Avg Rating: 
3.5 ( 20 total votes )
Fashawn - Life's a B*tch (Freestyle)
Artist: Fashawn
Featuring: Talib Kweli
Producer: L.E.S.
Album: Green Lantern Presents: Ode to Illmatic
Label: One Records
“Life’s a bi**h and then you die” may not exactly be the kind of sentiment that gets sewn into pillows, but it does serve as the basis for some classic hip-hop, as skyrocketing young west coast emcee Fashawn (who we last heard in his Boy Meets World days) knows only too well. On his new cut Life’s a Bi**h (Freestyle), Fashawn takes Nas’ classic Illmatic track, produced by L.E.S., and flips the vocals for 2010 with God’s son-inspired lines like, “Kick rhymes about the slums, not kids with trust funds, my mentality is get funds in lump sums.” Joining in on the festivities is the always solid Talib Kweli, who here fills in for original guest artist AZ with a more than capable verse. It’s hard to do a canonized track like Life’s a Bi**h justice, but Fashawn may have just pulled it off. Your thoughts? For more new school takes on old school classic, be sure to cop Fashawn’s currently unscheduled DJ Green Lantern Presents: Ode To Illmatic (Mixtape).
This song first appeared on the
Independent Chart
on April 5, 2010
Listen to More: Fashawn , Talib Kweli Written by Nathan S.
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Member Reviews and Ratings
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 288 |
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A freestyle over a classic Nas track.
I just ordered Fashawns 2xLP from UGHH.com, the album was incredible and Kwelis my favorite emcee from the 2000's. |
| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Crew  Total Ratings: 11676 |
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Its super duper hard to remake a classic like "Life's a @*#$!," but I think Fash and Talib did a dope job. It isn't even in the parking lot of the original version, but it shows that Fashawn has what it takes to take on a project like he has in the making...
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 544 |
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Both are talented rappers and I know this is a classic that they were heavily influenced by but it would of been better if they were more creative. They were using the same or similar lines to the original instead of making it their own version. Keeping the essence is great but also putting a spin on it and making it fresh would of made it better.
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 687 |
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Never spit over this track. Never.
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Tastemaker Total Ratings: 687 |
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I didn't like how similar their verses were to the original. I can understand how hard it would be to write for this song, considering any hip-hop fan/rapper has this whole song memorized. For that reason, unless you can come with something completely fresh and revolutionary, don't get on Life's A B*tch
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Crew  Total Ratings: 2476 |
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I see where he's coming from, but I have to disagree with XuUP. I feel like Kweli and Fashawn do a good job of writing some original content while still including a few lines that pay homage to the original. It's a delicate balancing act, but I think they walked it well. Not perfectly, but well.
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Professional  Total Ratings: 42 |
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dope!!!!
The Art of Blends... DJCriticalHype.com Critical Hype on Twitter |
| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 1189 |
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Good attempt, though dosnt come close to the original.
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 213 |
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I absolutely love the original version, which is one of my favorite songs period. It would be extremely hard to remake a song like this and still hold your own, but acutally Fashawn and Kweli both did a great job. Like HoamBoy said I think their lines could have been a little more creative, overall they did a good job with it. It's a 3 though, still not even close compared to the original.
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Professional  Total Ratings: 91 |
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I'm feelin it.. Talib sounds great over this classic track. Fashawn sounds good too (my first time ever hearing dude)
DJ Sandman (WBTP 95.7 The Beat -Tampa, FL / BumsquadDjz / 1200Squad / RapattackLives.Com / Dynasty's Tour Dj / Laws Tour Dj / Dreampusher Mixtape Best of the Booth Vol. 5 |
| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 1227 |
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I think Fashawn did a good job on this track, but there was a few too many Nas lines in there for me.
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 4267 |
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Even with the combined ratings of all the DJBooth members, we can not even come close to doing justice to the Original. The lyrics are of a kind that, song is a hit in any generation. Timeless!!
So, its impossible to match the Original but as a tribute/Freestyle, it couldn't of been done better. |
| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Tastemaker Total Ratings: 4267 |
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Even with the combined ratings of all the DJBooth members, we can not even come close to doing justice to the Original. The lyrics are of a kind that, song is a hit in any generation. Timeless!!
So, its impossible to match the Original but as a tribute/Freestyle, it couldn't of been done better. |
| Posted on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 433 |
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Obviously this isn't the original, and it doesn't even come close. It's good that they are respecting and taking notice of what I believe to be the greatest hip-hop album of all time so I respect them for that.
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| Posted on Mar 30, 2010 |
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Tastemaker Total Ratings: 433 |
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Does anybody know when this mixtape comes out?
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| Posted on Mar 30, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 303 |
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Talib straight up went in on this. Fashawn was a little less impressive (even with the similarities to Nas's original verse). Even so, he's still a talented emcee. Talib is one of the greatest rappers of all time and he did do justice to the track. As far as the original goes, AZ spit arguably the best verse of his career on here.
This deserves banger status. |
| Posted on Mar 30, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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Two of the most intellectual rappers of all time on a track..u got str8 fire
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| Posted on Mar 31, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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i think the track was awesome
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| Posted on Apr 12, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 221 |
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For me I liked the original much better.. this one was just alright ,, I think it could have been much better
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| Posted on Apr 16, 2010 |
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| Posted on Jan 01, 2013 |
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