Robert Johnson-inspired Hip Hop

August 19, 2004 11:23 AM

A few weeks I had to listen to a drunken guy drone on about hip-hop. There was one thing he said that caught my interest. He mentioned that there were tracks based on Robert Johnson samples. So what are the tracks and who does them?
posted by rdr to media & arts (5 comments total)

Apparently Laquan sampled "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day" on "Swing Blue, Sweat Black", and Mixmaster Mike turned "Ramblin' on My Mind" into a rap jam. I have no first-hand knowledge of these, however.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 11:52 AM on August 19, 2004

French rapper MC Solaar has what I'm pretty sure is a Robert Johnson sample (it's brief, but distinctive) on the song "La fin justifie les moyens" ("The End Justifies the Means") from the album Prose Combat.
posted by Acetylene at 12:03 PM on August 19, 2004

In the film Scratch you can see Mixmaster Mike scratching with a Robert Johnson record. Possibly the one mentioned above.
posted by DelusionsofGrandeur at 12:27 PM on August 19, 2004

On a related note, Mudy Waters' "Electric Mud" album shows up everywhere in Hip Hop.
posted by freebird at 12:49 PM on August 19, 2004

on a getting-more-unrelated note (i have a knack of not actually answering people's questions), ekkehard ehlers, in absolutely no sense a hip hop artist, has released a 7" of robert johnson music, called, appropriately, ekkehard ehlers plays robert johnson. it's absolutely beautiful - minimal glitchy ambient stuff based on robert johnson samples. the 7" sold out ages ago, but you can still get the collected plays... series on staubgold records. also featured are albert ayler, john cassavetes, hubert fichte and cornelius cardew.
posted by nylon at 1:04 PM on August 19, 2004