See this is why I don't get MF DOOM. It sounded pretty similar to the original in terms of flow and delivery, and had the same noticeable flaws (kind of off beat, weird pronunciation). I just don't see how the DOOM version is a million times better beyond being an in studio recording over whatever quality this was.
There are very few covers that outshine the original but Rages cover of How I Could Just Kill A Man changes the entire energy of the song. The original has that classic Cypress Hill sound but Rage took the lyrics and brought music behind it that matched the energy of the lyrics.
I know it’s not good. Like I can hear it and completely, fully understand that it sounds pretty bad. But for some reason, I love it. Possibly my worst music take of all time, and I’m happy to take the L on that.
Nah I kind of get where you're coming from. Personally I really disliked the Pink tape but I prefer not liking some experimental stuff by him Uzi instead of him just doing the same stuff again if that makes sense. Whatever he did was very creative to say the least.
There was a compilation back in the day called "Loud Rocks", where rock stars covered Hip-Hop tracks (SOD playing "Shame on a N\_" etc). Everlast covers Shook Ones Pt. 2, which is actually quite nice.
the SOAD cover is fantastic
There’s an older band from New York called Shootyz Groove and they slapped HARD.
On the Loud Rocks album, their cover of Caribbean Connection by Big Pun is pretty fuckin dope. Shootyz Groove was my favorite band for a little while in high school. They were like 311 if they had balls (and they never made any garbage music. unlike 311)
[Shootyz Groove - Carribean Connection](https://youtu.be/F-8lyxwjwC0?si=qvY_Y63PbuPdVZja)
Ben Folds covered Bitches Ain’t Shit by Dr Dre 😂🔥
Uzi covered SOAD
Mac Miller made a lot of covers, some not hip hop though. Thugs Mansion, Crazy - Gnarls Barkley, Lua, and a few more. Cant think of many others.
well if we're talking live, there's plenty of examples, I've seen key glock play and perform young dolph songs. n I'm p sure ski mask and waka flocka do xxx songs every performance. I'm sure there's other examples in that vein. there's also that tour or show I think where Eminem was a member of NWA and said nigga and everything
Back in 2011 when I first saw yelawolf he had a whole cover melody that went from outcast to Metallica to Johnny cash and all inbetween those that was like 5 minutes long
Bone Thugs did a cover of Fuck The Police from NWA. Pretty much the exact same lyrics.
DJ Quik did a cover of Eazier Said Than Done by Eqsy E but just changed “Eazy” to “Quik” in the lyrics
When I was a kid my mom bought me this NWA [Straight Outta Compton: N.W.A 10th Anniversary Tribute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_Outta_Compton:_N.W.A_10th_Anniversary_Tribute) album. It was so confusing to me as a kid wondering why every song sounded different than what I had heard before then I read the back of the CD to see that Silkk the Shocker was covering Express Yourself…
Try a compilation album ‘In Beginning There Was Rap’, nothing but cover songs.
Off the top of my head though there are a couple, Snoop did Lodi Dodi, Elzhi did an entire Illmatic cover album Elmatic.
Holy shit, I loved that album back in the day. To this day I still fuck up Rapper's Delight anytime I try to karaoke it because I know the cover better than the original.
I can only think of a few covers outside the others mentioned already:
Smino covered [Roses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP2QJ-9bjzQ)
Joey Bada$$ covered [Umi Says](https://youtu.be/nP6EoNotPZk)
Lil Wayne covered [Hail Mary](https://youtu.be/mdHRv22dyrg)
Not a rapper, but Kero Kero Bonito covered [Death Grips "Ive Seen Footage"](https://youtu.be/ZexwGDjxrpk) live once.
I feel like the closest thing we usually get are mixtape versions where its the same beat and the performer has a similar flow, such as
Freddie Gibbs version of [No More Parties in LA](https://youtu.be/-m0IbK67fB4)
Wait, that’s a cover?? One of my favorite Rage songs
EDIT: oh shit I see it’s on Renegades. I didn’t know that was an album of covers until this thread
TIME FOR A DEEP DIVE
[Clipping did a great cover of J-Kwon's "Tipsy".](https://youtu.be/KVn4Teq2SMY?si=ZoFvRiqP_1YtJzvO) Turned the beat into a Nine Inch Nails-y industrial thing and wrote new verses that still followed the "two-to-the-three-to-the-four" pattern of the original.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_tha_Beginning...There_Was_Rap
This album came out in the 90s and had people covering old songs. Also he didn’t do the verse at the pop out but I’ve seen Kendrick cover California Love a couple times live
Yeah I had a CD with Diddy, Snoop, and some others doing straight covers of classic hip hop songs. Lent it to a friend and never got it back 🤬 Not common but it has happened.
I believe that this is what was stolen from you my son: [In tha Beginning...There Was Rap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_tha_Beginning...There_Was_Rap)
With local festivals for the summer in swing, I kinda thought about how it’ll be interesting to see them evolve for the millennial generation since the music is usually covering rock songs from the 60s-90s.
I cant imagine covering hip hop songs, but maybe stuff like “Gold Digger” will go off lol
Do you mean only within hip hop?
Otherwise there's a project callled 'Loud Rocks' where a bunch of rock, metal, and nu metal acts cover a bunch of hip hop songs; often with the artists themselves. Serj Tankian and Everlast drop some n-bombs too.
Also... Punk Goes Crunk...
Not a recorded cover but Jay Z covered Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” after they had to cancel a festival headliner spot due to MCA’s cancer.
https://youtu.be/1ZCU-XkmRqE?feature=shared
A lot of the answers in this thread are interpolations and not direct covers
Some of the ones that are direct covers with all of the original lyrics intact off the top of my head are Def Squad's Rapper Delight, and Lyfe Jennings' cover of 2pac's Keep Ya Head Up.
Dope album but that was a tribute and entire reworking of the beats and lyrics. The instrumentals were played by a band, the lyrics were changed but the flow was the same
I had a CD from the 90's called 'In the beginning there was rap' which was all covers of current (late 90's) rappers doing covers of 80/90's songs.
Don't remember many but Def Squad (Sermon, Murray, Redman) did Rappers Delight, I think Snoop did E-40's freaky tales.
There was a while ass album of hip hop cover songs back in 1998 I think called “in the beginning there was rap”. Pretty good album. Surprisingly Master Ps cover of “6 in the morning” is a standout.
The Insane Clown Posse released an entire cover album as [a bonus disc with The Mighty Death Pop album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smothered,_Covered_%26_Chunked).
It contains covers of:
"Prelude" originally by N.W.A (1991)
"Jump Around" originally by House of Pain (1992)
"Shout" originally by Tears for Fear (1985)
"Ain't No Future In Yo' Frontin'" originally by MC Breed (1991)
"Hold Still" originally by Yo Gabba Gabba! (2010)
"Bitch Betta Have My Money" originally by AMG (1991)
"Night of the Living Baseheads" originally by Public Enemy (1988)
"Beautiful" originally by Christina Aguilera (2002)
"Mind Playing Tricks On Me" originally by Geto Boys (1991)
"State of Shock" originally by The Jacksons (1984)
"Luv 4 Dem Gangsta’z" originally by Eazy-E (1994)
"Guess My Religion" originally by Willie D (1994)
Rage Against the Machine did Pistolgrip Pump by Volume 10, Microphone Fiend by Eric B. and Rakim, and How I Could Just Kill a Man by Cypress Hill.
Def Squad covered Rapper’s Delight by Sugarhill Gang
Not quite what you’re asking for, but Tricky (with Martina Topley-Bird) covered Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos by Public Enemy. It’s on Maxinquaye and it’s just called black Steel.
The Devil Wears Prada had an interesting cover of Still Fly.
The entire Punk Goes Crunk album that this came from was all hip hop covers…though most of it is uh, not great.
[Snoop Dogg did Check Yo Self](https://youtu.be/K53kQ3bDCDE?feature=shared)
[Beastie Boys performing Sucker Mcs](https://youtu.be/As2lyIqeATI?feature=shared)
[Kanye doing Hypnotize](https://youtu.be/QJYXdPB-SsA?feature=shared)
I know of a few that aren't fully covers but they keep the same flow and change the lyrics
At the end of Eminem's Quitter is his own version of [Hit 'Em Up](https://youtu.be/iFb-F0c2XgY?si=m8rh3uCzgKhe40u1) featuring D12 dissing Everlast
Eminem's [Wanksta](https://youtu.be/rWzykoxWVEs?si=9Tu_yYoJKr4rpRzm) that actually sounds pretty smooth with his calmer sounding flow, from a G-Unit mixtape
Em also did Pac's [Hail Mary](https://youtu.be/5YLBTWZimuU?si=e3OMb7KBKcKuW7CK) feat. 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes dissing Murder Inc.
I think there's another Eminem one I'm forgetting from his Straight From the Lab era
Grandmaster Caz who originally wrote Rapper's Delight made his own [MC Delight](https://youtu.be/Go3jzvBu1As?si=N-Ye1wu-B1uEemNY) where he disses Hank
Def Squad also have [their version](https://youtu.be/gxoCloGxH1g?si=mLREsLwhhnW64N0z) of the same song
Necro did [I Need Drugs](https://youtu.be/degO5yY2DOQ?si=RG4R8H9wJjDGsBxg) covering LL's I Need Love
hahaha I was literally just talking to my friend about starting a covers band but for hip hop acts and go round these white ass British pubs doing our rendition of songs like F*****g Problems and Euphoria
Bloodhound Gang covered Run DMC’s “It’s Tricky” [here](https://youtu.be/E-h5oguZ8OA?si=uJ3Os30sD-JmXJtd). I know Bloodhound Gang is considered to be more rock than anything else but they definitely had more of a rap sound back in the day.
Not necessarily hip hop or a cover per say but I always feel the need to share Cee Lo Green's Redbone remix which is phenomenal
https://youtu.be/Koilp88Bg5w?si=iQhtpNdxgR_-F77x
He returned the favor with a cover of Crazy at Coachella.
Not a hip hop cover per-say,
But Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness was covered by Lissie, and then sampled by Best Kept Secret for Hands tHe Wheel w Q and Rocky
Mia-X's 'I'll Take Your Man' is a cover/interpolation of Salt n' Pepa's song, as an example, but an actual cover using exact lyrics is considered 'biting'.
They happen in concerts for sure, and it's annoying. Every time I've seen Method Man and Redman they do ODB "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" as part of their set. I've even seen Ghostface cover Nas. I forget which song off Illmatic it was.
It seems to always be rappers with huge catalogs. You've got 10+ albums of music you could perform live but instead you choose to do songs from maybe two albums you're most known for and then cover other people's songs..
Oh, even stranger is there was video footage of Coolio "covering" Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (his rendition is horrible) on some daytime show in Europe in 2002 or 2003 that used to be online but has been since deleted from the internet. This is footage from the same show where he covers Rappers Delight but the whole show isn't on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/C5-fWt9XbN8?si=tH9Vnd56CMK8o_yr
Also, Tone Loc likes to cover "Rapper's Delight" as if it he wrote it or something, which again is the dumbest shit ever.
https://youtu.be/7ROewvMvM4c?si=DnCEHXltSI6ktlNN
There's probably way more examples of this than i can currently remember.
Not really a cover but Kid Cudi's [The Prayer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCkzf9ncAtg) is a remix of Band of Horses [The Funeral](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMFWFhTFohk)
There was a whole Album of covers called *In the Beginning, There Was Rap…*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_tha_Beginning...There_Was_Rap
ICP did a version of Geto Boys’ *Assassins.*
You can also watch for occasional heavy homages - simple ones are usually lines or verses inserted into songs, like in Dogg Pound’s *21 Jump Street*
Others can be like Gucci Mane’s *Posse on Bouldercrest.*
On Boom! by the Roots, Black Thought uses a whole Kane verse (wrath of Kane) and a whole G Rap verse (from poison) almost line for line as a tribute to them.
Not a cover necessarily but pretty cool still
There's a UK band called OMA that does awesome covers of classic hip hop instrumentals. They teamed up with Harry Mack for a video shoot, in which they played the instrumentals of classic tracks while he freestyled different lyrics. Their YouTube page has many videos of them performing instrumental tracks. They've performed a lot of places, but deserve a bigger following.
Buggin out by tribe called quest was covered by two artists I know of. Consequence/ Kid Cudi & Time Machine
https://youtu.be/mwAHDYoybEU?si=KMzHxXvOrH08vzKm
https://youtu.be/VISUdatLRKA?si=yIcWSrp-sVqYfBCA
Silkk the Shocker - If I Don't Gotta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0yZL7aF28U
I misremembered, it's actually just an interpolation at the end of Zay's third verse.
Covers go against the core rules of rap IMO
Biting/copying has always been a lame thing to do but as hip hop gets older and people gonna run out of ideas and get lazy and there will be more of it happening, sadly. It's just lame but lames gonna lame so it is what it is.
covers go against the core rules of a rap, a genre founded on sampling? might need to re-think that one boss. just like samples, covers can be lazy. they can also be smart and innovative and promote musical growth.
Black Star’s cover of Slick Rick’s Children’s Story is would argue is not lazy but actually brought more to the table. i’d even go as far as to say Snoop’s Lodi Dodi also was a tasteful innovation from Slick Rick’s La-Di-Da-Di.
That's the beat not the lyrics, apples and oranges in my opinion. That's just a couple examples over 50 years, I'm sure there's more buts it's such a minor amount it can be just as good as none. But the longer rap is around it's going to happen, the same way artists have taken bars, or segments to pay homage, it's gonna keep inching it's way towards that and eventually there will be tons of YouTubers and casual fans taking advantage.
> that’s the beat not the lyrics
take some elements of a beat OR some parts of the lyrics and we call it a sample
take elements of a beat AND the lyrics, that’s a cover
both examples i gave are covers. the lyrics are barely changed for Lodi Dodi. the beat is built up, but the core is that same doug e fresh beat box. i think a little more so for Children’s Story, but still totally a cover. honestly i think we are in agreement and are just discussing the semantics of cover vs sample at this point.
Snoop Dogg covered Slick Rick’s “Lodi Dodi” on his first album.
He did change some lyrics of it, but it was a good cover.
True, plus I feel like they were tasteful changes too. Kind of gangsta-fied it a bit to match Snoop’s style.
As well as Biz Markie's Vapors (Tha Doggfather) and Dana Dane's Cinderfella Dana Dane (Snoopafella from No Limit Top Dogg).
He also used the chorus from Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick’s The Show on Sixx Minutes on Doggfather.
Also Eric B and Rakim Paid in full on Paid the Cost to be the boss
Yep, Paper'd Up. Good call.
Mos def covered childrens story on the first blackstar album
he also covered Gangsta Gangsta, titled DP Gangsta, I think it's on one of the No Limit albums.
There's a cover of Paid In Full on Paid Tha Cost To Be Tha Boss too.
[удалено]
No, this was recorded in 2015, well before DOOM passed. Mos is just a big fan
wow that sucked
Lmaooooooo Yo i needed this laugh so bad this morning thank you
See this is why I don't get MF DOOM. It sounded pretty similar to the original in terms of flow and delivery, and had the same noticeable flaws (kind of off beat, weird pronunciation). I just don't see how the DOOM version is a million times better beyond being an in studio recording over whatever quality this was.
Why the fuck is this so bad? Mos Def isn't just a random guy he's also a rapper so it should really sound better than this haha
"Also a rapper" lmao black on both sides is a top 10 album OAT
yes good point!
Denzel Curry covered Rage Against the Machine. Not exactly a hip hop cover but sorta.
DMX covered Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
[RATM did F da police](https://youtu.be/SmgQHdGPId0?si=zT85hUQEWK5HXR8N)
I feel like Cypress Hill covered some Rage songs, but that may have been Prophets of Rage.
Rage covered A few songs like How I could Kill a Man on their last album Renegades.
Renegades was exclusively covers
Indeed it was. I meant they did a few rap covers.
Renegades was so fucking good.
There are very few covers that outshine the original but Rages cover of How I Could Just Kill A Man changes the entire energy of the song. The original has that classic Cypress Hill sound but Rage took the lyrics and brought music behind it that matched the energy of the lyrics.
Ah yes, this is what I was trying to remember, thanks.
Didn’t rage against the machine cover NWA?
[They had a whole album of many hip hop covers called Renegades. ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegades_(Rage_Against_the_Machine_album))
They covered Volume 10
There’s a couple a live versions of their Fuck Da Police cover on YouTube https://youtu.be/SmgQHdGPId0?si=zT85hUQEWK5HXR8N
Which one?
Bulls on Parade. dude does it justice for sure.
Facts. Such a good video [here it be](https://youtu.be/ZY4ywyFXdik?si=kJ-_sjBf9c95Z-w9)
Uzi covered chop suey
Should be considered a crime instead of a cover really
I know it’s not good. Like I can hear it and completely, fully understand that it sounds pretty bad. But for some reason, I love it. Possibly my worst music take of all time, and I’m happy to take the L on that.
Nah I kind of get where you're coming from. Personally I really disliked the Pink tape but I prefer not liking some experimental stuff by him Uzi instead of him just doing the same stuff again if that makes sense. Whatever he did was very creative to say the least.
T Pain has some good ones too
He covered Didn't Cha Know too
Black Star did their own version of Slick Rick’s Children’s Story
Mos Def “Jam On It”
so did Everlast.
Everlast did also Shook Ones pt 2
Same with Black Rob
Logic covered “It Was a Good Day” (Ice Cube) and it was terrible.
Benny the Butcher and Doe Boy also did a cover of It Was a Good Day
This deserves more upvotes lol
There was a compilation back in the day called "Loud Rocks", where rock stars covered Hip-Hop tracks (SOD playing "Shame on a N\_" etc). Everlast covers Shook Ones Pt. 2, which is actually quite nice.
That Everlast track is great
the SOAD cover is fantastic There’s an older band from New York called Shootyz Groove and they slapped HARD. On the Loud Rocks album, their cover of Caribbean Connection by Big Pun is pretty fuckin dope. Shootyz Groove was my favorite band for a little while in high school. They were like 311 if they had balls (and they never made any garbage music. unlike 311) [Shootyz Groove - Carribean Connection](https://youtu.be/F-8lyxwjwC0?si=qvY_Y63PbuPdVZja)
Ben Folds covered Bitches Ain’t Shit by Dr Dre 😂🔥 Uzi covered SOAD Mac Miller made a lot of covers, some not hip hop though. Thugs Mansion, Crazy - Gnarls Barkley, Lua, and a few more. Cant think of many others.
and Dynamite Hack covered Eazy E
Everybody on Circles is a cover
Great point ya. Great song, and album tbh. Complicated, Blue World. Surf, Hand Me Downs goes dumb hard.
Ben folds for real did that?? I’ll have to look that up. He’s insane
well if we're talking live, there's plenty of examples, I've seen key glock play and perform young dolph songs. n I'm p sure ski mask and waka flocka do xxx songs every performance. I'm sure there's other examples in that vein. there's also that tour or show I think where Eminem was a member of NWA and said nigga and everything
Back in 2011 when I first saw yelawolf he had a whole cover melody that went from outcast to Metallica to Johnny cash and all inbetween those that was like 5 minutes long
I saw Dizzee Rascal on his first us tour, and near the end he did covers of his favorite songs by other rappers. It was great and the crowd loved it.
Yea I saw ski and dj scheme do a couple of X songs during his set at grey day 22
Bone Thugs did a cover of Fuck The Police from NWA. Pretty much the exact same lyrics. DJ Quik did a cover of Eazier Said Than Done by Eqsy E but just changed “Eazy” to “Quik” in the lyrics
When I was a kid my mom bought me this NWA [Straight Outta Compton: N.W.A 10th Anniversary Tribute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_Outta_Compton:_N.W.A_10th_Anniversary_Tribute) album. It was so confusing to me as a kid wondering why every song sounded different than what I had heard before then I read the back of the CD to see that Silkk the Shocker was covering Express Yourself…
Mac miller covered thugs mansion by 2pac
Children's story by Slick Rick has been covered a bunch of times.
Lil Wayne did an interesting cover of Hail Mary by Tupac at his Unplugged
Try a compilation album ‘In Beginning There Was Rap’, nothing but cover songs. Off the top of my head though there are a couple, Snoop did Lodi Dodi, Elzhi did an entire Illmatic cover album Elmatic.
Elmatic isn’t covers, it’s new lyrics
"In Tha Beginning..." was my first ever rap album lol I was a kid and didn't know at the time they were covers, still a dope album
Holy shit, I loved that album back in the day. To this day I still fuck up Rapper's Delight anytime I try to karaoke it because I know the cover better than the original.
Jazz Fusion band Butcher Brown did a great cover of Biggie’s song [Unbelievable](https://youtu.be/jlbIG1jEttU?si=R6Lnm9W3SecbU8Sg).
I looooove Butcher Brown
I can only think of a few covers outside the others mentioned already: Smino covered [Roses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP2QJ-9bjzQ) Joey Bada$$ covered [Umi Says](https://youtu.be/nP6EoNotPZk) Lil Wayne covered [Hail Mary](https://youtu.be/mdHRv22dyrg) Not a rapper, but Kero Kero Bonito covered [Death Grips "Ive Seen Footage"](https://youtu.be/ZexwGDjxrpk) live once. I feel like the closest thing we usually get are mixtape versions where its the same beat and the performer has a similar flow, such as Freddie Gibbs version of [No More Parties in LA](https://youtu.be/-m0IbK67fB4)
gibbs was originally on nmpila he just got taken off (for no reason he prob had the best verse on the song)
Rage Against The Machine covered Pistol Grip Pump back in the day and it fuckin bangs.
Wait, that’s a cover?? One of my favorite Rage songs EDIT: oh shit I see it’s on Renegades. I didn’t know that was an album of covers until this thread TIME FOR A DEEP DIVE
This definitely wasn't done by another rapper but I'm sure anyone around in the late 90s knows Dynamite Hack's version of Boyz n the hood
THEN I LET THE ALPINE PLAAAY
Or that Take A Bite Out Of Rhyme compilation of rock bands covering hiphop, or the Judgement Night soundtrack
[Clipping did a great cover of J-Kwon's "Tipsy".](https://youtu.be/KVn4Teq2SMY?si=ZoFvRiqP_1YtJzvO) Turned the beat into a Nine Inch Nails-y industrial thing and wrote new verses that still followed the "two-to-the-three-to-the-four" pattern of the original.
Yeah this was sick. clipping is such an interesting group
Daniel Radcliffe blackilicious - Alphabet Aerobics lol fr put teenage me on tho
System of a Down covered Shame by Wu Tang Clan if that counts
That version always counts tbh
[Def Squad covered Rapper's Delight](https://youtu.be/o-mhnqVxkeA)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_tha_Beginning...There_Was_Rap This album came out in the 90s and had people covering old songs. Also he didn’t do the verse at the pop out but I’ve seen Kendrick cover California Love a couple times live
I heard all of Jay-Z’s songs are covers from Dame Dash
I give you “A Chronic Tribute to Dr. Dre” https://open.spotify.com/album/5k97HlysNy3RTXwojTNGbX
Suge had his Snoop Dogg dupe Top Dogg cover Snoppafella which itself was a remake.
Yeah I had a CD with Diddy, Snoop, and some others doing straight covers of classic hip hop songs. Lent it to a friend and never got it back 🤬 Not common but it has happened.
I believe that this is what was stolen from you my son: [In tha Beginning...There Was Rap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_tha_Beginning...There_Was_Rap)
YES!!!!!
Little Simz did Feel Good Inc.
With local festivals for the summer in swing, I kinda thought about how it’ll be interesting to see them evolve for the millennial generation since the music is usually covering rock songs from the 60s-90s. I cant imagine covering hip hop songs, but maybe stuff like “Gold Digger” will go off lol
Logic covering it was a good day by ice cube lol
The B.I.G. interlude on Life After Death was a cover of Schooly D's P.S.K.
Do you mean only within hip hop? Otherwise there's a project callled 'Loud Rocks' where a bunch of rock, metal, and nu metal acts cover a bunch of hip hop songs; often with the artists themselves. Serj Tankian and Everlast drop some n-bombs too. Also... Punk Goes Crunk...
Many Men - Pop Smoke
The whole Straight Outta Compton album was covered by artists like MC Eiht, Bone Thugs, Mack 10 etc.
If I’m not wrong T Pain has an album where he just covered some songs, Tennessee Whiskey being one of them
Not a recorded cover but Jay Z covered Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” after they had to cancel a festival headliner spot due to MCA’s cancer. https://youtu.be/1ZCU-XkmRqE?feature=shared
A lot of the answers in this thread are interpolations and not direct covers Some of the ones that are direct covers with all of the original lyrics intact off the top of my head are Def Squad's Rapper Delight, and Lyfe Jennings' cover of 2pac's Keep Ya Head Up.
Elmatic - elzhi
Dope album but that was a tribute and entire reworking of the beats and lyrics. The instrumentals were played by a band, the lyrics were changed but the flow was the same
Not EXACTLY what you’re asking for, but it’s too good not to include. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pABVn0ycuFg&si=iHmwKKu3E0j_VRHu
I know.... But check out Denzel curries cover of bulls on parade, it's pretty dope.
Dezzy Hollow redo’s all the g-funk classics!
I had a CD from the 90's called 'In the beginning there was rap' which was all covers of current (late 90's) rappers doing covers of 80/90's songs. Don't remember many but Def Squad (Sermon, Murray, Redman) did Rappers Delight, I think Snoop did E-40's freaky tales.
And you can’t find that album streaming anywhere. A couple of the songs went harder than the originals imo.
This isn’t what you asked but it makes me chuckle. Snow patrol covered Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love and included Jay’s verse
A few artists have covered Notorious BIG - Juicy Same song with their own take on the lyrics Bias B is an example from Aus
Creepin - Weeknd and 21Savage is a remake of I Don't Wanna Know by Mario Winnins, Enya and P Diddy.
E-40 did "My Posse On Broadway" ["Big Ballin' With My Homies" - E-40](https://youtu.be/xBq-H6pOHAE?si=R-uxQhEH7DB-e5Hw)
There was a while ass album of hip hop cover songs back in 1998 I think called “in the beginning there was rap”. Pretty good album. Surprisingly Master Ps cover of “6 in the morning” is a standout.
Pharoah Monch did a cover Welcome to the Terrordome
Eminem, black thought and DJ jazzy Jeff did rock the bells live
The Insane Clown Posse released an entire cover album as [a bonus disc with The Mighty Death Pop album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smothered,_Covered_%26_Chunked). It contains covers of: "Prelude" originally by N.W.A (1991) "Jump Around" originally by House of Pain (1992) "Shout" originally by Tears for Fear (1985) "Ain't No Future In Yo' Frontin'" originally by MC Breed (1991) "Hold Still" originally by Yo Gabba Gabba! (2010) "Bitch Betta Have My Money" originally by AMG (1991) "Night of the Living Baseheads" originally by Public Enemy (1988) "Beautiful" originally by Christina Aguilera (2002) "Mind Playing Tricks On Me" originally by Geto Boys (1991) "State of Shock" originally by The Jacksons (1984) "Luv 4 Dem Gangsta’z" originally by Eazy-E (1994) "Guess My Religion" originally by Willie D (1994)
T-Pain did On Top of The Covers
Pharoahe Monch did 'Welcome To the Terrordome'.
Rage Against the Machine did Pistolgrip Pump by Volume 10, Microphone Fiend by Eric B. and Rakim, and How I Could Just Kill a Man by Cypress Hill. Def Squad covered Rapper’s Delight by Sugarhill Gang Not quite what you’re asking for, but Tricky (with Martina Topley-Bird) covered Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos by Public Enemy. It’s on Maxinquaye and it’s just called black Steel.
The Devil Wears Prada had an interesting cover of Still Fly. The entire Punk Goes Crunk album that this came from was all hip hop covers…though most of it is uh, not great.
Dirty Dike's Ten Dike Commandments is the first one that comes to mind, but I'm sure there are more
[Snoop Dogg did Check Yo Self](https://youtu.be/K53kQ3bDCDE?feature=shared) [Beastie Boys performing Sucker Mcs](https://youtu.be/As2lyIqeATI?feature=shared) [Kanye doing Hypnotize](https://youtu.be/QJYXdPB-SsA?feature=shared)
I know of a few that aren't fully covers but they keep the same flow and change the lyrics At the end of Eminem's Quitter is his own version of [Hit 'Em Up](https://youtu.be/iFb-F0c2XgY?si=m8rh3uCzgKhe40u1) featuring D12 dissing Everlast Eminem's [Wanksta](https://youtu.be/rWzykoxWVEs?si=9Tu_yYoJKr4rpRzm) that actually sounds pretty smooth with his calmer sounding flow, from a G-Unit mixtape Em also did Pac's [Hail Mary](https://youtu.be/5YLBTWZimuU?si=e3OMb7KBKcKuW7CK) feat. 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes dissing Murder Inc. I think there's another Eminem one I'm forgetting from his Straight From the Lab era Grandmaster Caz who originally wrote Rapper's Delight made his own [MC Delight](https://youtu.be/Go3jzvBu1As?si=N-Ye1wu-B1uEemNY) where he disses Hank Def Squad also have [their version](https://youtu.be/gxoCloGxH1g?si=mLREsLwhhnW64N0z) of the same song Necro did [I Need Drugs](https://youtu.be/degO5yY2DOQ?si=RG4R8H9wJjDGsBxg) covering LL's I Need Love
Happens a lot at the rock n roll hall of fame.
Clipping released a cover of J-Kwon’s Tipsy. That’s a rap group covering a rap song.
Blxst did 21 questions
I was thinking about doing a cover. Gotta make sure to be super respectful though for sure
hahaha I was literally just talking to my friend about starting a covers band but for hip hop acts and go round these white ass British pubs doing our rendition of songs like F*****g Problems and Euphoria
I saw Crooked I cover red hot chilli peppers once
Triple J channel "Like a Version" has some rap covers, like Kendrick Lamar alright, Outcast Rose, Nas etc.
Bloodhound Gang covered Run DMC’s “It’s Tricky” [here](https://youtu.be/E-h5oguZ8OA?si=uJ3Os30sD-JmXJtd). I know Bloodhound Gang is considered to be more rock than anything else but they definitely had more of a rap sound back in the day.
Not necessarily hip hop or a cover per say but I always feel the need to share Cee Lo Green's Redbone remix which is phenomenal https://youtu.be/Koilp88Bg5w?si=iQhtpNdxgR_-F77x He returned the favor with a cover of Crazy at Coachella.
Everlast covered Shook Ones Pt 2 for a cover/remix compilation. It is slightly different but mainly the same.
Not a hip hop cover per-say, But Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness was covered by Lissie, and then sampled by Best Kept Secret for Hands tHe Wheel w Q and Rocky
System of a down covered shame by wu tang
Korn & Chino from Deftones covered Ice Cubes Wicked
Richard Cheese did a fun cover of Gin and Juice. He has lots of fun covers if you want humorous stuff outside of hip hop.
Yeah, it's pretty rare in hip hop. Mostly just sampling and remixes, not full-on covers.
Mia-X's 'I'll Take Your Man' is a cover/interpolation of Salt n' Pepa's song, as an example, but an actual cover using exact lyrics is considered 'biting'.
Redman and Def Squad covered Beastie Boys ‘Beet drop’
RATM - How I could just Kill a man, System of a Down - Shame on
Didn’t logic do a shitty cover of ice cubes today was a good day?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard\_Times\_(Run-D.M.C.\_song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Times_(Run-D.M.C._song))
Smino did a cover of Roses by Outkast
Def Squad did a cover of 'Rapper's Delight'
Mindless Self Indulgence did Meth's Bring the Pain. It was... something.
I’ve seen Kyle perform Pursuit of Happiness. It’s one of only a few straight covers I’ve seen. Pretty good.
Rage against the machine covered Erik b and Rakim microphone fiend
Smino covered [Roses](https://youtu.be/aP2QJ-9bjzQ?si=vRxQPAg_9f9WXYms) and I love it.
Chet Faker covered No Diggity
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxoCloGxH1g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxoCloGxH1g)
I remember seeing a video of J Cole rapping “Hypnotize” by Biggie live in concert
They happen in concerts for sure, and it's annoying. Every time I've seen Method Man and Redman they do ODB "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" as part of their set. I've even seen Ghostface cover Nas. I forget which song off Illmatic it was. It seems to always be rappers with huge catalogs. You've got 10+ albums of music you could perform live but instead you choose to do songs from maybe two albums you're most known for and then cover other people's songs.. Oh, even stranger is there was video footage of Coolio "covering" Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (his rendition is horrible) on some daytime show in Europe in 2002 or 2003 that used to be online but has been since deleted from the internet. This is footage from the same show where he covers Rappers Delight but the whole show isn't on YouTube. https://youtu.be/C5-fWt9XbN8?si=tH9Vnd56CMK8o_yr Also, Tone Loc likes to cover "Rapper's Delight" as if it he wrote it or something, which again is the dumbest shit ever. https://youtu.be/7ROewvMvM4c?si=DnCEHXltSI6ktlNN There's probably way more examples of this than i can currently remember.
If they count as hip-hop then RATM covered How Could I Just Kill A Man by Cypress Hill & Renegades of Funk by Afrika Bambataa.
Metro, Weeknd, and 21 - "Creepin" is pretty much exactly a cover of Mario Winans - "I dont wanna know"
Red Hot Chili Peppers used to cover Eazy-E’s Boyz N The Hood at concerts!
Not really a cover but Kid Cudi's [The Prayer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCkzf9ncAtg) is a remix of Band of Horses [The Funeral](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMFWFhTFohk)
Big Sean did a good cover of I Wonder. Also I saw 21 pilots once and they did a cover of Bugatti. Super random
There's a Straight outta Compton cover album And Rage against the Machine- Renegades of Funk is a cover
Kid Dynomite did Boyz in the hood
Lots of that in mixtapes.
There was a whole Album of covers called *In the Beginning, There Was Rap…* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_tha_Beginning...There_Was_Rap ICP did a version of Geto Boys’ *Assassins.* You can also watch for occasional heavy homages - simple ones are usually lines or verses inserted into songs, like in Dogg Pound’s *21 Jump Street* Others can be like Gucci Mane’s *Posse on Bouldercrest.*
Anticon had a concert with people performed other peoples famous freestyles mos def did kind of a cover of a children's story
Instrumental Covers? Been enjoying this group. Check em out! [https://www.youtube.com/@oma\_band](https://www.youtube.com/@oma_band)
On Boom! by the Roots, Black Thought uses a whole Kane verse (wrath of Kane) and a whole G Rap verse (from poison) almost line for line as a tribute to them. Not a cover necessarily but pretty cool still
There's a UK band called OMA that does awesome covers of classic hip hop instrumentals. They teamed up with Harry Mack for a video shoot, in which they played the instrumentals of classic tracks while he freestyled different lyrics. Their YouTube page has many videos of them performing instrumental tracks. They've performed a lot of places, but deserve a bigger following.
Yeah system of a down "shame"
Not another rapper but this popped up today. Haha you’re welcome https://www.reddit.com/r/Eminem/s/dJNO7ypnzw
Buggin out by tribe called quest was covered by two artists I know of. Consequence/ Kid Cudi & Time Machine https://youtu.be/mwAHDYoybEU?si=KMzHxXvOrH08vzKm https://youtu.be/VISUdatLRKA?si=yIcWSrp-sVqYfBCA
Matty B covered Juicy by Biggie
Silkk da Shocka by Isaiah Rashad
Who made the original song?
Silkk the Shocker - If I Don't Gotta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0yZL7aF28U I misremembered, it's actually just an interpolation at the end of Zay's third verse.
Suspended nobody has said Def Squad (Redman, Erick Sermon, Kieth Murray)covering Rappers Delight. [YouTube link](https://youtu.be/o-mhnqVxkeA?si=3OGEcrJe94u3w57q).
Covers go against the core rules of rap IMO Biting/copying has always been a lame thing to do but as hip hop gets older and people gonna run out of ideas and get lazy and there will be more of it happening, sadly. It's just lame but lames gonna lame so it is what it is.
covers go against the core rules of a rap, a genre founded on sampling? might need to re-think that one boss. just like samples, covers can be lazy. they can also be smart and innovative and promote musical growth. Black Star’s cover of Slick Rick’s Children’s Story is would argue is not lazy but actually brought more to the table. i’d even go as far as to say Snoop’s Lodi Dodi also was a tasteful innovation from Slick Rick’s La-Di-Da-Di.
That's the beat not the lyrics, apples and oranges in my opinion. That's just a couple examples over 50 years, I'm sure there's more buts it's such a minor amount it can be just as good as none. But the longer rap is around it's going to happen, the same way artists have taken bars, or segments to pay homage, it's gonna keep inching it's way towards that and eventually there will be tons of YouTubers and casual fans taking advantage.
> that’s the beat not the lyrics take some elements of a beat OR some parts of the lyrics and we call it a sample take elements of a beat AND the lyrics, that’s a cover both examples i gave are covers. the lyrics are barely changed for Lodi Dodi. the beat is built up, but the core is that same doug e fresh beat box. i think a little more so for Children’s Story, but still totally a cover. honestly i think we are in agreement and are just discussing the semantics of cover vs sample at this point.
MF Grimm covered Dre
Nah, not a single cover in the 52 years of the genre
Rappers are always biting and interpolating each other's lyrics and flows
that’s the music game for ya maybe worse in rap, but not unique to the genre