Welcome back, readers! Who rocks the beat, rocks the show better than Kanye West? Uhh, no one really. Last week I completed the two-part Under Cover – Sampling Edition which was, in essence, slight homage to my annual summer fling — danceable hip hop music. That love continues this week, even though I switched coasts to visit some very chill loves of my life in sunny California… or Cali-for-ni-ay, for all the Timbaland fans. My obligatory Facebook status update about my new whereabouts (… is in LA, trick) inspired a nod to LMFAO’s electro hip hop dance jam of same name and reminded me of their killer remix of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” that pretty much guided this post for a song that is pretty fucking amazing as is. While I take a casual bike ride in Venice Beach, I leave you with the West love.
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Kanye West – “Love Lockdown” (original)
PopWreckoning ain’t no stranger to the Kanye love, whether it was for 808s and Heartbreak or a Remix Monday post entirely devoted to this major album highlight. Kanye reminds us that T-Pain isn’t the only hip hop heavyweight that can rock the autotune as he sings about the inevitable darkness that resides after a pesky break-up. I love the jungle sounds, the tribal drumming, and the percussive heartbeat that closes out the track. Heart-ache never sounded so melodious.
LMFAO “Love Lockdown” Remix
No other song made me car dance as much on my commute home than this LMFAO remix that also put me in serious danger of accumulating speeding tickets every time I heard it. The sped up pace charges at you like a train, the rap is extended to include raunchier lyrics and snarky jabs at Kanye’s ex that perfectly capture the ambivalence created by those love-hate feelings for a significant other who needs to become insignificant. I particularly love the way he sings “Girl, you know my love is real, but you can’t control me baby, you know just how I feel, but you can’t control me” all sweet-like after he basically tells her to fuck off. Genius.
Fall Out Boy – “Love Lockdown” cover
Fall Out Boy’s lead singer Patrick Stump never passes up an opportunity to cover popular songs. Does he just love music that much? Or is he trying to show off his diversified range? In the past year alone I’ve stumbled across hip hop covers as this, an ill-advised reinterpretation of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and even a surprisingly decent acoustic Joy Division cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, so I’d say it’s possible he just loves covering all music. This one is soulful, features similar rhythmic drumming, a swirly guitar riff and the same pulsating tone that makes the original hard to ignore.
White Lies – “Love Lockdown” cover
British alt-rockers White Lies seem to love Kanye, as well with this decent attempt at a rock interpretation with a lead singer, Harry McVeigh, who vocalizes in the same chilly vein as the frontmen of Interpol, Joy Division, and maybe The National (a slight stretch, but you get the idea). This cover is the quintessential example of a rendition that isn’t particularly groundbreaking in any real way except for the fact that it’s unlikely and from a band who aligns with an entirely different musical genre than hip hop. The novelty is usually what sells the attempt, as is the case here. I wouldn’t listen to this daily in my car or anything, but I would definitely get excited if I were at a show in the audience and they suddenly busted out with this impromptu cover.
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Stay tuned for next week as I allow my trek down to San Diego and the inevitable gorge-fest of fish tacos to hopefully inspire me with the latest installment of Under Cover! Stay classy, PopWreckoning readers 
Kanye West: website | myspace | blog | @ virgin mobile 2008
I loooooove this song…and this record, as you can read in my review
….great pick Mona!!
Hope you’re enjoying CA! (Still jealous