Bitches Ain't Shit

Song: Bitches Ain't Shit
Artist: Ben Folds
Album: Bitches Ain't Shit








Now this is one of my favorite covers, and a good way to get into the weekend. Ben Folds, the idiosyncratic piano player turns Dr. Dre’s sexist gangster heartbroken epic “Bitches Ain’t Shit” from his seminal “The Chronic” into a tender ballad. The results are mind blowing. Where the heartbreak didn’t necessarily come through in Dre’s version, the stripped down piano version shows true sadness underneath despite the graphic and coarse language. Ben’s lilting voice makes you even feel a touch sorry for the narrator as he is sent reeling from a lovers indiscretion yet needs to maintain his cred and remain all gangster and “street.” Word!

I really can’t say that I’ve loved everything that Ben Folds has done, either solo or with his three-piece the Ben Fold Five. (Yes even their name was a bit of a joke.) He mined similar material on his first album with the song “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” another white boy goes street anthem. I am wondering how much Ben is trying to make honest to goodness racial satire, or does he bleed the line of actual racism? You tell me.

I think it’s more of a joke than anything else.

Enjoy.