Long-lost MP3: Vin Diesel vs. Arthur Russell

This was worth waiting years for! In his teenage years Hollywood-Actor Vin Diesel, then known as Mark Sinclair, did some amazing rapping over a beat by iconic avant-disco pioneer Arthur Russell. The mp3 just appeared online. It was taped by Grammy-nominated songwriter Gary Lucas for an aborted session at Battery Sound NYC back in 1986.

The downtown composer Arthur Russell, who died of AIDS in 1992, was a mentor to Vin Diesel during his rap and break-dancing days in Greenwich Village. Check the lyrics: "I am a man of steel" or "It’s the white part of me fucking it up," it sounds sooo gangsta! Listen to the collaboration: here.

Published May 04, 2011.