
While some cover artists re-interpret known songs, Alyson Greenfield is one who goes for full on re-inventions. Her new EP of glockenspiel and piano-centric hip hop covers, entitled Rock Out with Your Glockenspiel Out, offers exercises in juxtaposition that work on many levels. Not only is she using an instrument straight out of third grade music class to play songs with adult lyrical themes, but her shimmering, simple sound and inflected vocals oppose almost every convention of hip-hop. This version of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” shows her angle, putting such an unexpected twist on an otherwise fairly conventional track that it even transcends appeals to novelty.
Beyond the first impression, the performance and musical aspects of this cover are all really solid. Greenfield has a dramatic, powerful voice and handles the faster rapping sections impressively. She’s also developed some double-handed skills on her tiny rainbow glockenspiel that make “Hot Cross Buns” look even more like child’s play than it already did. The music video also has its strong moments, focusing once again on thematic juxtapositions like Alyson in a sundress leaning on a grimy chain-link fence. Watch the video and check out her entire EP below.
Alyson Greenfield – Gangsta’s Paradise (Coolio cover)
Check out more from Alyson Greenfield on her website.
Guyssss. You should probably fix the typo above the video – says ‘coolie’. Which is a racial slur and all.
Done, thanks for catching that.