Vancouver mayor sampled in U.S. rap song

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is seen in this Saturday November 19, 2011 file photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

Vancouverites who listened to a new U.S. rap single on the Rolling Stone website Tuesday may have recognized a familiar but unexpected voice on the track.

Mayor Gregor Robertson appears around two-thirds of the way through Push Em, a new collaboration between tattoo-clad Alabama hip hop artist Yelawolf and Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker.

The mayor’s voice was sampled from a statement Robertson delivered to the media in the wake of the June 15 Stanley Cup riot.

“We are dealing with a small group of troublemakers; it’s a bunch of angry young men who are fighting, who are smashing things up, lighting fires, causing these problems,” the mayor says on the raucous rap song.

The mayor’s office could not be reached Tuesday night, but told the Huffington Post it was unaware of the sampling before the song’s release.

The track appears on Yelawolf and Barker’s upcoming EP, Psycho White, set to be released next month.