cover » Absurd Intellectual

Ben Folds covers gangsta rap

Posted by Grant Hamilton on 9 October 2009 Music

Oct 092009

I can’t get this soulful, piano-acoustic version of “Bitches Ain’t Shit” out of my head. Ben Folds makes me lol.

Ben Folds – Bitches Aint Shit (Feat. Mr. Reynolds and Lin-Z)

I found it randomly at the Hype Machine, but couldn’t resist the idea of a white singer-songwriter pianist (and the guy behind Rockin’ The Suburbs) covering early-90s hard-core gangsta rap.

The cover art, above, and the mp3, I found at a new-to-me-but-looks-great music blog (musblog?) called Et Musique Pour Tous, which is an English-language blog with a French title that translates as “And Music For All,” and subtitle that says it offers “Space Age Bachelor Pad Music.” I like it. Their post on this Ben Folds ditty says:

B*****s Ain’t S*** is the tragic love story of a young Snoop Dogg who comes home to his girlfriend after 6 months of jail only to find out that the love of his life, his Mona Lisa, his Juliet or “main squeeze” was sleeping with his cousin Daz and doing all sorts of trickery. This is the one of the most beautiful renditions of what is probably the hardest love song ever made, enjoy. …

P.S. If you’re not familiar with the original it is a bonus track on Dr. Dre’s classic 1992 freshmen effort The Chronic.

Oh, while I urge everyone to listen to this song, be aware that the lyrics are definitely coarse, even though they are delivered with such smoothness.

Paramore covers Kings of Leon

Posted by Grant Hamilton on 6 September 2009 Music

Sep 062009

I haven’t really had the inclination to get into Paramore yet, but maybe I will, now that I’ve seen this video. I love the Kings of Leon, and I’m a sucker for the acoustic cover, so this was right up my alley.

Thanks to Nikki who posted it to her Facebook!

When song covers go wrong

Posted by Grant Hamilton on 19 July 2009 Music

Jul 192009

Honestly, I’m generally a big fan of cover versions that take an original song and dramatically change it. But some things you just shouldn’t do. This, I think, is one of them.

Now, I’m not going to rule out metal covers of indie songs — I’m sure there could be good ones. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes practically made a career out of punking up songs that didn’t start out anywhere near punk. But this one falls short. I think it’s because there is too much dissonance in the song; they’ve tried to keep too much of the melodic indie nature intact.

(From Louisville hardcore forum, via the Daily Swarm and the AV Club)