3A. Cover song or Original? Ride Wit me by Nelly; Cover by I Call Shotgun

 

ORIGINAL ^ Nelly

COVER^ I Call Shotgun

        The song "Ride wit Me" is originally a song by the rapper Nelly.   The cover version I found is by I Call Shotgun and is different in many ways.  The most noticeable difference would be the timbre of the song as well as the speed.  First of all, the cover is done by an acoustic band with acoustic instruments and bongos.  This dramatically changes the timbre of the song from a rap/hip hop song to more of a reggae feel.  The color of the song in the cover version is of a more warmer tone and rhythmic feel than the hiphop original.  In the very beginning of the cover you immediately notice the difference in speed compared to the original.  Instead of starting with a fast pase back beat the cover begins with acoustic picking and a soulful rendition of the chorus before pickng the speed up towards a guitar driven verse.  The speed in the original generally stays the same (fairly fast), whereas the speed in the cover varies in the beginning, during the bridge, and at the end (beginning: slow to medium, bridge: medium to slow back to medium, end: medium to slow and fade).   The lyrics differ in the songs as well. Because the original is a rap song and has some decently inappropriate lyrics that do not fit the personality of the way the cover is played, the cover must compensate by changing some lyrics.  ICSG (I Call Shotgun) does this in the second part of the chorus by changing, " If you wanna go and get high wit me Smoke a L in the back of the Benz-y. Oh why must I feel this way? Hey, must be the money," TO -> "if you wanna roll... well if you wanna whoa whoaa.. (repeated)." Also, because the song is rapped and fits many words that the cover cannot because of the singing structure the cover band has to compensate that as well by feeling out the words and how those words can correctly fit into the song without feeling forced and without losing meaning. 
   The arrangement also differs between the two versions.  For most of the cover song the arrangement stays the same untill we get to the end of the song where the cover version throws in a cover of the chorus from another song, Cupid's Chokehold by Gym Class Heroes.  This adds creativity to their cover and in my opinion fits in quite well with the pitch and speed of the song.  The arrangement of ICSG's cover is a bit more chaotic than Nelly's version when you consider the lyrical changes and the surprise extra bridge where they add the cover of the chorus by GCH's. The instrumentation of the cover vs. the original also has an effect of the arrangement of the song.  For instance back beat in the original vs. acoustic guitar  in the cover.  The different instruments in each version drive the song. The Rhythm of the cover vs. the original also differs mainly because of the difference in the genre the song is being played (acoustic soulful reggae vs. rap/hiphop. )
     Overall, I think both versions are great but personally I would have to say I favor the cover by I Call Shotgun.  The creativity the band used in creating this cover is very unique.  It is rare that an acoustic band covers a rap song so successfully and makes the song sound very legitimate even considering the context of the song.  Their use of vocal melody also added so much to this cover and really gave an awesome groove to the song.  I really enjoy this cover alot and hope you will too!