I know that "collabos" are the thing these days, but I sense that they can't always come at the request of the artist (who may be egged on to work with people they really hadn't figured working on, but they are pressured into it for sales or bumping their status up).

I can think of at least two artists who didn't really need this on their album - Justin Timblerlake didn't need TI on My Love, or 3-6 Mafia on Chop Me Up, on FutureSex, and the rap actually detracted from the song in the case of My Love (like listening to MJ's lyrics in "You Are Not Alone" and then realizing, "hey...these lyrics make no sense!" Also, on D'Angelo's Voodoo, he really didn't need RedMan and Method Man on the third song, and just as in the case of TI, it detracts (that's the one track I generally skip through on Voodoo.)

So: collabos - merited or gimmicky?

"Collabos" are part of propping up "artists" the industry wants to create careers for or who are on shaky ground with their ability to sell liquor and soda. Just marketing.

It's also a way of bringing an artist out of selling merch to just one demo or a small group to a large, mainstream audience.