Who Wore It Better: Shining vs Kanye

Because we like to pattern most of our features after tawdry gossip rags we thought we'd bite US Weekly's style and do a quick 'Who Wore It Better' post.

After King Crimson ripped their classic "21st Century Schizoid Man" a new one on their 1972 live album Earthbound, we didn't think anyone besides the drug-addled mind of Ozzy would dare attempt to put their spin on it. Yet here we are barely at the halfway mark of 2010 and already it has been meddled with twice this year alone.

First the Norwegian jazz-infused prog-metal band Shining flipped the song on its ear with their screeching saxophones and guttural throaty yells. Being from the Norway metal scene where band members have been known to kill and eat one another, the group knows no fear, and as such they go balls out with their take on the song. Whether it tickles your fancy or not the fact that they just don't give a fuck is undeniable, and their perfectly honed wrecklessness refreshing.

More recently Texas producer Symbolyc One of Strange Fruit Project/Cannabinoids fame produced some tracks for Chicago MC Rhymefest's latest album. Somewhere along the way Kanye West heard some of the beats, hijacked one for his upcoming Good Ass Job, and called up S1 telling him he was "about to change his life". A bold move? Sure, but truer words have never been spoken. Not sure if the dolts at MTV had ever heard of Symbolyc before, let alone ever contemplated interviewing him as they recently did.

But we must admit the production here is quite slick. So much so we might tend to argue that West's oft embarrassing rhymes are probably the worst thing about it --although we do realize that it is a necessary evil for S1 to get the attention he very much deserves. Still though, as long as he doesn't put out another autotune album we'd listen to his misinformed ass spouting out raps about using his medulla oblongata to learn things all day long.

Sure one is a cover version and one is a sample. Yes, we do realize we are comparing an apple to an orange here, but which fruit tastes better? Or more accurately, who wore it better?

MP3: Shining - 21st Century Schizoid Man
MP3: Kanye West - Power

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