Watch Jack White’s Surprise Jay-Z, ‘Pulp Fiction’ Fusion

July 21, 2014

Jack White kicked off the latest leg of his North American tour dates with a performance at Louisville’s Forecastle Festival on Saturday night. White opened his encore with the White Stripes classic Icky Thump, working in Jay-Z‘s 99 Problems and Misirlou from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.

White established a trend of performing off-the-cuff covers and re-workings during his recent European tour, most famously incorporating the riff from Metallica‘s 1991 classic Enter Sandman into his Glastonbury set, in honour of the thrash metal legends who were headlining the event.

The Hova cover shouldn’t come as a surprise to most fans of the idiosyncratic blues rocker, who revealed in 2010 that he and the rapper briefly collaborated in the studio. White recently described the unreleased tracks as “unbelievable-sounding,” though he said he wasn’t sure Jay liked them.

In the same Rolling Stone interview, White shed light on how he’s able to incorporate so many impromptu covers into his performances – there’s no setlist. White confirmed that he’d carried the trend over from his White Stripes days while complaining about punters who text during shows.

Watch: Jack White – Icky Thump at Forecastle Music Festival 2014