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[Song a Day] Transformative Week | Dynamite Hack - Boyz In The Hood
Part of the Song a Day Project! Also part of Transformative Songs Week in honour of the OTW March Drive.
While works in the public domain are most commonly and easily adapted, the art of the cover is alive and well. Many covers consciously try to stay within the genre, style, and overall feel of the source work while just giving it the unique touch of the cover artist, a time-honoured and valuable practice. But there are also many covers that take a source work and do something pretty... different with it.
One such is the Da Vinci's Notebook cover of Stuck In The Middle With You, which takes the original by Stealers Wheel (itself a parody of Bob Dylan's work) and redoes it entirely in DVN's distinctive comedic, upbeat a capella style.
But there's a specific subclass of this style of cover that I'd like to highlight: taking songs originally performed by or in a style associated with US Black musical artists and styles, and consciously subverting the source work by putting them in what's perceived as a culturally diametrically opposed style (usually something with White associations). There's a lot going on in this practice — it's appropriative (aggressively so!) and problematic — but in many cases it's also a very conscious commentary on race, class, misogyny, and other concepts.
One such is Jonathan Coulton's cover of Baby Got Back (there's a studio version but I like the live one better, where you can see Coulton's reactions and opinions, as well as the audience participation), original by Sir Mix-a-Lot (itself cultural commentary! "she's just so.... black!"). But the one I really want to feature today is the Dynamite Hack cover of Boyz In The Hood, the source originally by Eazy-E and styled Boyz-N-The-Hood. This is definitely best listened to while also watching the vid, so do that if you can to get the maximum on the conscious commentary angle. I do want to warn for some language and violent imagery in the lyrics (totally played with in the corresponding parts of the video).
Youtube Link: Dynamite Hack - Boyz In The Hood.
This is problematic — but it's undeniably transformative and a very interesting snapshot of some complicated interactions in our culture. And this is another reason I support the OTW.
While works in the public domain are most commonly and easily adapted, the art of the cover is alive and well. Many covers consciously try to stay within the genre, style, and overall feel of the source work while just giving it the unique touch of the cover artist, a time-honoured and valuable practice. But there are also many covers that take a source work and do something pretty... different with it.
One such is the Da Vinci's Notebook cover of Stuck In The Middle With You, which takes the original by Stealers Wheel (itself a parody of Bob Dylan's work) and redoes it entirely in DVN's distinctive comedic, upbeat a capella style.
But there's a specific subclass of this style of cover that I'd like to highlight: taking songs originally performed by or in a style associated with US Black musical artists and styles, and consciously subverting the source work by putting them in what's perceived as a culturally diametrically opposed style (usually something with White associations). There's a lot going on in this practice — it's appropriative (aggressively so!) and problematic — but in many cases it's also a very conscious commentary on race, class, misogyny, and other concepts.
One such is Jonathan Coulton's cover of Baby Got Back (there's a studio version but I like the live one better, where you can see Coulton's reactions and opinions, as well as the audience participation), original by Sir Mix-a-Lot (itself cultural commentary! "she's just so.... black!"). But the one I really want to feature today is the Dynamite Hack cover of Boyz In The Hood, the source originally by Eazy-E and styled Boyz-N-The-Hood. This is definitely best listened to while also watching the vid, so do that if you can to get the maximum on the conscious commentary angle. I do want to warn for some language and violent imagery in the lyrics (totally played with in the corresponding parts of the video).
Youtube Link: Dynamite Hack - Boyz In The Hood.
Dynamite Hack - Boyz In The Hood
Woke up quick at about noon
Just thought that I had to be in Compton soon
I gotta get drunk before the day begins
Before my mother starts bitchin' about my friends
About to go and damn near went blind
Young niggas on the path throwin' out gang signs
I went in the house to get the clip
With the Mac 10 on the side of my hip
I bailed outside and I pointed my weapon
And just as I thought, the fools kept steppin'
I jumped in the fo', hit the juice on my ride
I got front and back, side to side
Then I let the Alpine play
I was pumpin' new shit by NWA
It was, 'Gangster, Gangster' at the top of the list
Then I played my own shit, it went somethin' like this
'Cruisin' down the street in my six-fo'
Jockin' the bitches, slappin' the hos
I went to the park to get the scoop
Knuckleheads out there, cold, shootin' some hoop
A car pulls up, who can it be?
It's a fresh El Camino rollin' Kilo G
He rolls down the window and he starts to say
"It's all about makin' that G.T.A."
'Cause the boyz in the hood are always hard
Come talkin' that trash and we'll pull your card
Knowin' nothin' in life but to be legit
Don't quote me, boy, I ain't said shit
Bored as hell and I wanna get ill
So I go to a place where my homeboyz chill
The fellas out there tryna make that dolla'
I pulled up in my six-fo' Impala
Greeted with a 40 and I start drinkin'
And from the 8 ball, my breath starts stinkin'
I gotta get my girl to rock that body
Before I left I hit the Bacardi
Pulled to the house, get her out of the pad
And the bitch said somethin' to make me mad
She said somethin' that I couldn't believe
So I grabbed the stupid bitch by her nappy-ass weave
She started talkin' shit, wouldn't cha know
I reached back like a pimp and I slapped the ho
And her father stood up and he started to shout
So I threw a right cross and knocked his old ass out
'Cause the boyz in the hood are always hard
Come talkin' that trash and we'll pull your card
Knowin' nothin' in life but to be legit
Don't quote me, boy, I ain't said shit
Punk ass trippin' in the dead of night
Homie scored a key, he's gonna fly, punk ass, fly
This is problematic — but it's undeniably transformative and a very interesting snapshot of some complicated interactions in our culture. And this is another reason I support the OTW.
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that's my cousin mark singing, there. :p