The Grey Album

Cafe Society
1

I’m sure many of you have heard about DJ Danger Mouse’s underground remix of Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” and The Beatles’ “The White Album,” and aware of the controversy surrounding it (See this thread for the Doper debate on the topic).

So this isn’t a debate of the legality of morality of sampling, but just thought of the material itself. I did get permission, from somebody who matters, to discuss this, so, for the time being anyway, this thread is kosher.

That being said, my random thoughts on “The Grey Album:”

I think some of the stuff DJDM did is ingenious. All the music and beats are taken from the Beatles, while only the vocals are Jay-Z’s. Which really surprised me because DM still kept a hip-hop feel to all the tracks.

I like his use of “Mother Nature’s Son” on the track about Jay-Z’s mother (“December 4”).

My favorite track is “Allure,” but I can’t figure out what Beatles song is used in the background. It’s a Beatles’ harmonization repeated over and over.

On the track “Lucifer,” I swear DM remixed “Revolution 9” to sound like “Rockafeller Skank” by Fatboy Slim. Which I find pretty cool, considering Jay-Z’s label is Rocafella.

I think my least favorite remix is “Dirt off Your Shoulders.” I like Jay-Z’s original, but I think the use of “Julia” doesn’t sound quite right with it.
Any other thoughts?

Happy

2

My two favourite songs off the Grey Album would have to be Encore and 99 Problems. Which are also my two faves off the Black Album. My view is the songs I like off the Black Album sound just as good on the Grey Album and the ones that I don’t like still sound weak when they are remixed. i.e. Change Clothes and Moment of Clarity.

3

Downloaded it and playing it now. So why would I want to listen to this instead of The White Album?

4

The Grey Album does two things really well;

  1. Makes the Beatles worse

  2. Makes Rap a little bit better

That said, I really liked this CD. Hopefully it will inspire producers and rappers to focus more on the lyrics then on the hypnotizing beat. That kind of attitude will help change people perspective on rap and hopefully take it through a renaissance of a sort. I really feel bad for the Beatles though, if the Black Album was such a letdown, the Grey Album might have done a little justice to the Beatles samples. But too late now. Hopefully it will chance rap. If it doesn’t, DJ Dangermouse created something truly genius.

I liked

What more can I say?
Encore
Dirt off your shoulders
99 Problems
and Change Clothes

Don’t get me wrong, the Album is good, these are just my favorites

5

Well, I’ve given it a listen.

Not bad. Don’t think I’d have bothered if it were a commercially released album, but I don’t really regret the time spent downloading.

I think My 1st Song makes best use of the Beatles material of the lot. Change Clothes is pretty good, too.

6

Since when do you need permission to discuss something?

What I’ve heard of the “Grey Album” made me want to listen to the White Album again.

7

Since tihs board doesn’t like discussion about piracy, I’m guessing…

Anyway, I like this album alot, not a big jay-z fan, not a big beatles fan, but this was somewhat refreshing compared to the last rap I heard.

8

I thought the idea was fantastic, and the execution, for the most part, lived up to it. I am an enormous Beatles fan who had given “The Black Album” only a few passive listens, and I think DJDM did a great job with an obviously fun project.

I don’t like to compare one album to the other, since this was obvously not meant to be a simple improvement on Jay-Z’s album, but I did think the Gray Album remix of “December 4” was MUCH better than the original.

What I hope is that its unlikely success (such as it is) will change people’s perspectives on sampling, and undo some of the damage done by that damn Puff Daddy song. Brilliant albums like Paul’s Boutique and It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back are pretty much impossible these days because people think of sampling as nothing more than re-recording a popular song with rap where the lyrics used to be.

Dr. J

9

Where do I get this thing? Or haven’t I been paying attention? Do I need an MP-3 player? Forgive my duh-ness - it’s early, I’m tired :slight_smile:

10

I haven’t heard the whole thing yet, but I really like what i have heard. Danger Mouse is a great producer, and this seems to be getting his name out there in a pretty big way. Hopefully we’ll be hearing a bit more from him.

I love The Black Album, and, though I dislike the Beatles I know the White Album.

I like Jay’s original, but I like DM mix as well. Regardless of the samples, it is most basically a piece of rgeat hip hop. The beat kicks, and the glitched-up guitar really drives it. This shows, as far as I’m concered, more than any other track on the record that sampling is a valid artform. I mean, it’s recognisably “Julia,” but DM slices it up so that the guitar riff just becomes a piece of sound that he uses to create his own music. I don’t believe that the Beatles deserve a cent for that song, because they just didn’t have any creative input into it. The art is all Danger Mouse’s, and he’s the one who deserves the credit.

I haven’t heard the Change Clothes remix, but I disagree with you about Moment of Clarity. I think Eminem’s production made one of the records lyrically strongest songs very weak. I was pleased that DM managed to save it (in my eyes).

Do you even listen to hip hop? There is enormous focus on the lyrics, far more so than in your average rock song. I mean, take a look at the aforementioned “Moment of Clarity”:

Pop died, didn’t cry, didn’t know him that well
Between him doin’ heroin, and me doin crack sales
With that in the egg shell, standin at the tabernacle
Rather the church, pretendin to be hurt
Wouldn’t work. So a smirk was all on my face
Like, “Damn, that man’s face is just like my face.”
So, Pop I forgive you, for all the shit that I lived through
It wasn’t all your fault, Homie you got caught
[…]
I dumb down for my audience, and double my dollars
They criticize me for it, yet they all yell “Holla!”
If skills sold, truth be told, I’d probably be
Lyrically, Talib Kweli, truthfully
I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
(But i did five mil)
I ain’t rhymed like Common since.
When your sense got that much in common
And you been hustlin since your inception
Fuck perception, go with what makes sense

I don’t see why hip hop needs an increased focus on lyrics if it can still produce verses like that.

Why does rap need to change people’s perspective? It’s incredibly popular. The only people hating rap these days are old people complaining about the beat. That’s like saying that back in the '60s, rock n roll needed to win over the 50 year olds.

What gives you the idea that the Black Album was a let down?

11

Filesharing services. You can’t get it on CD - it had a very limited release anyway, and now that EMI has cracked down, it’s almost impossible to get an original copy.