Last night, Kimmel called on his rap friends — namely Ice Cube, Lil Jon, A$AP Rocky and Ty Dolla $ign — to create “Kidz Bop Hip-Hop,” a set of kid-friendly versions of popular songs from each of the artists. We can look at Jimmy Kimmel’s latest creation in several different ways, but let’s narrow it down to the two most obvious choices.
On one hand, who doesn’t want songs sans cursing and sexually inappropriate language that they can bump in the car while the baby’s in the car seat? On the other, they absolutely butchered these songs into laughable versions of the originals. A$AP Rocky’s “F*ckin’ Problems” gets transformed into “Trucking Problems” with the chorus switched to “I found big rocks, that’s my trucking problem. And yeah I like my trucks, that’s my trucking problem.”
Big Sean’s big hit “IDFWU” and its profanity-laced chorus also gets flipped into a tune that could be played in any daycare classroom. And, “Hug tha Police” might foster better community interaction between kids and cops. But not all of the conversions worked for the better. Ty Dolla’s “Paranoid” just sounds downright creepy as an ode to bubble baths.
Kimmel said he did it for the sake of his baby daughter and his own sanity. On that point, we can all agree because there’s only so many times you can hear kids’ songs like “Wheels on the Bus” without wanting to rip your ears off.
