There’s no music on the MySpace page for Yo! Indie Rock Raps yet, but we’re sure that when the samples do get posted, they will include at least one of the following: a, a “sensitive” reading of Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’”; b, a gender-flipped version of “Wait (The Whisper Song)”; or c, an emo-kid version of “Show Me What You Got.” A proposal: Can we call a moratorium on semi-smartass versions of pop songs by saddoes who are dopey enough to refer to themselves as “indie”? Sure, it’s a surefire way to get love from the music-blog masses, but most of the time, the covers only serve to call attention to how indie snobbery results in pop myopia and bad hair.
Yo! Indie Rock Raps [MySpace, via Paper Thin Walls]
The Weird Al rule: pop song parodies are funnier when you a) change the words or b) turn it into a polka. Slowing it down and turning into a mock-serious indie rock song just isn’t as effective.
I’m convinced that sensitivo-rap indie-rock covers are just a snarky way to be transgressive. Look at me, I’m a white person covering an NWA song; therefore I can get away with racial epithets that would get me shunned and probably beaten up in any other context.
Right on, Maura.
The Gourds, “Gin & Juice”; Jonathan Coultan – “Baby’s Got Back” – funny songs, interesting approaches to the idea of rap as melodies. I’ll even give you that Alanis “My Humps” just cause the video was a hoot. When I heard that Nina Gordon yuk-fest I knew that this idea had played itself out. Unless you have something interesting to bring to it, it’s just self-aware hipsters trying to score easy points.
@mike a: Exactly.
Having said the above, I do like Casiotone For The Painfully Alone/Dear Nora’s woozy cover of “Hot Boyz.”
Wow. I never expected Idolator to be one to complain about “indie snobbery.”
@KurticusMaximus: Say what you will about snobbery, but what makes me ill about the white guy rap cover is the detachment factor. Why not enjoy the music at face value, instead of waiting for some jackass with an acoustic guitar to deliver a smirking cover?
@mike a: Totes. The Mountain Goats and Giant Drag and Belaire pull it off well too. Maybe when a cover is completely deadpan or twee — or a combination of both, it’s not so bad.
And, of course, then there’s Jellybean!
@DanGibson: Further that, there’s something disquietingly, well, racist about the idea that rap lyrics + incongruous musical idiom = instant comedy. Are you covering this song because it speaks to you and you want a chance to explore a different interpretation of it? Or are you just pandering?
@puffermedia: Well, people go and see Jamie Kennedy movies, so I’m going with pandering, although I’m sure there are exceptions.
The Superwolf “Ignition” cover also qualifies, i think, as non-snarky, non-”ironic”, actually decent cover. God knows it’s 1 jillion times better than the child-pissing R. Kelly’s version.
A side note: many rap lyrics are already ridiculous enough to pass for unintentional comedy. Hiphop includes some of the smartest songs ever written, and some of the very dumbest. There’s no shame in appreciating the absurd humor in a tortured rhyme or malapropism. That’s why SNL’s “Lazy Sunday” parody wasn’t offensive: its humor was that it was a rap song about nerdiest, non-rap subject matter. It would have been almost as funny if Run-DMC was doing the rapping.
FYI… by “indie rock,” they mean independent rock bonds, not indie in the genre sense of the word. New Found Glory’s gonna be on it (they’re technicnally not on a major anymore) and emo/punk act My American Heart will be on it too, as well as Person L.
the indie rock bond market has been tanking for years, smart investors are advised to transfer their holdings to precious metals such as “Gord’s Gold” or “Kiss Double Platinum”