When you browse through The Lizard Lounge’s Karaoke YouTube page, you’re bound to find a number of cringe-worthy covers of 80s power-ballads. Honestly, most of them are pretty hard to watch. One, however, stands out.
The School of Journalism’s own Wasim Ahmad performed a cover of Weird Al Yankovic’s “Amish Paradise” back in July of 2010. Anyone who’s heard the original song, a parody of Coolio’s 1995 hit “Gangta’s Paradise,” knows its arguably one of the best parody hip-hop songs to come out of the nineties. Over many years I’ve heard a number of strangers attempt to rap to the song at countless house parties, most butchering the lyrics.
But Ahmad easily comes the closest to the glory of the original song. He doesn’t stutter the rhymes and keeps the tempo nicely. In fact, when played side-by-side, it’s actually pretty hard to tell the difference. Ahmad definitely does the song justice.
