In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing. This week, we asked, “What’s your favorite song that originated on the Internet?”
I can’t say that I’m crazy about many Internet-specific songs, but the person who decided to mix a song from the kid show LazyTown with the filthiest parts of Lil Jon’s “Step Yo Game Up” deserves some high praise. (Though I don’t think I’d want to meet him.) The LazyTown part is an insanely catchy number called “Cooking By The Book,” and the video features a pink-haired girl in a chef’s hat singing about making sure you follow recipes. When Lil Jon comes in to request that someone “grind on his dick make it get a little bigger,” things get thoroughly inappropriate. Frosting soon symbolizes something else, and all innocence is lost. But damn if it isn’t still the best of both worlds: a massively catchy hook and a blistering rap. No, they don’t belong together, but the sum of “Cooking By The Book” and “Step Yo Game Up” is so much greater than its parts that it defies any standards of decency. If loving this mashup is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.