Dub dot dash

Fade to Grey
What do you get if you cross Jay Z's latest CD the Black Album with the Beatles White Album? Answer: The Grey Album, a bootleg by US DJ Danger Mouse (real name Brian Burton). Highly illegal, very entertaining. Hiphop vocals from Jay Z's latest, plus beats and samples all taken from the White Album. Its intriguing, and some of it even works.
Not surpisingly, the Beatles label EMI has jumped all over this, as its been out on cd, limited to 3000 copies worldwide. "It's illegal, I know that and it may get me in trouble, but if I had thought about that I would have never made what I thought turned out to be one of the best things I ever did," Dangermouse said. Read Reuters news report on it here.

"Danger Mouse said he's complied with the order not to distribute any more copies of The Grey Album. [Ebay have pulled it from their auctions also] Because of the small number pressed, he didn't expect any further legal action to take place." But once it hits the net it will be downloaded all over the show. Grey Tuesday is about just that... "Tuesday, February 24 will be a day of coordinated civil disobedience: websites will post Danger Mouse's Grey Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI's attempts to censor this work." 138 sites are currently listed as taking part.
I'm not suggesting you download it, that would be illegal. I heard some short sound samples over at Turntable Lab. Will the Grey Tuesday kids all get sued by EMI?
Andrew Baio at Waxy.org had the files up on his site for download briefly, but was CC'd on an email to his ISP emailed by EMI's lawyers, ordering him to stop unauthorized distribution. A copy of the email from EMI is on his site.



Reactions?
"I love the Beatles, but nobody knows that there's breaks in there," said Chad Hugo of the Neptunes, who produced two songs on The Black Album. After hearing The Grey Album for the first time, he nodded in approval. "This is dirty," he said.
Rolling Stone called it "the ultimate remix record" and "an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time"
the Boston Globe called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the year.
"Appalling, simply appalling. The Beatles and Jay-Z? Disgusting. How could he do this? Danger Mouse has some serious issues. What was he smoking? Drugs, booties, and hoes over tracks like "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and "Piggies"????? It's just not right!!" said one disgruntled old bastard/Beatles fan.
Andrew Dubber over at the Wireless says "Legitimate art or piracy? Well, strictly speaking, it's both - but it's only piracy because both the law and EMI are wrong. Grey Tuesday is a campaign to protest narrow and self-interested interpretations of copyright law that limit and erode creativity, thereby destroying the very industry the major labels should be supporting and depend upon for their livelihood... This could, in fact, already be the most important record of the decade - and you can't buy it."

"I'm just worried ... whether Paul and Ringo will like it. If they say that they hate it, and that I messed up their music, I think I'll put my tail between my legs and go," DJ Danger Mouse recently told The New Yorker.


Hey Ya...
Outkast own their own studio in hometown Atlanta, Georgia... Heres how they got it...
"...bought at a knock-down rate in 1999, after it was seized by the IRS from its previous owner (a cash-strapped Bobby Brown), and re-christened Stankonia." Excellent interview, worth a read on the Guardians website here. Big Boi's cellphone ring is a Kate Bush song, one of his favorite artists of all time, he says. They are so way ahead of the game when it comes to hiphop.