Amish Paradise

Weird Al makes hip hop cool for the rest of us

I’m not a hip hop fan, especially not of the subgenre of gangsta rap. This Weird Al cover endeared me to a classic of the genre, Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio. What I didn’t know is that the underlying track is a composition of Stevie Wonder’s, Pastime Paradise. Coolio’s song talks about the danger of living a Gangsta’s life, which Weird Al contrasts with an Amish man singing about how great his life is.

He also manages to slip in a Gilligan’s Island reference in the bridge.

No phone, no lights, no motorcar
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Crusoe
It's as primitive as can be

Weird Al is famous for not only parodying the song but also the video in his own videos. In this one, Coolio’s video has Michelle Pfeiffer reprise her role from Dangerous Minds, as the song was the lead single off the soundtrack. In Weird Als’ video, Florence Henderson takes that role. He also contrasts the stark and dark setting in the original with a sunny and pastoral setting in his.

There are two very notable sections of this video. The first is the barn-raising scene, which Al was carefully placed. The timbers could have crushed him if he was just a little too far either way.

The other is the backwards section at the end, which he filmed by going backwards while everything else in the shot goes forward. He talks about that here:

I don’t count myself a big Weird Al fan but I adore this song. Here’s Coolio’s original to compare:

And to finish the deep dive, here’s the original song by Stevie Wonder:

Enjoy your song of the day!