Comments on: Basically I need James Taylor to cover a Jay Z song.

Question: Basically I need James Taylor to cover a Jay Z song.

allkindsoftime — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:18:01 -0800

Best nerdy white band / artist covers of rap songs (the more offensive the better).

OK so a friend recently played The Gourds' cover of Gin & Juice for me and it was clear that its pretty much her favorite thing ever, and I'd like to make her a little birthday mix-CD. Here's what else I have so far:

Jonathan Coulton - Baby Got Back
Nina Gordon - Straight out of Compton
Dynamite Hack - Boyz in the Hood

This question had a few answers that helped, but I need more of this specific type if ya'll have them. Bonus points for any suggestions including links to where I can buy / DL the songs.

By: smalls

smalls — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:21:38 -0800

Ben Folds + Bitches ain't Shit = Awesome

By: nitsuj

nitsuj — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:26:53 -0800

Lots of stuff from Richard Cheese would fit the bill.

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:31:01 -0800

I dunno if this counts for what you're looking for, but "A Lounge Tribute to Eminem" is pretty good.

By: Martin E.

Martin E. — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:32:04 -0800

the rap cover show

By: demiurge

demiurge — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:35:01 -0800

I enjoy listening to Jill Sobule's cover of Hot in Herre.

You might also be interested in Say Anything's cover of Got your money and Bowling for Soup's cover of London Bridge.

By: Ponderance

Ponderance — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:35:27 -0800

The Richard CHeese cover of Stand Up is exemplary.

Nina Gordon's cover of straight out of compton may be the worst thing ever recorded by anyone, ironic or not.

By: [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST]

[NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:37:10 -0800

Sobule also has an AWESOME cover of "Survivor" by Destiny's Child.

As a coda, throw in Tori Amos' creepy version of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde."

By: Perplexity

Perplexity — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:37:44 -0800

Phish covered Sabotage. The link is to a youtube video of it, but Googling "phish sabotage mp3" works.

By: junkbox

junkbox — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:38:26 -0800

Alanis Morisette - My Humps

By: Mach5

Mach5 — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:38:41 -0800

Dynamite Hack - Boyz in the Hood

By: Mach5

Mach5 — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:40:12 -0800

god, i am so dumb

By: Addlepated

Addlepated — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:46:30 -0800

Obadiah Parker singing Hey Ya.

By: Addlepated

Addlepated — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:47:03 -0800

(I bought the Obadiah Parker cover on iTunes.)

By: electroboy

electroboy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:04:06 -0800

Cat Power covered The Real Slim Shady. Although I think it's actually just her doing karaoke, not really a cover.

By: cmiller

cmiller — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:09:43 -0800

Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. Lots of popular music mapped to a lounge act. Instant classic.

By: Janta

Janta — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:17:57 -0800

I'm not sure they qualify as "nerdy", but the German band The Boss Hoss has an album called Internashville Urban Hymns that has several covers of songs already mentioned here -- Sabotage, Hey Ya, Hot in Herre.

By: kkokkodalk

kkokkodalk — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:34:30 -0800

Not EXACTLY what you were looking for, but maybe if you could somehow get audio version of this video? I still like to rap the 'Help the Police' version every now and then because the "go swimming with Lorenzo" part makes me giggle like a ten-year-old.

By: Good Brain

Good Brain — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:50:16 -0800

There is this ultra-cheezy version of "Gin & Juice" that sounds like a self-help relaxation tape that I found about 8 years ago. Unfortunately, I can't find the MP3, and I'm not sure I ever figured out who recorded it. Perhaps the power of MeFi can help.

By: swordfishtrombones

swordfishtrombones — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:54:05 -0800

Luka Bloom did a cover of LL Cool J's I need love.

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:13:56 -0800

May not quite fit your criteria but Andrew Kerr's "Special K" is about being a nerdy white boy longing to be a rap star, and includes bits of Rapper's Delight and Bring the Noise.

By: macadamiaranch

macadamiaranch — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:16:19 -0800

Duran Duran's cover of White Lines is really just the best thing in the world.

By: solipsophistocracy

solipsophistocracy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:25:54 -0800

The Gourds cover of Gin n' Juice is pretty good (though it's often attributed to other bands).

Phish also covered Big Pimpin', but Jay-Z joined them onstage, so I don't know if it counts or not.

By: solipsophistocracy

solipsophistocracy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:27:00 -0800

Sorry, 99 Problems and Big Pimpin'

By: slogger

slogger — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:42:28 -0800

Firehose covers PE's "Sophisticated Bitch" on the Live Totem Pole EP

linky linky

By: lockedroomguy

lockedroomguy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:54:29 -0800

Barenaked Ladies - Fight the Power
Also in the movie Coneheads I believe.

By: sambosambo

sambosambo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:29:23 -0800

Look up "Hayseed Dixie" in iTunes. They're a bluegrass AC/DC cover band, and though there doesn't appear to be any rap songs, they do have a similar style to the gourds and a wide range of rock songs.

By: The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal

The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:44:48 -0800

Travis Morrison's version of "What's Your Fantasy"!

By: upplepop

upplepop — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:47:28 -0800

The Vines - Ms.Jackson

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:24:33 -0800

Regarding the Gourds' cover of Snoop Dogg's "Gin & Juice": Here's a little video of Snoop listening to it, bopping his head to it, singing along, and proclaiming various things like "I like that shit."

By: DLWM

DLWM — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:33:11 -0800

Jamie Cullum covered Pharell's (or maybe the Neptunes', or NERD's) "Frontin'."

It's actually pretty good. So maybe not the nerdy offensive angle you're looking for. A Youtube search indicates that he's done some other rap covers, at least in live shows.

By: pupdog

pupdog — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:28:51 -0800

In a similar vein - Chance covering 'Milkshake'

If you can expand to just covers that are so, so wrong in general, April Winchell has a great collection of things to get you started

By: Ziggy Zaga

Ziggy Zaga — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:17:02 -0800

Tiga - Hot in Herre

By: tim_in_oz

tim_in_oz — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:11:44 -0800

Jenny Owen Youngs covers Hot in Herre as well. In the chorus, she is duetting with some plush animal heads mounted n the wall of an igloo. You don't see enough of that.

By: knile

knile — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:36:48 -0800

Follow-up to Martin E's link, in case you didn't look through the Coverville site, which you definitely should do for this project:
The Rap (And Hip Hop) Cover Show II.

By: anthom

anthom — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:55:48 -0800

Eels did a version of "Get Ur Freak On" that you can find on their recent Meet the Eels compilation. Apparently KT Tunstall did an acoustic version of it as well.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:24:13 -0800

The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal already kinda linked to it, but not directly, so I direct your attention to this blogpost which has a ton of such covers.

By: chazlarson

chazlarson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:19:17 -0800

Michael Hightower did a cover of Baby Got Back in Gilbert & Sullivan style

By: achmorrison

achmorrison — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:37:18 -0800

I enjoyed the cover of Yeah by Usher making clever use of a loop box.

By: cashman

cashman — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:01:07 -0800

Port O' Brien - Move, (Luda Cover)

Dan Black - Hypnotize (Biggie Cover)

Not completely James Taylorish, but awesome nonetheless. It would be way awesome if like, Jay-Z covered James Taylor instead on a hyped up guitar blazed track. "YEAH, uh! HOV! I REMEMBER RICHARD NIXON BACK IN SEVENTY-FOUR, Wha, wha, ...."