The D.O.C. - "The D.O.C. & The Doctor," No One Can Do It Better - Fate and foolishness intervened right when The D.O.C was poised to become a more commercially viable Ice Cube. Having played an important creative role on two seminal Gangster Rap albums--N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton and Eazy E's EZ-Duz-It--Th
e D.O.C. released his solo effort and had kids in Raiders caps listening, as well as the programming directors for radio stations. Most importantly, The D.O.C. had the attention of the producers at MTV. This track got a significant amount of video play, despite the fact that there was virtually nothing controversial in the video itself and the recorded lyric needed absolutely zero editing to be fit for consumption (Impressive, since he helped write two absurdly filthy records and was being judged by 1989 standards.) The D.O.C. had clearly decided that as a solo artist he wasn't going to be a lightning rod for anything but club remixes. His target audience seemed to be white kids who wanted to act hard and sing along with aggro rap lyrics, without having to go silent every third line because there was an N-word. His business plan was prescient, as this demographic ended up buying, ooohhh...a couple of rap records.
After Ice Cube acrimoniously parted with the N.W.A./Ruthless Records crew, The D.O.C. was the obvious choice to supplant him. But a 1989 car crash left him with damaged vocal chords and his long-delayed follow-up record lacked the punch of his previous work. He wound up making significant contributions to future Dr. Dre projects (See - The Chronic) but never made the impact as a solo artist that everyone expected. His track, "It's Funky Enough" still gets play from time to time, but "The D.O.C. & The Doctor," was one of the best purely braggadocious rap songs of the era. And twenty years later, it still sounds like a top-level studio recording. The drums alone are underrated.
The Detroit Cobras - "Right Around the Corner," "Shout Bama Lama," Love, Life, and Leaving
The Detroit Cobras play cover songs, acceding to Harold Bloom, they decided that they can't do better than that which has come before. Not to say that they don't put an original and authentic spin on their arrangements. Every song they play, they treat with the care artists usually reserve for their own compositions.
Live, they can be spectacular and saucy; other times, they are belligerent to fans and blithering onstage. Sometimes they are all of these. But if you want to start a party, pump up your work-out, or just have a good time while you wash the dishes, I defy you to find a band more able to grasp the best parts of an old song and squeeze the fun stick until you just gotta dance.
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