Rock City “Lions, Tigers and Bears (Jazmine Sullivan Freestyle Cover)”
With Jazmine Sullivan’s “Lions, Tigers and Bears” finally being pushed as an official single (giving more and more a chance to witness it’s magnificence), odds are tons of remixes and remakes of it will be hitting our ears soon. Joining the expected onslaught early is this pseudo-cover from Rock City, a hip hop/ R&B/ reggae duo signed to Akon’s label, who take “Lions” in a rather interesting direction.
Avoiding the predictable “let’s just gender-swap the lyrics” move, RC do away with the song’s love theme altogether, instead choosing to focus their lyrical aim on the real-life nightmares of their Saint Thomas ghettos origin and how growing up amidst the constant threat of violence has shaped them into the hardened young men they are today (Revised chorus: “I’m not scared of lions and tigers and bears/ Cause I came from the jungle too/ I’m not scared of gunshots, although that seems rare/ It’s a sound that I’m used to…”).
Nowhere near as stellar as the original, but a nicely done re-do nonetheless.
DL: “Lions, Tigers and Bears (Jazmine Sullivan ‘Freestyle’ Cover)” (alt)
I love this version!