Friday, August 10, 2007

Friday's Cover: Ms Jackson

Once upon a time Eryka Badu used her voodoo on Andre and they got sweaty, copulated, and didn’t use protection. The result was their son ,Seven. It also fueled the fire for the fifth track and second single from OutKast’s Stankonia (I knew she was good for something. )There are theories that the Ms. Jackson of “Ms. Jackson” refers to the Maiden name of Eryka’s mother. Others think it’s just a name. Regardless, the song is about the difficulties of broken relationships and broken homes and baby mamas and baby mama’s mamas. The OutKast version goes back to the days when Andre spent more time rhyming then conceptualizing the merits of furry pants and heat combs. I could go into a whole OutKast thing but I don’t really think that you are that ignorant. I believe in you and I think you’re a good person.The Vines are an Australian rock group probably most famous for the song "Get Free." This is sad because the group had a pretty amazing debut with a multitude of influences and all of it executed fairly well. It sounded more like a bunch of songs than a record but all the songs were pretty dam good. Outtathaway!! was their third single and had the Ms. Jackson as a B-Side. Thankfully they removed all of the verse lyrics and just left the hook and the bridge. We’re left with a far more somber and acoustic version of a great song. Granted it’s not better but it is pretty good. Also it’s kind of hard to call it a cover because they stripped 90% of the lyrics but what are you going to do? I like covers that appreciate the original material and make it different. I feel the Vines did it well. You decide.And one more thing, anyone considering covering any rap song... don't! Rap covers are bad. Ask Snoop. He destroyed one of the most classic classics ever. Ask Tricky, Everlast, and Mos Def. Children’s Story was Ricky D's opus and not for some British chick to verbally poop on or Whitey to crap on or Mos to think he’s clever and ruin. Huh, I just realized both were Rick’s songs but the point still remains. Rap is not a genre that covers well and I hope it never happens again in the history of mankind.
Pace.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd have to agree about rap covers. At one point I actually started one of my 'Drink Coasters' blogs about the In The Beginning...There Was Rap compilation, which was straight up covers of hip hop songs by both name artists and no-name actors like Coolio, but after listening to the "Sucker MCs" remake by the Wu, I lost my focus, got angry, and deleted the post. Perhaps it was low blood sugar, but I choose to believe that the album is flawed from the start because hip hop is the only medium where the rappers are expected to write their own songs and if they are even suspected of having a ghostwriter, their credibility is tossed off of a twelve-story building.
But that's just me.

What It Is said...

I hate when you out shine me on my own blog you silver tongued devil, you. But, word! That's what I meant to say too.
And what was the name of that record that I joyfully missed?

Anonymous said...

It's called 'In The beginning...There Was Rap, featuring such classics as the Wu covering Run DMC, Puffy doing LL, Mack 10 covering NWA all by his damn self, Snoop trying to be like Too $hort (maybe you have a point about Snoop and his covers), and, most disappointingly, The Roots covering "The Show" to horrifying effect. Since the album also inexplicably features Master P, I wouldn't even bother trying to find it, personally, but maybe it would make a great post for you.

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