From the beginning of its history, music always borrowed from itself. When travelers discovered new cultures, they borrowed their sounds. Christian hymnals borrowed melodies from drinking songs sung in the taverns and pubs of Europe. Jazz musicians borrowed sounds and melodies from pop music and vice versa. And most recently, hip-hop borrows pieces of recordings from any and all genres to combine and create something completely new and original. There’s nothing new to this practice and it’s really a beautiful thing.

I told you all that just because I wanted to share with you a collection of songs that led from one to another. The first is a song from 2009 by Lady Gaga, Poker Face. Fairly simple pop song, nothing too out there. If you’re not familiar, here’s the video:

Next, the same song covered by Lea Michele and Idina Menzel in the TV show Glee. Stripped down to just two singers and a piano, the song takes on a totally different atmosphere. Here’s the scene from the show:

Then with the oddest leap of genre, this song is by the rapper Kid Cudi. Produced by Kanye West and featuring Kanye and Common, Make Her Say uses parts of the above Glee cover of Poker Face for the music. It’s really a great sounding and unique hip-hop song. Warning, explicit lyrics.

Anyways, just wanted to share with you guys a few videos. Hope everything is going great.