DOWNHILL BATTLE -- DJ Danger Mouse's recent Grey Album, which remixes
Jay-Z's The Black Album and the Beatles White Album, has been hailed as
a innovative hip-hop triumph. Despite that and the fact that only 3,000
copies of the album are in circulation, EMI sent cease and desist
letters yesterday to Danger Mouse and the handful of stores that were
selling the album, demanding that the album be destroyed.
"EMI isn't looking for compensation, they're trying to ban a work of
art," said Downhill Battle's Rebecca Laurie.
"Special interests, including the major labels, have turned copyright
law into a weapon," said Downhill Battle co-founder Holmes Wilson. "If
Danger Mouse had requested permission and offered to pay royalties, EMI
still would have said no and the public would never have been able to
enjoy this critically acclaimed work. Artists are being forced to break
the law to innovate."
The Grey Album has been widely shared on file sharing networks such as
Kazaa and Soulseek, and has garnered critical acclaim in Rolling Stone
(which called it "the ultimate remix record" and "an ingenious hip-hop
record that sounds oddly ahead of its time"), the Boston
Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the
year), and other major news outlets.
DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM
01 Public Service Announcement
02 What More Can I Say
03 Encore
04 December 4th
05 99 Problems
06 Dirt Off Your Shoulder
07 Moment of Clarity
08 Change Clothes
09 Allure
10 Justify My Thug
11 Interlude
12 My 1st Song