Do you think Jay Z likes bluegrass? I bet he does.
Alright, here I go. First post for LTD, and I am starting off strong by posting late! Sorry everyone. I hope the song choices cheer you right back up. We’ve got ourselves a hip hop battle, kids. I’ll give you more time on getting your votes in, since I am late getting this out to you guys. Votes are due in the comments section below by Thursday, October 6 by 10pm EST. Now, on to the music!
UPDATED: Here is the actual link for Grooveshark. Sorry! That’s just me struggling.
First up we have Hugo, full name: Hugo Chakrabongse Levy, a Thailand-born and British raised musician, covering Brooklyn born and raised Jay-Z in the song 99 Problems. Hugo is up against another acoustic take: Boyz in the Hood, as done by Dynamite Hack, a band whose name is based on a line from Caddyshack. Apparently that is the kind of marijuana that Bill Murray’s character smoked. Thanks Wikipedia! Good to know.
Next up we’ve got The Gourds taking on Gin and Juice, originally done by good old Snoop Dogg. Will they be able to take on Anya Marina as she tells us we can have Whatever You Like?
I'm not sure what is going on here, but I like it.
Continuing on our festive way, Karmin does Party Rock Anthem, originally by LMFAO with a sweeeet sample from Rick Ross. Sidenote: I have re-interpreted those Hustlin’ lyrics for my own lifestyle to say “every day I’m struggling.” Not quite as glamorous, huh? Still catchy though. Anyways. Karmin is up against Run DMC doing Walk This Way. This cover does feature Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, putting it into the gray area of covers, but it made the list, so let’s see how people vote!
Besties!
Our final match up of the evening brings together Kid Cudi and Kanye West. The Fray covers Kanye’s Heartless, and Kanye is apparently a big fan. They face Lissie, in her second nominated song, covering Kid Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness.
Phew. We made it. Happy voting! Here’s the list for cutting and pasting:
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie.
Living the Dream 
i think the grooveshark link was pasted incorrectly
Fixed! Sorry about that!!
No worries, I’ve certainly been guilty of the same thing in the past 🙂
3 posts, one night. Struggles (Maureen) was writing this while I played the last one, and I figured I’d just knock this one out now. Plus I get to tell her if it any of the songs don’t work.
“99 Problems” by Hugo = 8.2
“Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack = 8.5 Might want to throw out a NSFW tag. This is NOT the radio edit. I liked them both a lot. Shame someone has to lose.
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds = 5 Oh hey, check it out, it’s Phish! Or the the most mistagged song ever downloaded on Napster/KaZaa/PirateBay. OK for kitsch value, but I don’t see it going far.
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina = 3 Welcome to the Hipsters Doing Rap Covers Party. Meh. The problem is the crappy source material. There’s only so many times I can hear about how much money rappers have over a generic (slow) beat before it becomes cliche. That happened back in ’05. Doing covers of it doesn’t really change the situation.
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin = 2. I have a seething hatred for the original song. Maureen will attest that I had to leave the room when it started. This is marginally better. But then again, the song itself it stupid beyong words. The lyrics make me want to punt kittens. Nothing against Karmin, I just absolutely loathe this song.
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC = 7. This collaboration (calling this a cover is like saying Puff Daddy covered Kasmir with Jimmy Page) is better than the original. Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna dock points for not being a cover though.
“Heartless” by The Fray = 7. This…works. It isn’t the same old white-person-doing-an-acoustic-guitar-appealing-to-white-people version. Dave Chappelle would be so proud.
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie = 4 I’m really trying to not compare the original to the cover, but sometimes you just can’t. This is a song about smoking weed. Lots of it. The original works because Cudi’s voice has a lazy feel to it. Lissie powers through this one like one of those wierd straightedge kids. It wasn’t terrible, but she totally misses the point.
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 7/0
I listened to both of these twice. 99 Problems is interesting, the fact that they rewrote the lyrics suggests they actually thought about the implications of a bunch of white dudes covering a song talking so directly about a black man’s experience. Unlike this cover of Boyz in the Hood. It’s not edgy or clever for a bunch of white dudes to cover a song like this. I have mixed enough feelings about the original, but it’s just straight up offensive when these men do it. I get it, they probably think it’s hi-lar-ious for them to appropriate someone else’s experiences of violence and oppression and make some cover with their bunch of stoner friends to play at their college’s open mic. But it’s not, it’s just pathetic and tired. It really bummed me out and put a huge damper on the rest of the round.
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 4.5/7
G&J was kind of fun but wore out its welcome and isn’t going to stand up to repeated listens. I might light this Whatever You Like more than the original, but I’m so sick of the original.
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC 5/6.5
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 3/5
Heartless got boring quick.
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack: 4/ 4
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina: 7/ 5
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC 1/9
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 3/ 6
“99 Problems” by Hugo 6
vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 7
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds 5
vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 5
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin 4
vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC 5
“Heartless” by The Fray 2
vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 6 Reminds me of Springsteen
“99 Problems” by Hugo 6
“Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 4
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds 6.5
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 7.75
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin 7.2
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC 5
“Heartless” by The Fray 3
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie 9.5
“Poets are damned, but they are not blind.” -William Carlos Williams
“99 Problems” by Hugo 7
“Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 6.5
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds 7
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 5
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin 4
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC 9
“Heartless” by The Fray 4
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie 6
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack
7.5/3
I think the 99 Problems cover is far more satisfying than the Boyz in the Hood. Also ditto what Aiko said about the appropriation in the latter song being offensive and depressing. Plus, is Dynamite Hack the band from the freecreditreport.com commericals?
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina
3/8.5
I don’t like gin and juice, the drink or the song. Any version of it. Although I find it amusing to watch white people sing along to it when it comes on at white people parties.
Whatever you Like and T.I. in general are guilty pleasures that never fail to take me back to my last summer in New Orleans. I really like Anya Marina’s voice. I’m not sure that this will hold up for me, especially because she’s a little bit of the wrong kind of intense for this song, but I dig it right now.
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC
9/3
I love Party Rock Anthem. I won’t even apologize. LOVE it. And I think I enjoy Karmin’s version even more than the original. At least today. On the other hand, there’s Walk this Way, which I don’t like. ugh. The highs and lows of this set of songs are killin me.
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie.
7.75/8.25
The Fray fit Heartless better than I thought. Lissie’s Pursuit of Happiness made me happy and I had to listen to it again to take the edge off after some of those unhappy songs.
99 Problems by Hugo 6.5
Boyz in the Hood by Dynamite Hack 4
Gin and Juice by The Gourds 9
Whatever You Like by Anya Marina 5
I nominated Gin and Juice and the Grooveshark song is different than the one I was thinking of- not hugely different but I think the Grooveshark version is annoying. The youtube link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4hGSR5njZE
Party Rock Anthem by Karmin 8.5
Walk This Way by Run DMC 7
Absolutely love Karmin- I’ve listened to Party Rock Anthem pretty much every day since Danno nominated it.
Heartless by The Fray 5.5
Pursuit of Happiness by Lissie 6.5
I kinda hate The Fray and I’m pretty sure it’s ABC’s fault. That being said, this song by them wasn’t bad.
woo!
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. 7
“Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 4
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. 4
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 4
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. 3
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC 8
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. 5
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 7
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack – 7/5
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina – 7.5/4
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC – 3/5
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. – 5.5/4
“99 Problems” by Hugo 5.5
“Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 4
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds 3
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 5.5
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin 8.5
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC 6.5
So PRA is my nomination…no objections at all to people’s scores (note i didn’t even Danno Hammer!), but I would be remiss if I didn’t object to WTW being in the tournament at all. Tyler and Perry are on the track (it wasn’t even sampled, they recorded with Run DMC) …this kind of seems like a no-brainer to me #WorldsTiniestFiddle #FirstWorldProblems
“Heartless” by The Fray 4.5
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie 4
“99 Problems” by Hugo = 7.5
vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack=4
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds = 6.5
vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina =3
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin = 5
vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC = 8.5
“Heartless” by The Fray = 5
vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie = 5.5
“99 Problems” by Hugo – 7.2 – Haw, not bad
“Boyz in the Hood” Dynamite Hack – 7 – Man, I don’t know what to make of this. The lyrics sound so funny the way they sing it.
I guess these are kind of interchangeable for me, slight nod to the 99 problems arrangement.
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds – This is definitely my favorite of this genre. – 8 – This one gets nostalgia points.
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina – 6 – Kind of bland.
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin – 3 – Her rapping is irritating.
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC – 7.5 – This is pretty classic.
“Heartless” by The Fray – 4.5
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. – 3.5
I’m surprised that with all these rock (and bluegrass) rap covers, no one got jj doing Lil Wayne!
“99 Problems” by Hugo 4 [this is really because I like the original so much—the cover falls so short of it I can’t really but want to hear the original instead.]
“Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 3.0
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds 4 [this happened.]
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 4.5
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin 6
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC 8
“Heartless” by The Fray 3.5
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie 6
Although I really think “Walk This Way” should get DQ’d, or at least receive an * in the record books.
“99 Problems” by Hugo – 8
“Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack – 5
99: yay, that was fun! thanks, nominator! boyz: meh.
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds – 9
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina – 6
love love love the gin & juice cover. also love that it was such a napster phenomenon that got thousands of people convinced it was phish. not the best version, though? anya was all right too, but not a winner in this round.
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin – 3
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC – 7.5
PRA was a bit annoying. WTW is classic fun. i think WTW is a legit cover. i had also considered nominating some songs that featured the original artist. and even though tyler/perry are on the track, run dmc very much made it their own sound.
“Heartless” by The Fray – 4.5
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie – 4
blah. you know, i think i liked lissie a lot more before this tournament.
i’ll admit that i don’t know the original versions of most of these… call me old white lady.
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack: 7 : 6
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina: 7.3 : 6.8
Gin and Juice was too long, and maybe the third straight white boy rap was a bit much, but it still takes it.
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC: 5.7 : 8.5
I think the eligibility question is a close call, but Run DMC does make it their own.
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie 3: 7.9
Lissie was impressive.
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 7.5/3.5
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 5/5.5
I liked both of the spins on these songs, but both kinda dragged for me.
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC 5.5/7*
I did like Karmin a lot more without the video.
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 4.5/1.5
Like someone already said, Lissie’s tone is way wrong for this song. The way she takes a huge breath between every two notes she sings is incredibly annoying. Her original stuff is better at least.
Having a beer after class on my friend Kelsie’s rooftop. Votes for me/Kelsie.
“99 Problems” by Hugo – 7.5 / 7
“Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack – 2/2
M: totally dig Hugo. Great take on this song. Not into Dynamite. Ditto to most of Aiko’s comments.
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds – 4 / 2
“Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina – 6 / 5
We were both pretty over Gin and Juice after about 3 minutes. Not feeling that today.
K: I didn’t mind Whatever You Like, but I didn’t heart it. It was way better than the first one.
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin – 6 / 4
“Walk This Way” by Run DMC – 3/3
I also am pretty on the fence about WTW counting as a cover…plus I kind of find Aerosmith annoying. Kelsie said it felt just like the original.
“Heartless” by The Fray – 5.5 / 6
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie – 8.5 / 6
True story, I kind of have a crush on Lissie.
Tough day for kday (the wife), her only two nominations up for vote in the same post!
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 4 / 8
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 6 / 9
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC 1 / 2 (Too soon for PRA to be a cover)
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 9 / 5
99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 8/4
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 4/4
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC 3/8.5
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 4/5.5
Sorry no comments. TYping on seven inch screen.
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 7.5 to 4.0
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 3.0 to 5.0
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC 5.0 to 3.5
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 4.0 to 6.5
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack 5.5 to 2.5
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina 2.0 to 4.5
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC 4.0 to 2.5
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie. 4.5 to 5.5
realized we are back to voting! just in on time… thanks for the later deadline
“99 Problems” by Hugo vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack
anna: 6.8 / 8 jay: 5.3 / 10.8!! (i love this song!!)
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina
anna: 9.4 / 6 (very weird) jay: 8.9 / 6.2
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC
anna: 5 / 6 (loses a lot of points because, while awesome, sounds just like the original.. which to me defeats most of the purpose of covering a song..) jay: 6.8 / 4.6
“Heartless” by The Fray vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie
anna: 8 / 8.5 (i loved this pairing)
jay: 5.2 / 9.1
i think it’s interesting how differently i judge songs where i don’t know the original (or, more specifically, know the original song by heart) – anna
So glad there was an extension so I could get my votes in. I think I speak for procrastinators everywhere, the later things are due, the better.
“99 Problems” by Hugo – 5
vs. “Boyz in the Hood” by Dynamite Hack – 6.25
“Gin and Juice” by The Gourds – 5.75
vs. “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina – 7.5
“Party Rock Anthem” by Karmin – 4.25
vs. “Walk This Way” by Run DMC – 5.5
I keep trying to like Karmin. I guess you can see how far I got with that.
“Heartless” by The Fray – 6.75
vs. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie – 9
I didn’t expect to give out any high scores tonight, but loved this last one.