Every holiday season, we're blessed with great renditions of classic Christmas songs to warm our spirits, but along with that also comes a lists of well meaning yuletide flops. This is especially the case in hip-hop, in which rhyming about Christmas has not always produced the best results. Here are ten hip-hop Christmas flops.
See also: - Ten sad, strange and sexy Christmas songs - A Christmas lighting display soundtracked by Slayer - A Christmas lighting display homage to Guitar Hero
10. Jim Jones - "Ballin' On Xmas" Dipset Christmas, which dropped in 2006, is full Christmas laughs. The album produced plenty of gift wrapped tracks destined for ridicule, this one from Jim Jones especially so. The beat on this song is actually very hip-hop, and could have been a great song for some other theme, but Jones instead destroys the beat with poorly delivered narcissistic rhymes before throwing in a random "Fa la la la la" that is as awkward as his rendition of Jingle Bells for the Chorus.
9. 69 Boyz featuring Quad City DJ's - "What You Want for Christmas" With "Tootsie Roll," 69 Boyz delivered a classic hip hop song with the Quad City DJ's, but that magic didn't transfer to this yule tide flop of a song. This is 1990's booty-shaking music meets Christmas, sprinkled with a some grimy rhymes, with a 'hood rendition of the twelve days Christmas and a chorus that screams, "Fuck Christmas," literally.
8. Busta Rhymes feat Jim Carey - "The Grinch" This horrendous track came out on the Jim Carrey film "The Grinch." Busta does his best job of making the rhymes fresh, but everything about this track sounds forced with a Jim Carrey drop: "I want to give a shout out to the West Side of Whoville." Thankfully the song is short with only one verse and chorus that is sung by group of Whos.
7. Ying Yang Twinz - "Deck the Club" On this track, the Ying Yang Twinz stick to what they do well -- strip club anthems. Unfortunately the strip club anthem in question this time is a holiday strip club anthem. The beat is a boisterous version of "Deck the Halls," except they are decking the halls with "mounds of money." And be sure not to miss their crazy screaming ad-libs. The song is mildly entertaining and would probably be worth a laugh at the office holiday party, but it's wack otherwise.
6. Trey Songs & Flo Rida - "Jingle Bells" This song is atrocious. The Gap put this merry mix out as a promo video in 2008, and it was a highly regrettable move. Not only is an uptempo version of "Jingle Bells" attempted here, but the unexpected ad-libs of Trey Songz, who seemed to forget his introduction, made the final mix. Brace yourself for corny song lines about Santa with wack rhymes in some crazy attempt to draw people to wear more Gap clothing.
5. Snoop Dogg - "A Pimp Christmas" The concept is not bad here, but Snoop's tale of a pimp's Christmas doesn't translate into a great song. Filled with plenty of hos, liquor references and even a shout out to Dolemite from Snoop, the song fails when Jake the Flake spits, "It's hard out here for a pimp/When you trying to get the money for the rent." Quoting an imaginary rapper is never a good look.
4. Master P - "Christmas in the Ghetto" Master P is not known for his exceptional song writing skills and this has never been more obvious than in this failed attempt of a holiday track. Along with his now incarcerated brother C-Murder, the Miller brothers make a 'hood track about dope, robbery and ghetto tales. This format works for gangsta rap classics, but not Christmas songs. The best part of the song is the instrumental at the end, which is surprisingly funky.
3. Juelz Santana & Starr - "Jingle Bellz" This version of Jingle Bells is horrendous. Although Starr has a sultry and inviting voice, her interpretation of Jingle Bells is superficial and very unnatural ("Oh what fun it is to ride in a Phantom or a Bentley"). Juelz Santana's verses are equally annoying, from extreme materialism to bragging about the fur coats and jewels.
2. David Banner - "Christmas Song" David Banner's interpolation of "Tidings of Comforts and Joy" is anything but. The song is an anthem for robberies and openly bragging about sticking up people during the Christmas season. Any insight about the social dysfunction of the ghetto during Christmas falls on deaf ears when the chorus hits: "So we rob and we steal/Which is how to get a meal."
1. Killer Mike - "Christmas Grind" The song sounds like a tribute to the previous David Banner song, only on this one, Killer Mike outlines exactly how he is going to rob people this Christmas, step by step. The song, overrun with gun sounds and fueled by Killer Mike's angry disposition, could rob anyone of a pleasant Christmas time.
Follow @Westword_Music
