An Overplayed and Overlooked Work of Art
Easily one of the most recognized rap anthems from the 90's, Coolio put together a song that really stood above others. This song has a lot of history and was over shadowed by it popularity and parodies, for example Weird Al's version, Amish Paradise, has 32 million views of Youtube, while Coolio's original's only has 6 million views. And in reality, this song has taken a lot of it's sound from Steve Wonder's Pastime Paradise, the chorus and the orchestra parts are about 90% the same, but let's look at what Coolio does different. First is the actual music track, the string sections are less of a copy of Wonder's song and more of an evolution of the orchestral part with the added cellos and more bouncy violins. The bass moves a lot, but unfortunately is too quiet to really appreciate amidst the rest of the song. Coolio adds a lot of depth in the song's meaning, the raps are slow in comparison to today's standard, but the rhythm and flow are perfect with the music. L.V. covering the chorus is a great compliment to Coolio and call back to Wonder. This song suffers from being overplayed and looked at as such a sensation that face value of the song is really diminished, which is too bad. Going back and listening to it again really made me appreciate it and I might have to download more music like this.
Originality:7
Instruments:8
Vocals:9
Longevity:7
Red Score:7.75
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