Ben Folds - "Bitches Ain't Shit"

I love song covers. I love the creativity involved in re-making an already good song into something new and interesting. I love it when the cover takes the song in a completely new direction, a la Matt Weddle's 'Hey Ya', where the boisterous Outkast song is turned into a soulful guitar ballad.

Another thing I love is appropriating so-called 'gangsta' language into my own vocabulary (see below video). People who know me well can often hear be refer to my friends as my 'bitches' or 'hos', as well as bidding adieu with a well placed peace out'.

Ben Folds' cover of Dr.Dre's 'Bitches Ain't Shit' combines both of these things I love. Beyond being an interesting, innovative cover, it has alot of inherent value, and it's a good song. The haunting chord progression and his clear, honest voice really relate the sadness of the song -- a sadness that is lost among the aggressive beats of the original.

(WARNING: If you have any problem with swearing, do not watch this video. It's also not safe to listen to if you're at work, or anywhere else where people will judge you if a stream of soft-sung profanities starts pouring out of your speakers)
(Also, ignore the lame video -- Ben Folds never made an official video, all the live versions are shite, so this is the most non-lame of the lame homemade videos people posted)




(For more on the amazing interplay between white people and hip-hip references see: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/08/18/107-self-aware-hip-hop-references/)
(And for another really interesting rap song cover, check out the cover of Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" by a band called Framing Hanley)

--E-dawg, word up.