nina gordon - "straight outta compton"

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.

Because she's treading dangerously close to minstrelsy. I didn't mean uncomfortable and inappropriate in a "wow, she's really pushing the envelope" type way, because she's not. This kind of cover song is ancient news by this point. It's hacky, really.

The notion that "only black people should cover black people's songs" is obviously absurd. I'm speaking about context.
When Nina Gordon plays this song, what's telegraphed is "revel in the disparity between a white, female, folky singer singing lyrics written by young black men from an at-the-time unheard of city where violence is prevelant, police brutality is common, misogyny is the norm, etc. etc. etc." You have to assume that you are meant to respond to this contrast. Because you CAN'T respond to the song itself as it's performed here: It's completely stripped of the context that made it so powerful. She hasn't made the song hers, she's exploited it for something resembling a laugh or a raised eyebrow.
And she didn't do it with any panache or originality, either (seriously, that "Boyz N the Hood" cover that's been referenced, by Dynamite Hack or whatever, is the exact same thing as this, and also clumsy and thoughtless).

But it's not such a contrast. White women experiencing violence, police brutality and misogyny? Check, check, check. The contrast is less in the context and emotion conveyed in this version than in the musical style.

Hey, you and stanley crouch agree on something! Oh wait, you were talking about nina, not gangsta rap.

Nina Gordon can't be betraying "Straight Outta Compton"'s original meaning because it never had 1 fixed original meaning. This undermines the irony arguments too, because the song was ironic when it was written. Some people seem to forget that, amongst other qualities, most Hip Hop is funny as fuck.

Geez, Mark. (And Ben!) This isn't the end times. What the hell is wrong w/ Nina Gordon interpreting this song and finding another way to spin it (thank you Lex!), as is common throughout the history of popular music? And don't give me nonsense about the song's original power or "re-interpreting black anger" or lord knows what other culture shock y'all are going through - a song is a song is a song. The fact that you're unable to divorce the song from its point of origin and its originator isn't the song's fault, so stop trying to make it sound like that.

(Somewhere in Bizarro World, folks are posting to Me Love Music about this song, saying stuff like, "Me happy someone rescue rap music from evil man and make rap pretty with melody and guitar.")

it kinda sounds like something that would be on a National Lampoon record in the early 90s had they existed then, though more straight faced.

What is clever about it? Every high school talent show Ive ever been to had an act of some kid doing rap covers accoustically.

I'm off to check out the Cinderella cover with not-so-high hopes. "Fallin' Apart at the Seams" would have been a wicked choice.

you say "a song is a song is a song" - i'm curious if you feel the same way about language? i realize that we're getting dangerously close to the vice mag debate territory, but i'm afraid that my objections with the gordon track come from the same places.

My bad.

What about when CCR covers "Cotton Fields"? What about white guys who frequent hiphop shows? What about when Ben Kingsley portrays Gandhi in a movie? Are all these things outrageous too?

I don't believe that only some are "entitled" to certain experiences (e.g. hoodlife), and those people are the sole proprietors of any language and dialogue that stems from such experiences. As a common race, we can understand and empathize with other humans. And I understand it sounds ridiculous for a folkie doing an NWA cover, but not too long ago it was skinny white British guys like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles and Led Zeppelin who were playing Robert Johnson and Rev. Gary Davis covers. And where did they get their muse from? Sure as fuck not from getting lynched in Mississippi. What right did they have to do those songs?-- and not just do them, but also build on their themes and make hundreds of albums of them? Empathy. A shared bond from being human. That gives them the right.

Is this song parody? Who knows? All I'm saying is that parody or not, it communicates the idea that these two divergent perspectives (Nina Gordon, Ice Cube) co-exist on planet Earth simultaneously; in fact, perhaps that's the thing that causes us all to respond to this with so much gusto. Some of us see it as an affront for one person to champion their ghetto lifestyle so passionately only to see someone else mimick it so (ostensibly) thoughtlessly; some of us think that the apparent cry for help exhibited in the lyrics is being exploited for humor value; some of us think that it's a good song, so who cares? ; others think that a valuable message is being conveyed through the odd juxtaposition.

Regardless, one thing is easily and effectively communicated by this song: there is a huge disparity in the living standards and lifestyles of different people in the world. Is it so bad for us to be aware of this? And, furthermore, is it only acceptable for the underpriviledged to make this statement? Aren't the priviledged also entitled to the same statement?

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