As a parent of four kids and three who are all 10-and-under, my favorite musical genre at this point in my life is age-appropriate jams I can listen to without wanting to stab out my eyeballs. So when “Gracie’s Corner” hit my consciousness some years ago to fill that void, I (and appreciative parents everywhere) knew we’d found gold.
For instance, while Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” will always be the Black community’s go-to birthday song, it is not unusual at this point to hear the bounce-beat “Gracie’s Corner” version at birthday parties for those of us who went to see “Sinners” on opening weekend.
“Gracie’s Corner,” for those who don’t know (or don’t have children) is a YouTube channel for kids. According to their YouTube page, they provide “a combination of educational, fun, and encouraging songs for children from diverse backgrounds. Come sing and dance with Gracie as she takes a fun imaginary journey with family and friends!”
More plainly, they take some of the nursery rhymes we all know and love and put some stank on it. Which brings us to the reason for the season. If you haven’t heard the “Gracie’s Corner” version of “Wheels On The Bus,” you must not have Black kids. To date, the bass-heavy, trap hi-hat jam has 111 million views. Yes, you read that right 111 MILLION views. Those wipers are swishin’ swishin’. Let’s just say, issa bop.
Well, because the folks over at “Gracie’s Corner” HQ aren’t playing fair they went out and got Paul Wall—yes Houston’s rap label Swishahouse Paul Wall, “The People’s Champ”—to drop some of that H-town drawl over a revamped beat that absolutely should be added to any DJ set in the lower-48 states, but especially anywhere and everywhere that might refer to itself as the Dirty South.
Listen to me. I don’t know how this Paul Wall and “Gracie’s Corner” collaboration came to be but whoever quarterbacked this thing needs to be conducting seminars on synergy and creative collaborations for the entire family. I hope THAT person is in charge of their family reunion planning because if so, it’s not just city tours and city park cookouts for that family. The fact that Paul Wall’s entire verse sounds like one he had sitting around that could have fit on a slow grooving Mike Jones record, or basically ANY song where Paul Wall has ever featured—but still works for this kids’ bop—is nasty work of the most beautiful variety.
“Paul Wall, baby/rollin’ rollin’ 84s/candy paint drippin’ off tha doooors/candy red lookin’ like a rose/wheels pokin’ out what yo’ toes/diamond boy, my mouth is froze/big ole smile, I do suppose/drive slow my car glows/ trunk open and trunk close/at the car wash lookin’ fresh, I must say it looks quite superb/what you know about swingin’ wide in that big bus, don’t hit the curb/please observe how I work the wheel, I tell the truth and I keep it real/down here we call it trill, now let me show you my grill.”
Listen, I don’t know if you have any reason to pull up “Gracie’s Corner” but if you do, move expeditiously to listen to this “Wheels On The Bus – H-town Remix” with Paul Wall. And if you didn’t know that “Gracie’s Corner” existed before now, then consider your life different and now you have a glimpse of what the lives of parents start to look like and how different it looks from single life. Because I have now bumped this “Wheels On The Bus” remix in the car with my kids on repeat. That, my friends, is a win-win for everybody.
The wheels are rollin’ rollin’, indeed.
