New Bob Dylan-Sampling Rap: Juelz Santana, "Mixing Up The Medicine"

Harlem rapper Juelz Santana has a new song out that samples Bob Dylan's 1965 classic "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Produced by Kane Beatz, and featuring Alabama rapper Yelawolf (who looks a bit like Keith Richards, doesn't he?) voicing Dylan's lyrics on the hook, the song is pretty good. But it's frustrating, too. First of all, it's a shame they couldn't have used Dylan's own voice. Maybe they couldn't get permission, or they couldn't afford the clearance fees? Strange, if so, because the signature guitar lick prominent in the production does sound to be from the original recording. This is sad in the same way as the Wu-Tang Clan's "The Heart Gently Weeps," which recasts the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with Dhani Harrison playing his dad's chords and Erykah Badu changing the words of the chorus-again, rather than a sample from the original: Not terrible. Kinda cool in itself. But, man, what might have been.

Worse, hearing Dylan incorporated into a rap song this way only serves to remind of the time he did go along with such a thing full-board: The 2009 Super Bowl Pepsi commercial collaboration with Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas that I will not post here because it destroys a small part of the collective human soul every time it airs.

Instead, if you like, you can watch the crazy new video for Dylan's drunken-Christmas rendition of the old polka number, "Must Be Santa," here.