We already know that Rap fans can come from all backgrounds, and Bob Dylan is sharing a few of his favorite Hip Hop artists. The music icon has been a favorite since before Hip Hop was even a genre, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dylan takes readers on a journey of his love for music.
During the chat, the journalist asked Dylan about his preferences in today’s music culture. He admitted that many of the newer artists he comes across are done so by accident. He said he likes The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas, digs Oasis, and has “seen Metallica twice.”
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He added: “I’ve made special efforts to see Jack White and Alex Turner [of Arctic Monkeys].” Dylan said he’s also a “fan” of “Royal Blood, Celeste, Rag and Bone Man, Wu-Tang, Eminem, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen.” Basically, “Anybody with a feeling for words and language, anybody whose vision parallels mine.”
The 81-year-old icon has been hailed as one of the greatest singer-songwriters in music history. With 60 years of experience under his belt, Dylan recalled falling in love with music sometime in the 1950s. He spoke about how that era was monumental for music.
“Without postwar technology, these songs may have dissipated and been overlooked,” he said. “The recording process brought the right people to the top, the most innovative, the ones with the greatest talent.”
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“I first heard [popular songs] on the radio, portable record players, jukeboxes. We didn’t have a TV, and I never heard them in films, but I was hearing them in my head,” Dylan added.
“They were straightforward, and my relationship to them at first was external, then became personal and intense. The songs were simple, easy to understand, and they’d come to you in a direct way, let you see into the future.”
It would be interesting to hear which Slim Shady hits are Dylan’s favorites. Even he knows that the “Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothin’ to f*ck with.”
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