Bitch, Don't Kill My Power Trip Song Analysis

Bitch, Don't Kill My Power Trip is our cover song which is consists of two songs. J. Cole's Power Trip released in 2013 and Kendrick Lamar's Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe also released in 2013. Power Trip managed to debut at No. 29 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The song managed to reach No. 19 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe managed to reach No. 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 9 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Power Trip was featured on the album Born Sinner and Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe was featured on the album good kid, m.A.A.d city

It was Kit & Charlotte's idea to cover these two song and join them together. I haven't fully listened to J. Cole but am aware of him. Whilst I am very familiar with Kendrick Lamar and I really enjoy his music. I know Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe very well so it didn't take me long to get the feel for the song. He's easily the most exciting rapper at the moment. We wanted to try and do a cover of a song and change it, we thought it would be a good idea to take two songs and mix them up a bit a groove around the chords that are used in each song. Only one of the songs feats female and male vocals, Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe, while Power Trip has just male vocals. This was one of the ways we changed Power Trip because we replaced the male vocals performed by Miguel with Charlotte's Vocals. Kit's role would be to add vocals and rap which he enjoys so it wasn't very hard for him.

We first start off by playing Power Trip for our Bitch, Don't Kill My Power Trip cover. Marco starts it all off by playing the organ melody from the original. We take the chords, Bb Minor 7/Ab Major 7/F# Major 7, from Power Trip and try to grove around them for the hook which is:

[Hook 1: J. Cole]

"Got me up all night, all I'm singin' is love songs She got me up all night, constant drinkin' and love songs She got me up all night, down and out with these love songs She got me up all night, drownin' out with these love songs She got me up all night, all I'm singin' is love songs She got me up all night, constant drinkin' and love songs She got me up all night, down and out with these love songs She got me open all night, got me open all night"

We play the hook very close to the original for both when we come in with the hook and after the first verse. I play the a slightly different bass part to the record to try and match the drums. I decided to add a few extras notes to make it different to the original rather than just sticking to root notes, I play C# as a passing note to the F# Major 7 and usually add in a few octaves for the main chords for more texture. After the hook we go into the verse which features the same chords but they're played with more of a funk feel by Rowan on guitar. That gives me and Jack a chance to push the rhythm forward. Jack plays a different drum beat which pushes allowing me to add my bass line. I like to add a lot of mute notes like Jaco Pastorius to add flavour to my bass playing. Marco and Rowan help to add to the song by doing their parts on keys, Marco, and guitar, Rowan, which add more layers to the song. The verse does feel quite different even though it is the same chords, it changes to double time. These are verse lyrics which Kit has mastered:

[Verse 1: J. Cole] "Okay, back when I was sleepin' in my mama's crib Even back then when I was up there in Mohammed crib Payin' seventeen-hundred for the rent, money well spent No heater, but a nigga made heat, may I vent? Had a thing for you, even wrote the song dreams for you Cause I had dreams for you, thoughts of a ring for you Childish shit, you know childish shit Anonymous flowers sent, you know coward shit Now a nigga signed to Hov, took a power trip Back home I'm grown now and this city's my throne now The same clubs that I used to get tossed out Life got crisscrossed, Totally Krossed Out Cause now I'm in this bitch and I'm totally bossed out Old chicks cryin' cause they know that they lost out But I'm still on you, I'm still on you My drink spilled on me, while I feel on you I'm saying..."

After the verse it calms back down again with the hook coming back in again. I decided to change my playing here and play bass chords. These chords only consist of two notes, the root and the 3rd. I learnt this from a Steely Dan song, Peg, which has bass chords in the introduction of the song. This is where it mellows out again. There is a new hook added in here.

[Hook 2: Miguel & J. Cole] Would you believe me if I said I'm in love? Baby, I want you to want me Would you believe me if I said I'm in love? Baby, I want ya And we are, we are, we are Got me up all night And we are, we are, we are All I'm singin' is love songs And we are, we are, we are Got me up all night And we are, we are, we are She got me And we are, we are, we are She got me

That is all of Power Trip, Jack changes tempo and Rowan kicks off the chords for Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe. These chords are F Minor 7, F# Major 7 and C# Major 7. I noticed that the two original versions of the song are roughly the same tempo. We near enough kept Power Trip the same but decided to slow down Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe so that it feels more relaxed and it works very well, especially with the use of the added 7 on the chords which again add texture to whole song. The drums do have a few pushes during each rest on F# Major 7 and C# Major 7 which allows more to groove with the drums. When Rowan plays the C# Major 7 chord I tend to work around the major pentatonic scale. Rowan solos around this scale as well with a few added blues notes. In terms of the rhythm we changed it by adding more of a groove base to Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe instead of having a trap beat like the original. Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe didn't originally have a solo but Rowan added one and it works very well.

As for the lyrics and vocals, Kit and Charlotte take the main hook from the song and repeat it a few times whilst repeating the lines "We are, we are, we are" from Power Trip. This is the main hook form Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe which Charlotte & Kit both perform.

[Hook 1:] I am a sinner Who's probably gonna sin again Lord forgive me Lord forgive me Things I don't understand Sometimes I need to be alone Bitch don't kill my vibe Bitch don't kill my vibe I can feel your energy from two planets away I got my drink I got my music I will share it but today I'm yelling Bitch don't kill my vibe Bitch don't kill my vibe Bitch don't kill my vibe Bitch don't kill my vibe

For both of the songs, we stripped some of the original instruments down so that it would fit what we play. There isn't a guitar in the original version of Power Trip. The verse is quite stripped down in the original whilst our version is more up beat with all the instruments which results in a powerful verse

There are quite a few ways overall in how we make these two songs different covers. Adding the funk feel to Power Trip's verse, changing my bass line and the drums, adding a guitar, harmonising vocals from Kit & Charlotte, mixing two songs together, using lines from Power Trip in Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe, change in tempo, instrumentation changes and different rhythmical approach.