And it’s not even really “his” to be mad about since, you know, Steve Wonder?
Yes and no. He took a Stevie Wonder song and made something new out of it. I would say that made it his.
I would suggest listening to the original Neil Diamond version of Red, Red Wine and the UB40 version. Basically all UB40 did was make it a more reggaeish sound and add a dub bit in the middle and they took an absolutely awful song, turned it into something new, and made it theirs.
And that is less different than Gangsta’s Paradise is from Pastime Paradise.
And I think we’d both agree that Amish Paradise is Weird Al’s song.
Sure, but on a gradient, it clearly has a shaky ground to stand on being pissed over it.
No matter how you spin it, the core of Gangsta’s paradise success is not coming from what Coolio added, other than taking something good in a less “fresh” genre and bringing it into the cool (heh) teen friendly gangsta-rap scene.
Tbh, I think it’s evenly split. The violin and the rapped verses are each about half the appeal for me.
That said, I’d never actually heard Pastime Paradise before (or I’d assumed it was gangstas paradise) and I liked it as well. I like Amish paradise less, but that’s just because I don’t generally like parody songs as much as the originals. I respect the hell out of Weird Al and think he’s one of the most talented modern musicians out there, but his songs tend to hit me more academically than emotionally.
No matter how you spin it, the core of Gangsta’s paradise success is not coming from what Coolio added, other than taking something good in a less “fresh” genre and bringing it into the cool (heh) teen friendly gangsta-rap scene.
“It wasn’t successful because of anything Coolio did, except for that thing that made all of the difference”
You’re sounding extremely ignorant about music and also older than steam 😄
I would suggest listening to the original Neil Diamond version of Red, Red Wine and the UB40 version. Basically all UB40 did was make it a more reggaeish sound and add a dub bit in the middle and they took an absolutely awful song, turned it into something new, and made it theirs.
Hey, I agree. Check out the Tony Tribe version from 1969, if you’re not familiar with it. It kind of reinforces your point, because all these versions are so different.
Very cool, Coolio! I wonder how Eminem feels today. He initially gave Weird Al permission to do a music video for his parody of Lose Yourself, titled Couch Potato, but changed his mind just before Weird Al was finished filming it. Weird Al released a faked interview where he asks questions and Eminem’s responses are clips of him from other interviews. It mostly centers around how much of a strong supporter of artistic expression he is and how he’s against censorship of artists.
The fake interview wasn’t unique to Eminem. He’s been doing that since the 80s.
Here’s all of them in order, starting with the first Al TV MTV special in 1984.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqD1fWGCa1A&list=PL5jyHzWb-o-2RNJbv5wMvegcXSYJlly91
starting with the first Al TV MTV special in 1984
24 years old at the time and it feels like he has barely aged since.
This was refreshing to read.
The story I heard was that Coolio had beef right up until he got his first royalty cheque. Because of parody, Weird Al isn’t required to pay a royalty, but he does anyway because he’s a class act.
This looks like a story of personal growth. I’m proud of you, Coolio
RIP to Coolio. It takes a real man to admit when you’re wrong - props to him for acknowledging that. It’s also hard to imagine anyone legitimately “beefing” with Weird Al as well.
He really was cool.
