nina gordon - "straight outta compton"

http://www.ninagordon.com/sightsandsounds.html

(xpost scott you are drunk)

Tori Amos says she's covered "Fear Of A Black Planet", but never released it. She did release her cover of "97 Bonnie & Clyde" though!

I didn't know that "According to Jim" had started having bon mots! I'm going to have to start tuning in.

Surely there's something offensive about this?

Normally, I'd agree, but go back and listen to the original right now, and you'll hear that Cube's phrasing is more annoying and faux-confrontational than pleasing to the ears. Yeah, yeah, I know it's supposed to be some sort of canonical moment, but Cube always got on my nerves with his cloying bravado, and honestly, his delivery on that song probably could have been done better by someone else.

Obviously I meant another rapper circa 1988, Mr. Smarty-pants. ;Þ

Also, does this thread count as an additional vote in the Stereogum: C or D thread?

these are bad things how?

over-reverence to source material is not to be encouraged, and is probably a bit rockist.

This rendition takes any and all power and meaning out of the song. It's a huge insult.

This bit reminds me of Pfork frothing at the mouth re: Northern State not knowing about hip-hop history, and is equally silly.

Either way, this song SUXX0R U ALL R GAY

I was just going to post about how lots of people on this thread seem to think that pretty folksiness and anger are mutually exclusive, which they're not. I think she's more intent on conveying sadness rather than anger though, at the same time as strength, and she does that very well.

The singer out of Veruca Salt has a fan demographic? Fuck!

(This post brought to you by a scratched-up, unplayable copy of The Cooler and a fucking headache.)

Can we get a remix with two other gals taking Ren and Eazy-E's lyrics? Someone way up there gave Nellie McKay a shout, that'd work for one of 'em.

Why is NWA entitled to more "respect" just because they're a hiphop group?
Strawman. No one said they're deserving of "more 'respect'" - respect, period.

What's unhealthy is all these exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!

Maybe she's got a new album coming out or was dropped by her label and is looking for another one.

"Nina Gordon, who?", many of us would've said previously. Now we've all gotten a big 300+ post reminder that she exists. Her work here is done.

"Nina Gordon, who?", many of us would've said previously. Now we've all gotten a big 300+ post reminder that she exists

i'm sure that argument will weigh a lot with sony.

This video just reinforces how ridiculous and over-the-top the lyrics are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6D5xpCgETk

That's actually pretty funny.

The police in the video are more YMCA than LAPD.

Weird, this song spontaneously got stuck in my head when this thread got bumped.

90s West Coast rappers seem to have all gotten their video white people from the same low-grade casting agency.

haha, classic thread

more like "straight into used bin" amirite?

I was kinda shocked the original post was 5 years old...some of this read v. much like in the wake of the whole post-CocoRosie N-word discussion--I'm surprised it was not mentioned at all in there, though by all accounts I guess that just measures how forgettable it was...

For future reference:

The Canonical List of Overheated ILM Race Relation Threads

White musicians and "artistic" use of the N-word: A Discussion and Social History

^the thread I wz referring to

but yeah I prolley should read entire thread...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6Oej7K469I

lol, straight outta compton was 80s!

I was in a coffee shop that was playing what seemed to be an entire compilation of this stuff, mostly acoustic covers of 80s hits -- time after time, I wanna dance with somebody, I forget what else, wide variety of styles all collapsed into that same sort of weepy, sort of sultry but not actually sexy zone, and it occurred to me that this genre is basically the modern equivalent of muzak -- taking a bunch of disparate songs, flattening them, sucking out any specific emotional content and re-constituting them as a consistent musical paste.

Like, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" is all about getting energized and chasing your blues away, doing it as a melancholy song is so point missing and dull, and doing Time After Time, a legitimately heartbreaking song, at that same emotional level is equally point-missing.

well put

pretty strange to read this thread in 2018

Not exactly the same thing, but there’s this really dreary Sia-esque cover of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” that I keep hearing snippets of on TV (maybe it’s the theme to some show?). Perhaps this doesn’t miss the point nearly as much as that Whitney cover you’re talking about, but at least the Tears For Fears song had an actual pulse.

pretty strange to read this thread in 2018

― ? (seandalai), Sunday, January 28, 2018 5:31 PM

Agreed. Shakey with pretty much the only right take way back when.

Welp, up to a point: "I couldn't care less about the language/cultural baggage issues people are harping on."

this is a thing that's happening now (4 years old but they're a lot more popular now)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibceUSL0lPU

Wow this thread. I would like to hear from the 2005 posters, have you changed your minds in the last 13 years or are you still willing to defend this?

I enjoyed two listens to the Nina Gordon 13 years ago, but Neanderthal's link there is an absolute warcrime

Holy shit this thread is insane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY3jOkM3JFY

i saw the Skivvies live. they're Broadway performers with pretty great pedigree, Lauren Molina played Ms Lovett in Sweeney Todd on Broadway. when the set was just them doing pop/cabaret-type numbers it was fun. the shit like Kelis's "Milkshake" and other "lol yuk yuk we're doing hip hop in hoedown style" numbers made me seek the nearest exit.

ooooh here we go, this is what this thread needs for 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlSmsKJq3CI

still otm about the ignition cover though

taking a bunch of disparate songs, flattening them, sucking out any specific emotional content and re-constituting them as a consistent musical paste

the generic condensation of the experience of a streaming playlist, designed for tastefully inoffensive coffeeshop audio