US rapper Denzel Curry is renowned for his creativity and pushing the boundaries of hip hop, so when he was asked if he would like to perform a cover for triple j's Like A Version, he leapt at the chance to strut his stuff in a different style.

"My management posed the idea [and] when I saw how many friends did it and how raw their covers came out I [was] up for the challenge. I love live music," Curry said.

Curry chose one of his favourite songs, Rage Against The Machine's Bulls On Parade, and delivered a high-energy performance that stunned listeners, who flooded triple j's text line with enthusiastic reviews.

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The video version attracted huge interest online and has clocked up more than 10 million views across the station's YouTube, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

"Denzel Curry absolutely blew up," Like A Version (LAV) producer Max Lavergne said.

"He's a well-known artist and Rage Against The Machine is a band our audience cares about, but it went to the level it did because of his performance — it was thrilling to watch."

Denzel Curry and band with triple j Breakfast hosts Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton during his Like A Version performance. ( triple j )

Curry enjoyed stepping out of his comfort zone and is pleased the audience appreciated his take on the song.

"I'm happy with the turnout, it feels like a few more people discovered my music by being blown away by [LAV]," Curry said.

"I think the benefit [of doing LAV] is to showcase your versatility, especially for rappers."

"Joey Badass did Prince's When Doves Cry and killed it, Rocky did Otis Redding."

"[It shows] we're not just rappers — we're artists."

Producer Max Lavergne directing the set-up for Like A Version. ( triple j: Tim Pass )

Doing a cover song with integrity

LAV started in 2004 and was dreamt up by Mel Bampton (now Lissie Turner) who was then host of the morning show Mel In The Morning. Producer Craig Schuftan came up with the name.

The idea was that a musician or band would come into the studio and perform one of their own songs plus a cover of another they love.

It morphed out of a segment called Wrong Way To The Top, featuring covers of ACDC songs, which was played during the Drive program Bampton co-hosted with Charlie Pickering the year before.

Triple j presenter Mel Bampton (now Lissie Turner) on air in 2006. ( triple j )

"We were playing a lot of funny or bad covers [on Wrong Way To The Top], but then we were getting some really quite good ones and I had to check my own judgement about a cover song, which was almost a derogatory term in the alternative music listening world," Turner said.

"It was regarded as just a way for musicians to get paid a lot of money at the pub on a Sunday afternoon by riding on the back of other artists, and to have integrity you had to write your own music."

"But Like A Version changed that story by showing that paying tribute to someone else's music does have integrity when done in a way that's not as leverage for your own career."

"Later, artists started covering some of the most commercial pop songs in an alternative way — Mattafix did Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams and covered it in a haunting way that encapsulated the essence of the song almost better than Green Day."

Turner hosted the program for three years and said it was a hit with the audience from week one.

And a big part of that was the story behind the song selection.

"I really loved doing the LAV segment each week because the stories were so intimate and personal," Turner said.

"This song might have been their inspiration when they were young or was important at a particular time in their life, one of their relatives might have introduced them to it, or it had played a role in the kind of musician they had become."

"So while the song was brilliant, it was the story and connection behind it that gave LAV it's incredible essence."

"And I think that's why it appealed to the audience too — everybody secretly loves a cover, it has familiarity and meaning in the context of your own life."

Hanging outside the Like A Version studio is this acknowledgement of the success of the compilation CDs which debuted at number one on the ARIA charts five years running from 2013. ( triple j: Greg Wales )

Over the years, the radio segment has become increasingly popular, spawning compilation CDs (for five years from 2013 LAV CDs debuted at number one on the ARIA chart), playlists on Apple Music and Spotify, and a slick video clip, which has attracted a substantial international audience to the triple j YouTube channel.

The three most popular LAV songs are Childish Gambino's cover of Tamia's So Into You, which has more than 25 million YouTube views, Arctic Monkeys' cover of Tame Impala's Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, which has 12 million views, and CHVRCHES' cover of Arctic Monkeys' Do I Want To Know, which has topped 10 million views.

"Like A Version is an absolute beast," triple j content manager Lachie Macara said.

"We know hundreds of thousands of people make an appointment to catch it every Friday."

"We see that in the huge spike of users we have on the triple j app, the ridiculous activity on the triple j textline and the big numbers the videos do on YouTube and Facebook."

"It's built a reputation that stretches far beyond Australia. More than half of the 900,000-odd subscribers on our YouTube channel come from overseas and we know most of them are there for one reason — a new Like A Version every Friday."

Macara said the program's growing popularity meant international and Australian acts were increasingly wanting to lock in LAV around their tours, for both the platform and the creative challenge it offered.

Young Australian singer/songwriter Eves Karydas grew up listening to triple j and had a long-held desire to do LAV.

"As a young musician in Australia, getting played on triple j is a goal you aim for and LAV is a part of that, [so] it's definitely something I always wanted to do," she said.

"When you get asked by triple j to do LAV it feels like a milestone," said Karydas, who covered Aretha Franklin's hit song (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

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"Bands often see the segment as a big achievement personally and professionally," Lavergne said.

"They take it really seriously and when they come in they want to get it right and do something that stands the test of time."

"Frequently, we actually get artists say it's too early in their career and they ask if they can come back in six months."

"It's an enormous spotlight on a band, particularly a young band finding their feet, and when they have had time to pick a good song, rehearse it well and get it really slick it can change things for them."

"We did one with Odette last year, a week or two before her tour kicked off."

"She did a cover of Gang of Youths' Magnolia, which is a huge band for us, a song people love, and it was a great arrangement so it was the perfect storm and she sold out her whole tour after it was played on the radio."

The triple j team set up for Like A Version. ( triple j: Tim Pass )

What makes a great Like A Version?

Producer Max Lavergne said it was critical artists picked a song they were passionate about.

"We are actually quite insistent that the song artists choose is a song they care about or have a story to tell about it," Lavergne said.

"Doing songs that are really well known can be a bit dangerous."

"We definitely don't tell bands not to do them, but we want to avoid it sounding like they're doing karaoke — that's something the audience rejects."

"The key is the artist needs to bring something of themselves to it."

"In Ausmusic month, The Presets covered Midnight Oil's Power and the Passion, which is so famous and popular a song that with the wrong treatment it could sound like a high school band bashing away, but the way they arranged it and the experience and swagger they brought to it, they crushed it."

Karydas made a gutsy and spontaneous call to cover a very big song, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, inspired by her deep affection for the Queen of Soul.

"Initially, I had selected a different song and had actually done a whole heap of prep for it, but I ended up going with Aretha's (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman in light of her passing that week," Karydas said.

"Aretha was important to so many people, but for me personally [that song] sound-tracked my childhood and my adolescence, and now that I'm in my early 20s I feel like I'm slowly learning what that song means."

"So, LAV suddenly changed from being an opportunity to reinterpret a song to my own style; it instead became a tribute, a chance to reflect on and honour one of the greatest artists of our time."

"I was definitely nervous as I wanted to do the song justice, but I knew I wasn't doing it for any superficial gain, so it took away a certain pressure."

Video producer Jess Hallay lines up a shot. ( triple j: Tim Pass )

LAV can be a risky proposition if an artist fails to pull it off, but the triple j production team is highly invested in giving them the best possible chance.

Acts are booked months in advance (where possible), triple j's producers advise on what works and what doesn't, and they support the musicians through preparation, rehearsal and the final performance.

"We say to bands 'we are not going to let you sink or swim on your own', we work closely with them to make the vision they have come true," Lavergne said.

"One thing we've noticed is that listeners love seeing an artist bring a song into a different genre, rearrange it to sound noticeably different — that's a slam dunk."

"If artists can gender flip, male cover female and vice versa, that also does well."

"When it can be as live as possible is when people respond best too, so in a song where a musician might use a sequencer or play parts off a laptop we'll ask them to bring the horns, bring the instruments in."

"It's more visually spectacular for the video and adds to the energy in the room."

It was a tight squeeze for Childish Gambino as he performed in the triple j on-air studio in 2015 before Like A Version was moved to a bigger studio. ( triple j )

What happens behind the scenes

While the segment used to be performed in the tight confines of the triple j on-air studio, it's now staged in a bigger studio at the ABC's Sydney HQ.

With up to 48 audio inputs and plenty of space for cameras, it allows for more elaborate performances and a more engaging video clip.

Working hand-in-hand behind the scenes is experienced live music producer and sound engineer Greg Wales and talented video producers Tim Pass and Jess Hallay.

"Previously we had a maximum of eight microphones, and we now get access to a lot of bands we'd never get before because we can give them access to a broader palette," Wales, who has worked on LAV for 11 years, said.

"We've had choirs in here and recently a 13-piece band, but just because you can bring more does not necessarily make LAV better."

"People can respond just as well to a stripped-back performance even in a big room."

"As with any kind of art, you don't need to throw everything at it."

"That's not the way you win this segment, the real win is in the re-interpretation."

Sound engineer Greg Wales juggles a large number of audio inputs when mixing Like A Version. ( triple j )

Wales's greatest challenge is producing the best possible sound when there is no opportunity to perfect the output.

"I've worked on albums in the past where you spend hours recording something and you'll go back and say 'let's do the drums again', or 'let's do the vocals again' — with LAV you have to just go with it."

"The other complication is the cameras."

"If I was making only audio I'd set the studio up completely differently; I might put the drum kit in the corner and the vocalists in a vocal booth, but it's got to work for TV as well."

"Often, I'll want to use a particular microphone but the camera guys will say now they can't see the musician's head or it's bad for lighting, so we have to move things around and find something that works for all of us."

The video producers use five to six cameras and adjust the lighting and shooting style according to the song. ( triple j: Tim Pass )

While the segment is performed in the same studio week in, week out, Pass and Hallay tweak the lighting and cut between five to six cameras to produce a unique look that complements each musician and song.

"We want it to look the same but different every week," Pass said.

"We adapt the lighting and camera movement, so with a heavy rock song like the Denzel Curry one, that was really heavy and fast."

"We watched them rehearse and realised we needed to up the energy, so we adjusted our camera shutter speed to make it faster and we accentuated movement."

"With something slower like Cub Sport's cover of Billie Eilish's when the party's over, in which they used a grand piano, we took lots of slow tracking shots using a dolly, and used softer lighting."

"The thing to remember is that the song is the key. We can make it look as nice as we can, but people want to listen to the song and you have to make sure how you shoot it doesn't clash with that."

For the audience who have listened to it on the radio to view it online an hour or so later and see what they imagined is really cool."

Video producer Tim Pass films Grinspoon doing Like A Version. ( triple j )

While Like A Version may be a hit with artists and the audience, you get the feeling the triple j team working on it may just be its biggest fans.

"It's the thrill of the live performance, and it's a really exciting moment when a LAV happens in front of you that you know is really special," Wales said.

"That Denzel Curry one was just unbelievable, and to see that happen you feel like you've bottled lightning."

Listen to Like A Version during Breakfast on triple j every Friday (6am-9am) and watch online on triple j's YouTube channel.