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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.
he looks younger.
Laughter is the best medicine, I guess.
Know what I’m sayin’?
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.
RIP to Coolio
Damn, had no idea he died. Looks like it was an OD, too. That sucks. :(
Awe man! I didn’t know he died. Coolio was cool as fuck.
RIP Kwanza Bot
There are fewer songs that have been parodied by Wierd Al than have won Grammys, therefor making it the more prestigious accomplishment in the music industry.
You’re confusing prestigious with rare. Like how there are fewer albums that I’ve literally shat on than albums that have gone platinum, but me shitting on albums is rarer, not more prestigious.
They may have used the word wrong, but getting parodied by Weird Al is actually more prestigious than winning a Grammy. Not because Weird Al parodies are rare, but because he only parodies songs that are actually pretty good. I have trouble believing that if the song were actually bad, playing it on accordion with jokey lyrics would be an improvement. There’s no Weird Al parody of a Nickelback song, that I know of.
Now that you say that, I really want an oompah- style song called “Phonograph”
but because he only parodies songs that are actually pretty good.
Counterpoint: he parodied Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm by the Crash Test Dummies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU95v23MQ4c
(It’s also his most dated song.)
You’re not making any sense.
Parodying Nickelback is also wasted effort making fun of songs that are already jokes.
I meant what I said. As a musician, I would be more ho ored to have a Wierd Al parody than a Grammy.
Prestige is in the eye of the beholder, don’t discount the value of your fecal fortitude so quickly.
Poop Records could become the next NFTs!
Says you!
I don’t think they are
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
Coolio won me over when he changed his name to El Cool Magnifico half-way through Celebrity Fear Factor, which he of course won. He even changed his hairstyle to reflect the altered persona lol
I’m shocked to see that someone else remembers that lol.
IIRC Ol’ Dirty Bastard died around that time. I remember Coolio talking about that during his appearance.
We only had 5 channels when I was a kid and there was a good stretch of years where Fear Factor was always on when I got off school, I saw that episode a few times.
Every thing I read about Coolio makes him appear like a super down to earth, funny as hell chill guy. I’ll never forget the hot ones appearance.
I remember once I guest asked Sean if anyone had been seriously hurt eating the sauces, and Sean took a hard think and said, “We haven’t heard from Coolio”
I think it was the Gordon Ramsay one. The day Coolio died there were tons of new comments on that video.
It takes a big person to cop to things like that, instead of doubling down. Whatever his reasons, we should all strive to be as open to admitting when we were wrong as Coolio was.
This is who I always aspire to be. Big enough to forgive, but also ask for forgiveness.
He really was cool.
He wasn’t just cool, he was Coolio.
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.
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.
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.
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 😄
Well, steam is from 2003 so…
The thing that “made all the difference” is not a particolarly impressive feat.
If you think for a moment that Coolio AKA everybody-only-knows-him-for-that-song is even remotedly in the same ballpark of Steve Wonder you are out of your mind.
Well, steam is from 2003 so…
I obviously meant steam power, not the game store that’s much newer than the song you’re acting old about 🙄
The thing that “made all the difference” is not a particolarly impressive feat.
Showing your ignorance again. Do you even know how music works at all? What it IS??
If you think for a moment that Coolio AKA everybody-only-knows-him-for-that-song is even remotedly in the same ballpark of Steve Wonder you are out of your mind
And here comes the common refuge for people who can’t win on the ACTUAL arguments being made: the strawman argument.
Nobody’s saying that one great song makes him comparable to Stevie Wonder. All I’m saying is that his cover IS his song that HE (as well as the fantastic vocals of LV in the chorus) made successful.
I obviously meant steam power
I know?
Anyway, I’m not a producer I’m the average consumer. Maybe miracles exist and only a guy inspired by the full pantheon of artistical Gods assembled can take a song from one of the most critically acclaimed album there is and make a succesfully selling hit out of it, or maybe that song became a global instant hit because any song from “Songs in the key of life” is an instant sell if you take out the whole “God almighty” of it. See Will slapping Smith with “Wild Wild West” inspired by “I wish”.
It is “his” song because legally it is, I’ll give you that.
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.
If you’re talking about purely from an academic standpoint, the technical precision in the video parody of Bad for Weird Al’s Fat, matching virtually everything in the original video, matching almost all the shots and almost all the choreographt and doing it in a funny way beyond “fat guys dance like the dancers in the first video” is just mindblowing to me.
Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger, where Coolios eat free.
RIP coolio. I remember the last thing I heard about him before his death was via the podcast Search Engine. He was deep in crypto and was at some sustainability in crypto conference.
