The Gray Album: What's The Dilly, Yo?

Recently, I have had an opportunity to listen to the so- called "Gray Album," the new hot underground CD by DJ Danger Mouse. The "Gray Album" is a remix of Jay- Z's "Black Album" over samples from the Beatles' "White Album," and as far as I understand it, is authorized by noone. DJ Danger Mouse released 3000 official copies of the CD and it quickly sold out and has since been copied ad infinitum, creating what will no doubt be quite a legal battle. Personally, I have never listened to any Jay- Z music, but since this is album is a water cooler conversation starter, I thought I would give it a whirl and it is quite interesting. Jay- Z's raps are really neato, and I thought I would be able to recognize the Beatles songs, but if you had never listened to the "White Album," you can't really tell where the samples come from, as they are 3- second loops of the best riffs from a handful of songs on a 2 record set.

I wonder if Jay- Z or the Beatles Estate will be more upset by the "Gray Album," or will they all be as impressed as I am by this innovative juxtaposition. I can see the holder of the rights to the "White Album"- is it Michael Jackson?- getting really peeved, crying foul about how the integrity of the music has been compromised by the production of this album- not to mention the lost royalties. Jay- Z, of course, has no leg to stand on, and is being hoisted on his own sampling petard. What I think is quite interesting is that while rap's success has been built upon the sampling of the music of others, it has by and large always been the songs of black musicians from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. James Brown, George Clinton, the Bar- Kays, and many more obscure soul and funk musicians have had to sit back and watch rappers make millions off of samples of their songs. I wonder what the reaction will be now that a venerated white rock band (which notoriously had a lot of blues influences in their music) is the target of such unauthorized sampling. Maybe the moral of the story here is that every musician builds upon the backs of his musical forebears to create something new, regardless of whether they sample it directly or just draw upon it as an influence. But then again, Ringo needs a new pair of shoes...

posted by santo26 | 11:07 AM