are Jamaican Dancehall Reggae artistes, rather than rappers.
 * Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" uses this. Although instead of delivering an actual rap, Chuck D just responds to Kim Deal's spoken monologue with deliberately vague, meaningless hip-hop cliches ("Tell it like it is... Yeah, word up!")
 * Hard 'n' Phirm's "Pi" features fellow comedian/musician Howard Kremer aka Dragon Boy Suede.
 * Kevin Max's "Existence" has a bridge featuring Knowdaverbs from GRITS.
 * 'Alligator Sky' by Owl City.
 * Three versions of the song exist, the original version with Shawn Christopher, one without any rapping, and another rap version with B.O.B. that hasn't been officially released and came about from a friendly back and forth between B.O.B. and Adam Young on Twitter.
 * Live show version: Instead of playing the song without the rap portion, the album version of the rap is played...with Shawn Christopher appearing through a prerecorded projection, similar to the kind used for Vocaloid live shows.
 * A much earlier example: "Every Little Step" by Bobby Brown has a rap portion, though by Bobby himself.
 * Emilie Autumn, of all people, does this in "Opheliac". It's done by Emilie herself, though.
 * Parodied by inversion in Jack Sparrow by The Lonely Island, where a rap song has a wild Michael Bolton appear...
 * Very common in eurodance music, e.g.:
 * Snap — Rhythm is a Dancer.
 * La Bouche — Be My Lover.
 * Basic Element — Love 4 Real.
 * Playahitty — The Summer Is Magic. Also done by vocalist herself, not by a guest rapper.
 * And many more, listing them all would be pointless.
 * "Electronic Pleasure" by N Trance.
 * "Good Kill" by Too Much Joy ends with a rap by KRS-One. Oddly enough, this was released the same year he also appeared on REM's "Radio Song".
 * Bad Religion's "Let Them Eat War" features a rap verse by Sage Francis.
 * Parodied on the song "Pop Song" by Jon Lajoie

But helps me get a small percentage of the urban music market"


 * "Lost+" by Coldplay, courtesy of Jay-Z.
 * Pete Townshend's "Who Are You (Gateway Remix)", which is basically his solo version of The Who song, includes a rap verse by Hame.
 * Inverted in the Eminem song "Stan", which features refrains from pop singer Dido. The song helped get Dido's own single out.
 * The now little-remembered Charity Motivation Song "Voices That Care" included a brief rap by Will Smith. This was even more jarringly, awkwardly done in the Dutch answer to this, “Als je iets kan doen” by Artiesten voor Azië.
 * "We Are The World 2010" has a whole section of this.
 * Parodied by The Axis of Awesome in their How To Write A Love Song where Lee pops in with a rap in the middle of their R&B love song.
 * "Roll the Bones" by Rush, provided by usual vocalist Geddy Lee, but with his voice drastically altered via studio effects.
 * Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin'" kind of doubles up on this - the bridge has both MIA and Nicki Minaj rapping for a few lines each.
 * Michael Jackson's "Black Or White" has a rap bridge credited to a mysterious "L.T.B.". The video had Macaulay Culkin lip sync this part.
 * "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)" by Big & Rich has a guest appearance by Cowboy Troy in the middle.
 * Kirsty MacColl's "Walking Down Madison" has a rap bridge by Aniff Cousins. He doesn't entirely appear out of nowhere though - he also gets the spoken line "would you like to see some more?" in the chorus.
 * The Jessie J song "Price Tag" has a rap by B.o.B.
 * The last verse of Riskay's positively delightful Smell Yo Dick.
 * Maroon 5 has Wiz Khalifa appear in "Payphone".
 * Betty Wright And The Roots' Betty Wright: The Movie has three such appearances - Snoop Dogg on "Real Woman", Lil Wayne on "Grapes On A Vine" and Robert "The Messenger" Bozeman on "Hollywould". Though The Roots are a hip-hop group, they only provide instrumentation on the album, and most of the vocals are sung by Betty Wright herself.
 * Double-subverted by Keane's Stop For A Minute. It features K'NAAN, a rapper, who sings. But right after the second chorus, he abruptly switches to rapping.

Video Games

 * The album version of Kanon's ending theme has a random and incomprehensible rap segment. No, really.
 * The first boss theme for Einhander, surprisingly an Ear Worm. This rap was justified by being a sample from a then-famous disc, so even Ar tonelico got in on the fun.

Web Animation

 * Homestar Runner: Inverted with "Rap Song" by Coach Z (accidentally) featuring Peacey P. The song itself is all rap but has an R&B break, performed by Tenerence Love. "Loading Screens" is a straight example.

Web Original
"Katy Perry: Kanye,/Why are you here?/I don't like this version./You're not on the album.
 * "In the Ocean Blue" from the third series of Charlie the Unicorn
 * This cover of this song.
 * "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?" by Felicia Day has a wild rap verse performed by Jeff Lewis (Vork).
 * Lampshaded and discussed in the Key of Awesome parody of Katy Perry's "ET":

Kanye West: Katy, ungh,/Let me be clear, ungh./Every single pop hit/Needs a rapper on it."

Western Animation
"I take my heart into battle
 * Inverted in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Spa Day", which has a song with relaxing, lounge music, except for a completely out-of-the-blue rap tune interrupting it in the middle - the catch being that the rap section made up the majority of the song.
 * Total Drama World Tour: Harold interrupts some songs to start rapping, much to the others' annoyance.
 * The Veggie Tales song "BellyButton".
 * The opening theme to Liberty's Kids:

Give that freedom bell a rattle

Gonna have independence signed

I'll sign right here on the dotted line

Red, white, and blue, never give up

We represent America!"


 * Schoolhouse Rock has one in the form of a rapping walrus during the solo parts of the otherwise rock & roll-themed "Save the Ocean" in "Earth Rock", provided by Eric "Badlands" Booker.