H20
interview by: Selim Ariturk
When I was thirteen I bought my ten-year-old brother Ice Cube's
AmerKKKa's Most Wanted for ChanuKKKah. Those were simpler times, when Ice
Cube would have scalped himself a couple of Crackers for covering his ghetto
anthem, "It Was a Good Day," and for assimilating his housing project
experience into white suburbia. But, the times they are a changing. As a new
and improved Cube Sambos on silver screen, scared by some mechanical cobra, I
mourn for that honkey-hating hip-hop. Therefore, I instinctively scoff at
Priority Records' decision to sell it's sole for a couple cents and sponsor a
Rock and Roll Cover album of it's greatest hip-hop hits. At least Cube's
memory will be remembered through the music of H20, a hard-core band with
some serious scruples, and not Fred Douche of Limp Dick. That's right, on the
new Priority album, the boys from H20 tell us how good a day it was in the
hood, but with a couple of changes.
As Adam Blake, H2O's very English basest, explains, when Priority asked
them to cover a rap track, they were flattered, but also little worried about
covering a song that was not conducive to their politics. So they
deliberated. Now, I like this. Such thoughtfulness leads me to believe that
the members of H20 aren't only about the Benjamin's like one aforementioned
rapper, who, for my own protection, I'll simply refer to as Slice Lube. They
have dignity and their own moral code, which isn't exactly on par with rap's
slanging and hanging lifestyle. "When Priority sent us the catalogue of
songs," Blake explains on a down town NYC Basketball Court that serves as the
set to their video, "we were a little sketched out, at first. Most of the
lyrical content of the songs weren't in line with us as a band. We all love
hip-hop. Personally, we love gangsta rap. 2Pac is one of my favorite rappers,
but even though I like his songs, H20 doesn't want to do a song with too much
violence, sexism, or homophobia."
While I have no problem with gratuitous violence of any kind, I respect
H2O's decision and where these dudes are coming from. They have their own
agenda: Toby, the lead singer, is straightedge, Adam doesn't mess with the
dope or the booze since suffering from a liter of vodka a day habit, while
Rusty and Todd are recreational drug abusers. Individually, they all do their
thing, but, as a band, they don't promote that shit.
So, riddle me this: How did they end up picking a song like Cube's ode to
those bitch slappin', drunk-drivin', dice-throwin' good-times? "With a couple
of changes here and there," Blake elaborates, "we realized that we could
cover 'It Was a Good Day.' All we needed to do was throw out the entire sex
verse and make some other little changes to make it more personal." And
personal they made it. Their rendition sounds absolutely nothing like the
Slice Lube original.
The only resemblance to the original, aside from keeping the few lyrics
that don't talk about fucking, sucking, and shrimping bitches is the video
for the song, which Priority asked them to make. The video also happens to be
the only one Priority will make for the album, which, FYI, features big-wigs
Korn and Seven Dust. I'd say that's a compliment. But, similarly to H2O's
cover, the video takes it's own humorous spin on the daily ghetto life.
"We're driving through the city in a 64 Impala, hanging out at Toby's house
shooting dice, and on the basketball courts playing ball." And as far as my
isolated, suburban white ass knows, that's all the boyz do in the hood, ride
around, shoot dice, and watch TV. While Blake does admit to having the nets
lowered so he could slam dunk that shit, it really is him and his partners
watching the original Ice Cube video on Yo! MTV Raps. How artsy-fartsy of
them to sneak in that little allusion to the Lubinator. But that's about as
close to the song as the big rap star gets to these Hard Core hombres. For a
while there was a rumor floating around the campfire that he was actually
going to make a cameo in video, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I
guess when your making quality movies like "Player's Club," and "Glass
Sheild," you don't have time to make a five second appearance in a video. But
H2O doesn't care, it was still a good day in their book, even without Mr.
Lube, sex, violence, or homophobia.
While a day without any of those things (excluding the Lube, of course)
doesn't sound like such a great day to me, I do admire my newfound friends.
Especially when Blake waxes on the fall of a great hero. "Anaconda was a bad
idea," he admits. "That may not have been the turning point in his career,
but it sure was a yard stick with how far things had gone in the Ice Cube
game."
-courtesy of "While You Were Sleeping"
www.whileyouweresleeping.com
-end of interview
