If you remember that period in time the way I do you may recall that a number of (white) pop acts were pairing up with rap/hip-hop artists (usually black) to include rap segments or performances in their pop/top-40s tracks. It was a sales gimmick, mostly.

Also, I'm an old prog-head so I often appreciate the symphonic approach, though I think orchestration these days is used to hide weaknesses in the original tracks.