16 Popular Rap Songs That Are Covers
August 7, 2009 by James Bent - 19 Comments
1. California Love by 2pac
2. Ghost Ride Da Whip by Mistah FAB
(originally, Ghostbusters theme song)
3. Blood n my hair by Andre Nickatina
(originally, Last of the Mohicans theme song)
4. I wear my stunna glasses at night by The Federation
(originally, Corey Hart – I wear my sunglasses at night)
5. I’ll be missing you by P. Diddy
(The Police – Every Breath You Take)
6. Changes by 2pac
(originally, the way it is Bruce Hornsby and the Range)
7. Livin your life by T.I.
(numa numa song a.k.a. Dragostea Din Tei by O-zone)
8. It’s a hard knock life by Jay Z
(originally from the Movie Annie)
9. Bullet by Rhymefest
(originally, Bullet by Citizen Cope)
10. Build me up buttercup by Rhymefest
(originally, Build me up buttercup by The Foundations)
11. Daydreamin by Lupe Fiasco
(original cover, Daydream by Gunter Kallman Choir)
(original, The Wallace Collection)
12. Gangsters Paradise by Coolio
(originally, Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder)
13. Juicy by Notorious BIG
Notorious BIG – Juicy
by tktouz
(originally, Mtume’s – Juicy Fruit)
14.Nuthin But A “G” Thang – Dr. Dre
(originally, Leon Haywood – I Wanna Do Something Freaky Tonight)
(and, Frederick Knight – Uphill (Peace Of Mind))
15.Killing Me Softly – The Fugees
(originally, Roberta Flack)
16.Rappers Delight by The Sugar hill Gang
Honorable Mentions
17. Who am I? (whats my name?) by Snoop Dogg
(originally Atomic Dog by George Clinton)
18. Notorious by Notorious BIG
(originally, Notorious by Duran Duran)
19. Diamonds Are Forever by Kanye West
(originally, Diamonds are forever by Shirley Bassey)
20. You Spin me Right Round by Flo Rida
21. Sometimes I Rhyme Slow by Nice n Smooth
(originally, Fast Car by Tracy Chapman)
22. Mr. Lonely by Akon
(originally, Mr Lonely by Bobby Vinton)
Popularity: 9% [?]
Reader Comment
joe (August 7th, 2009, 05:06 pm)
i think you dont know the difference between cover and sample
Me (August 7th, 2009, 05:11 pm)
Joe is right. A cover respects the original. A sample is taking what you want and ignoring the rest.
The King (August 7th, 2009, 05:26 pm)
These are not covers, they are samples. Dumbass.
ted (August 7th, 2009, 05:29 pm)
+1 for Joe.
noah (August 7th, 2009, 05:36 pm)
not only are they samples, but some of them aren’t entirely correct. Specfically, Lupe sampled “Day Dream in Blue” by I monster. It’s a sample of a cover of a cover.
Bob Becker (August 7th, 2009, 05:42 pm)
“These are not covers, they are samples” Doesn’t matter it’s rap and it’s all a damn joke.
dirtbox (August 7th, 2009, 05:43 pm)
a sample is taking a bit of sound here and there… small bits.
not ripping the whole song and changing lyrics here and there. thats a lot more than sampling
joe -10 for being a jerk
MurrayC (August 7th, 2009, 05:47 pm)
And let’s not forget the rap “song” that started (re: sampled) it all: Tone Loc’s “Wild Thing” sampled the song “Jamie’s Crying” by Van Halen (from Van Halen 1)
Carl (August 7th, 2009, 05:50 pm)
These are samples. A cover is simply a rendition of the original. A sample is borrowing a melody, beat, loop etc of a prior song and adapting it to a new song — these are samples.
Freedoom (August 7th, 2009, 05:59 pm)
Grandmaster Flash didn’t do rapper’s delight. Rappers Delight was done by the Sugar Hill Gang.
A lot of the songs you listed were sampled, not covered. a cover is someone performing the same song, not just using a bit of the music. for example, 2pac’s California Love covers West Coast Poplock by Ronnie Hudson, it samples Joe Cocker’s Woman to Woman.
DJ ME (August 7th, 2009, 06:04 pm)
I think what the article is saying is that the entire “Structure” of most of the music above is intact. There is actually less “sampling” going on above than there appears to be. ALL HIP HOP BEATS ARE SAMPLES, period, or i should say they started out that way, as technology improved those same beats were computer generated, but still the same beats. Listen to the songs above, “Most” of them took the entire Melodie, chorus, Beat,and Bridge, not to mention THEME of the original song. I’m not sure its a “Cover”, maybe we could call them “RE-BOOT’s”
benignsource (August 8th, 2009, 12:28 am)
You noticed that too Freedom. Did you also notice that the song in the video is “Def Squad Delite” by Def Squad?
WilliamK (August 10th, 2009, 12:44 am)
Whether you call it a cover or a sample, the blogger is simply pointing out where the music from these well-known rap songs originated… basically because it’s a new generation listening to it that probably has no idea. How many kids know who Roberta Flack or Shirley Bassey are? Hell, I’m 34 and I had no idea Kanye was copying someone’s tune in that song.
I enjoyed the entry, thanks.
jazz (August 24th, 2009, 04:25 pm)
hi! you actually got the concept right! originality is very hard to find back then and even now! good job on the comparisons! “nail on the head”, indeed. check us out at a yoy50.wordpress.com (or WHY O’ WHY) sometime. i recently did a comparison with Eric Sermon and “The Maryjane Girls”. good to know that our thoughts are not singular!! do your thing because there’s a real need for it!!!!!!!!
420Chronica (August 26th, 2009, 11:05 am)
Wow everyone is freaking out saying OMG YOU’RE CALLING THEM COVERS INSTEAD OF SAMPLES!!!! OMG NOOOOO!!! HOW COULD THIS CONFUSION EVER OCCUR???!!! Shut the fuck up and smoke some weed and calm the fuck down. Getting all nitty picky over what terms this blog person used. Who carrresss?
Smoke some weed and chill the fuck out you nit-picky pricks.
michael doohaluk (November 3rd, 2009, 09:53 am)
id like to add “fergalicious” is basically the same song as “superstitious”
and “clothes off” its the same hook as the song “we dont have to take off”
not to mention the other obvious recent songs that steal entire choruses of other songs such as the rap song that takes the chorus of imogen heap’s song hide and seek
brickmason (December 3rd, 2009, 12:17 pm)
Most of the songs on the list were covers and actually acknowledged the original song. Fugees and everyone knew what they were doin. Roger Troutman RIP was in the California Love video. Most of the songs sampled on this list, the artists themselves were fans. Sampling has been apart of rap music before Kurtis Blow even got signed.
oh, Bob Becker, next time you want to diss an entire genre of music, actually listen to it and have something intelligent to say. If not, keep hating, it lights my fire.
Heytheresup (May 28th, 2010, 06:47 am)
Yeah they arent really the same. Also you shouldve put heartless by kanye west.
sdm36 (July 20th, 2010, 10:26 pm)
@jaz
me too dude.
check my site:
http://www.shaolindrunkenmonk.co.uk/ for more info. haven’t stuck any posts up on samples in a while tho.
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