Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Hip-Hop Covers

I am a big fan of cover songs. There are many covers I love more than the originals, but many more I just love because of how much they are able to transform the original into their own. Some cover songs just seem natural and the only thing that's really different is that it is someone else singing. Other times the difference is immense, so much so that it may even make you re-think your feelings on the original (like how Tori Amos covering "Smells Like Teen Spirit" did to me).

Perhaps the most challenging of cover songs are when waspy white folk like myself take on rap and hip-hop music. I admit, it gives me quite the thrill to hear this done, and done well. It may just be giving me more "access" to a genre I may not identify with normally, or perhaps I find it downright humorous (really, it's a bit of both most of the time), but either way I cannot deny the satisfaction I get from listening to one of these covers done well.

Here are a few of my personal favorites:

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