Jay Z and The Doors' John Densmore Were Pen Pals of Sorts

When you think of unlikely people relating on an intimate level about music, hopefully you think about Jay Z and The Doors, because that's what we thought about. Crazily enough, Doors drummer John Densmore revealed that he and Hov shared letters during the early part of the new millennium.

In 2001, Jay sampled The Doors track "Five To One" on his own track, "Takeover," from the 2001 album "The Blueprint." Densmore wasn't one of the types to sue for copyright infringement, but he still didn't get it.

"Hip-hop was just coming on, and I was like, 'What is this stuff? There's no melody,'" Densmore said. "I was a curmudgeon."

The rapper responded by writing Densmore a letter in which he explained that rappers were just fighting the powers that be in their own way, similar to what The Doors were doing during the late '60s. To seal the deal, he also gave the drummer a Def Jam T-shirt.

Densmore would end up reading Jay Z's book "Decoded," and ended up borrowing wisdom from the rapper when discussing the issues of fighting implosion as a rock star when writing his own book, "The Doors: Unhinged." He took a photo of himself wearing the T-shirt and sent it back to Jay Z in thanks, he said.

This isn't the first case of The Doors getting wrapped up in hip-hop this year. Rapper Tech N9ne got together with the band's remaining members to record "Strange 2013." Tech has stated that the band had a huge influence on him.

Tags

Jay-Z, The Doors