Coolio HATES Weird Al Over Amish Paradise

Details

Description

SUBSCRIBE for MORE CONTENT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyHeZUzOZJvLxPNV9_4__7g?sub_confirmation=1
JOIN our PATREON COMMUNITY: https://www.patreon.com/funfactsrock
SHOP for MERCH: https://pop-punk-radio.creator-spring.com/

DONATE to SUPPORT the CREATION of more CONTENT: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/poppunkradio?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US

Coolio HATES Weird Al Over Amish Paradise

Weird Al Yankovic has performed parodies of hit songs from many big name artists over his multi-decade career. Many of the artists who have been parodied by Weird Al have embraced his work as a badge of honor. However, gangster rap artist Coolio was not one of these people.

When approached by Weird Al's record company if he could do a parody of his song "Gangster's Paradise," Coolio respectfully declined, as he seemed to take the lyrical matter of the song quite seriously and did not want to see it be made the subject of something so un-serious.

As Coolio explains:

"His record company asked for my permission, and I said no. But they did it anyway... I ain't with that…I think that my song was too serious... I really…don't appreciate him desecrating the song like that." - Coolio, Gansta's Parodist: Revisiting ' Weird Al' vs Coolio, Conor Mc Keon, Vulture (Dec 19, 2011)

When Weird Al decided to make the song without Coolio's blessing, the rapper took offense and respond with a mention of Weird Al in his 1997 song "Throwdown 2000."

"Fools be in the bars unadvanced with a switch

Uppercuts and fight kicks with Weird Al Yankovich"

However, Weird Al states that he was told a different story by his record label, and made the song under the impression that Coolio had given him the green light. As he explained through email:

"Two separate people from my label told me that they had personally talked to Coolio… and that he told them that he was okay with the whole parody idea… Halfway into production, my record label told me that Coolio’s management had a problem with the parody, even though Coolio personally was okay with it. My label told me… they would iron things out — so I proceeded with the recording and finished the album." - Yankovich, Gansta's Parodist: Revisiting ' Weird Al' vs Coolio, Conor Mc Keon, Vulture (Dec 19, 2011)


Weird Al would later go on to explain to VHI's Behind The Music that he had sent a sincere apology letter to Coolio. However, he had not heard back from Coolio and was unsure what to think about the situation.

"There was apparently some major miscommunication between Coolio’s people and my people. I was under the impression that Coolio had given his blessing for me to do a parody of “Gangsta’s Paradise.” However, much to my surprise, Coolio made a statement to the press backstage at the Grammys, saying that he didn’t appreciate my “desecrating” his song, and that I should “stay away” from him. I don’t know if Coolio changed his mind about the parody, or if my record company just gave me some bad information – I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure what happened. I immediately sent Coolio a sincere letter of apology for the misunderstanding, but have to this date not heard back from him." - Yankovich, Midnight Star "Ask Al" Q&As for Jul/Aug, 1996, WeirdAl.com (Sep/Oct 1996)



Coolio never gave Weird Al a direct response but in an August 2000 episode of the radio show LoveLine, Coolio expressed that he was no longer upset about the incident:


"I let that go so long ago. Let me say this: I apologized to Weird Al a long time ago and I was wrong. Y’all remember that, everybody out there who reads this s***. Real men and real people should be able to admit when they’re wrong and I was wrong... He did parodies of Michael Jackson, he did parodies of all kinds of people and I took offense to it because I was being cocky... and being stupid and I was wrong and I should’ve embraced that s*** and went with it. I listened to it a couple years after that and it’s actually funny as s***. It’s one of those things where I made a wrong call and nobody stopped me. That’s one thing I’m still upset about—my management at the time. Somebody should’ve stopped me from making that statement because it was dumb. And I think it hurt me a little bit. It made me seem stupid." - Coolio, After All These Years..., Dan Ozzi, Vice (Apr 28, 2014)

Weird Al would also later explain that Coolio actually approached him at an event where Yankovich was signing autographs, unsure if the gangster rapper was going to say hi or if he was about to pick a fight.

fun facts rock,fun facts rock music,fun facts about rock albums,fun facts music,weird al,weird al yankovich,amish paradise,bad hair day,weird al bad hair day album,weird al interview,alternative polka,amish song,parody songs,al yankovich,yankovich,fun facts rock albums,weird al parodies,weird al polka,fun facts about weird al,Weird Al Yankovich Bad Hair Day,weird al coolio beef,coolio,weird al coolio parody,weird al coolio,weird al coolio hair