Everyday I'm Hustlin'
Lykke Li deals hard with a Rick Ross cover.
“Does anyone love hip-hop in here? Does anyone know Rick Ross in here?” Lykke Li’s questions at the beginning of a recent recording are met with crowd murmurs and some laughs as she busts into the opening hook. Ricky Ross’ version has a fat man counting money and Ross blowing smoke into the Miami air at the start of the music video. Lykke Li performs her rendition in a corner of a hardwood-floored house with pink tint ed windows.
Aside from the fact that Lykke Li is a bit more pleasing to the eye than Ricky Ross, which performance of “Hustlin’” better? Is it the original artist, the self entitled “Boss” Ricky Ross - or the recent rendition performed by Swedish songstress Lykke Li? She may not be a giant black man from Miami or have bikini clad women propositioning her during her video, but she does have a dude by the name of Björn Yttling (Peter Björn and John) playing the acoustic guitar in the background. Perhaps she should consider flashing some hundred-dollar bills and wearing some ridiculous ice-encrusted chains while performing.
Lykke Li’s ridiculous show was recorded at Not to Be Reproduced in Los Angeles, described as a house turned vintage boutique/ art gallery/ performance space - per described by NTBR’s website. It may not be the streets of Miami, but I think Lykke Li certainly hustles this quant Los Angeles house to the fullest.
Watch Lykke Li’s adaptation and witness her street cred skyrocket to a place unimagined for a skinny Swedish white girl. And don’t forget to sing along to the hook because deep down, on the inside, we are all hustlin’, everyday.
Posted by Andrew Macnider on Jan 27, 2009 @ 7:00 am
