Album Review: Punk Goes Crunk...part one

I guess the ways this works is Corey's posts will be pretty serious while I'll be the blog's hilarious comic relief.

I learned a lot of things in college. Older professors don't take attendance, and like grandparents, are happy just when you show up. Despite literally having grease poured on them by a guy who has no business cooking, cafeteria burgers are only 230 calories. Girls from South Philly REALLY are that dirty. And the Punk Goes...franchise introduces more suburban white kids to rap than Q102 and MTV combined.

I was introduced to Punk Goes Crunk about two days into my college stay when one of my floor mates decided to blast it at 3 in the morning. I didn't hold it against him, because the album was freaking awesome. I'd like to take time now and let everyone know that I really do enjoy rap; it may even be my favorite genre. Punk, on the other hand, never really found it's way onto my play lists, mostly because I closely associated it with Emo during high school, and more than anything, I didn't want to be one of "those" kids. You know what I mean.

Anyway, I didn't really "listen" to Punk Goes Crunk until later in the year when I bought (cough) myself a copy of it. It's one of those things that I first experienced during freshman year that I'll probably enjoy for the rest of my life. Just like Hurricane Malt Liquor. Just kidding, mom and dad! It taste horrible.

The CD starts with Set Your Goals, a Pop-Punk band who's biggest song is called Echoes and is from Punk Goes Acoustic. They cover the song Throw Ya Hood Up, a song about...throwing your hood up. The original song, by Lil Jon, is pretty bad, to be honest. There are a few different approaches to these covers. Some bands try their darnedest to make a crunk song go punk. Some bands try to change the song, give it their own little twist, leave a recording that says, yeah, the original was good, but this is our version. And some covers take a terrible song and make a joke cover. This first track definitely goes in that last category. I mean, you can tell that the band probably had a blast recording the track, and at the end they were probably all laughs, but it's not a good song.

The second cover is by Say Anything. They cover I Got Your Money by Ol' Dirty Bastard. Now, this song is a good example of taking a song and just covering it. I mean, it's as good as the original, but it's nothing special. It's about on par with the first version, it doesn't eclipse it. And that's actually okay. Not every song can be perfect. If most of the covers are as good as the original, then you have a solid CD. Also, anyone with any knowledge of the band understands why it was a great choice, since Max Bemis and Ol' Dirty Bastard have faced a lot of the same drug related problems during their careers.

The next two songs, I Wish by The Secret Handshake and Men In Black by Forever the Sickest Kids, are both pretty good covers, but they don't really do much for me. Their interesting to hear the first few times, but they get old pretty fast. I think it's because the originals were kind of bland, so the covers, despite being pretty good, get bland as well.

California Love by My American Heart is the first of what I consider to be the amazing tracks on the CD. This cover is just amazing; the band took a great song and put their own mark on it that just makes another great song. The only thing is it's not really Punk at all. It's more of a Punk-Techno mix. I Wanna Love You by The Maine, the next song, is also one of the best on the album. This song kind of chops and screws with the original, but it's one of the only songs that really sounds like it could be a straight rock song, as opposed to just a cover.

Kryptonite by Emanuel is the next song. At first, I wasn't really a fan of this song; it's currently rated a 2 on my iTunes. But it really isn't a bad song, per say, it's just caught in the line of a bunch of good songs, and doesn't compare well to the other covers near it.

Whew! This is quite a lot of information for one post! I'm about halfway done the CD, and I'll fill you guys on the rest of it tomorrow. Stay tuned for Punk Goes Crunk...part two!