Ty Dolla $ign pays tribute to Kurt Cobain with a faithful take on Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit

Ty Dolla $ign performs onstage during "Mac Miller: A Celebration Of Life" Concert Benefiting The Launch Of The Mac Miller Circles Fund at The Greek Theatre on October 31, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
(Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for LiveNation)

With a string of chart-breaking hits and high-profile collaborations – including with the likes of Post Malone, Kid Cudi, Anderson. Paak, Nicki Minaj and Quavo – Ty Dolla $ign is one of R&B and hip-hop's biggest names.

And while the Spicy rapper is known for his abilities with a bass guitar, he's also apparently pretty handy with a six-string.

Taking to social media on Monday (January 11), Ty shared a clip of himself jamming the main riff of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit on a Fender Strat.

Accompanied by his live band, the rendition starts as faithful cover of the original before moving in an altogether groovier direction.

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The rapper has made no secret of his love for Nirvana in the past; back in 2019, he teamed up with Spin to recreate Kurt Cobain's famous black-and-white cover for the magazine. He also revealed in the same issue that he has a portrait of the Nirvana frontman tattooed on the back of his leg.

“The first time I ever actually loved a rock song was Smells Like Teen Spirit and then it made me go and listen to all of his [Cobain's] shit,” Ty said during the interview. “I wish he would have lived longer to really give off everything and I wonder what he would sound like right now.

“I definitely wanted to pay homage to Kurt because he’s the rock star of rock stars. I’m just a sex symbol, I’m trying to get there.”

We've seen a number of hip-hop stars share their six-string skills in recent months, most notably when Ty's Spicy collaborator Post Malone took on Eric Johnson's Cliffs of Dover.

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Sam Roche

Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.