Janelle Monae’s Cover of Hendrix’ “Little Wing” is Dope (SRV’s Was Better) Posted by Nathan S. on 04/02/13 | Filed under Videos, The Roots, Janelle Monae, Non Hip-Hop

Now this is exactly the type of shit I'd spend all of "No Rap Hour" talking about. Let's walk through this one step at a time.

First and foremost, Hendrix' "Little Wing" is an absolute classic. It may not be one of his bigger "hits", but among guitar nerds, it's considered one of his best performances. Simply put, you're not shit as a guitar player until you can play "Little Wing". Covering this song is for grown ups only.

So I couldn't be happier to hear Janelle Monae and The Roots predictably nail a version of "Little Wing" for the "Jimmy Fallon Show". It's always incredibly to hear Monae'sreally sing - I still don't quite understand how such a big voice comes out of such a small person - and The Roots' Captain Kirk is not to be slept on when it comes to the guitar.

BUT....

There's no way I can write about "Little Wing" without mention Stevie Ray Vaughn's cover. Those of you who only care about rappity-rap already checked out long ago, so I'm fine starting a "best guitarist of all-time" debate. SRV's my favorite guitar player of all-time, and here's why; he takes a fucking Hendrix song, and makes it MORE complicated. Sweet baby jesus if you don't feel this, you don't have a soul:

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