Look out! He's got a knife!

> 99 Problems by Ice-T, covered by Jay-Z

I had no idea. The things you learn!

Yeah, I've wondered the same thing, and haven't come up with any at all - I didn't know Jay-Z did 99 Problems until this week, actually. (And I was suprised to see on one track he says that if he had his way he'd rap like Talib Kweli or Common Cause but he went where the money was to give back to the community. JayZ has become much more interesting to me in the last week.)

I think it's probably because so much credibility and status in rap is based on lyrical prowess, and lyrics are usually very much personalized.

I can see room for "semi-covers" where the beats are the same and the lyrics are riffs on the old themes, though. And a lot of remixes are arguably covers.

Well Jay-Z's cover of 99 Problems changes most of the lyrics so the thrust of the song isn't nearly as misogynistic. Ice's version was pornographic, with Brother Marquis from 2 Live Crew contributing the worst verse.

His stuff on Missy Elliott's albums is my pick of his best. Though the Double Black version of 99 Problems is great too.

First, what morgue said. It's so personalised and ego based (at least lots of what I've seen) that ther'd be little point covering most of it.

Second, it's still ghettoised within musicians. Hip hip covers other styles of music, others styles of music don't cover hip hop. When they do, that will be a cultural turning point of some kind.

Blah. Gotta go.

Hey billy, how come you don't link to your livejournal in your comments? Just curious.

Yeah lots of hiphop is very ego driven, including a huge percentage of the popular stuff. But there's also plenty that isn't especially when you go back to old-school pioneers like Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5. If someone covered their track The Message today, it'd sound brand new without needing to change a word. I'd seriously recommend checking out the lyrics if you're unfamiliar with the song. http://www.lyricsfreak.com/g/grandmaster-flash/62225.html

Some of the better ego-driven rappers could stand being covered too. Ice-T has a number of tracks that would stand up well performed by other artists. Eg his chilling Peel Their Caps Back, which anyone who thinks he's pro-violence should check out. Gangsta rappers missed the whole point when they stole from him. http://www.lyricsondemand.com/i/icetlyrics/peeltheircapsbacklyrics.html

cos the additiverich comments script remembers what i entered over at morgue's one and i never updated it.

how did ice-t get from cop killer to playing a tv cop?

> Jay-Z's cover of 99 Problems changes most of the lyrics

Actually, virtually all of them except for the hook. It ends up less a cover of Ice-T's track and more of a song which samples it. Which I'm guessing is the hip-hop equivalent of a cover.

I've heard a couple of rock covers of rap songs ("Gin and Juice", "Boyz in the Hood") but they were done with a little tongue in cheek.

Ice-T's Cop Killer song has been widely misinterpreted. He never advocated killing cops - he never advocated killing ANYONE ("'Cause whenever somebody dies, nobody wins" - Let's Peel Their Caps Back). The song needs to be heard in the context of the 1992 LA riots, as it's really about the anger at the cops who beat Rodney King getting let off.

As usual, people took it out of context. At concerts Ice used to talk about the differences between good cops and bad cops before they played it.

Mos Def & Talib Kweli, on their Black Star album, cover "Children's Story" by... uh, Slick Rick I think. Faithful enough that a word that appears as a sample in the original is sung by Mos Def hisself on the cover. But also similar story to 99 Problems - lyrics changed. Same thing happens on a lot of other genres' covers. "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals springs to mind: they turn a song about a prostitute into one about a gambler. Guess they were less comfortable than Leadbelly with singing about being a woman? Anyway, while roughly agreeing that ego-driven music might limit the use of other people's words (especially ones which feature the name of the artist), I'd also point out that there are other reasons for not doing covers, like topicality - Midnight Oil being an example (though they did do some covers at gigs, suggesting that their albums and their gigs served different functions).

So, anyone got a figure on whatever you call songwriter-written songs as opposed to covers?