Covers - Acoustic Hip-Hop Covers

When singers cover hip-hop songs, it's usually a little intentionally goofy, like, hey look how cool I am. Which makes it extremely uncool.

The most notorious of these was Unholy Trio's cover of Bring the Noise. Someone sent it to me years ago, thinking I would like it. I've kept it because it annoys me so much.

Here are a few better ones:

Tali, 21 Questions (50 cent cover).

I hate 50 cent and the rest of the G-Unit. They are terrible rappers, their lyrics are awful, and I don't like their tracks. However, after catching this live performance of 21 Questions, I admit I kinda like the song . . . as long as it's being performed by Tali with piano accompanyment.

Buy the song on iTunes here.

Ben Folds, Bitches Ain't Shit (Dr. Dre cover).

I am not a big Ben Folds fans, but I do love the song "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You," which is like my personal theme song. This is straight-forward studio cover.

You can buy this song on iTunes here.

Willy Mason, The Message (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five cover).

Willy Mason is a 19 year old artist with a couple of albums out, but this song is my first exposure to him. His performance of the song gives, well, the message an immediacy and makes it very contemporary. It appears to have been recorded live on a radio show, but I think it's been misidentified as BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.

Buy Willy Mason on iTunes here.