Jack White has tried his hand at rapping for a new B-side called Blues on Two Trees. As reported by DIY, Blues on Two Trees is the B-side to White’s current single I’m Shakin’, with the snippet (embedded below) posted online by White’s label Third Man Records.
The 32-second clip gives a little hint of White’s rapping chops, and is delivered in a deliberately paced old-school hip hop manner. The fact that White has offered up a rap verse isn’t all that surprising given previous comments and collaborations from the former White Stripes member.
Last year White teamed up with hip hop duo and Juggalo ambassadors Insane Clown Posse. Then when speaking with Triple M in July, Triple M’s Higgo inquired about the meaning behind the opening lyrics to Weep Themselves to Sleep from White’s solo record Blunderbuss. White responded by mentioning his envy of hip hop artists who have the freedom to be lyrically braggadocious.
“I think that character was sort of like about, maybe the sort of jealousy that hip hop artists, the things that they get to say that a lot of people maybe more from my environment don’t get to say,” White said.
As for initial reception of the new B-side, Rolling Stone have gushed over Blues on Two Trees, labelling the track as, “the meanest, most riotously fucked-up thing” of White’s career before going on to describe it as, “a goth-blues funeral processional shambling through a banshee forest of cackle and drone”.
Listen: Jack White – Blues on Two Trees [Snippet]
