Mashup Albums Like This One Need To Become “A Thing”
- Phil Fazioli
- Feb 9, 2017
- 2 min read
Some of us are familiar with the big-name mashup artists such as DJ Earworm, Daniel Kim, The Hood Internet, Girl Talk, The White Panda, Kap Slap and even those who started as mashup artists and now produce original tracks such as 3lau and 5 & A Dime. These artists are all extremely talented– they can take multiple acapella and instrumental pieces from various songs and even various genres and combine them into seamless tracks that have natural flow...just see an example below.
When “The Grey Album” was released in 2004 it was the first time that I saw such polished and comprehensive mashup project- in fact, I’d never seen anything quite like it before! An artist by the name of Danger Mouse mashed up “The Black Album” by Jay-Z and “The White Album” by The Beatles. Every sound- every kick, snare, bassline, hi-hat, guitar etc. was taken from the White Album, and all the vocals were taken from the Black Album. The result- an entire album of mashups!
Flash-forward to 2 days ago, February 6th, 2017, and a new mashup album has surfaced. In my opinion, as a complete work, this one is the most phenomenal mashup projects I’ve ever listened to. Jaymee Franchina calls the album: B.I.G. Flume Part 2Pac (it’s named this because part 1 which was released in 2013 is a mashup album of Flume’s first album with Notorious B.I.G. songs). Judging by the name of the album, you can obviously tell it’s a mashup of Flume’s latest work and various Tupac tracks.
Here’s another fun mashup album which was released in 2009. Team Teamwork mixes together the Legend of Zelda soundtrack with Dr. Dre, Mike Jones, Clipse, Jay-Z and others and calls it, "The Ocarina Of Rhyme."
One more that has influenced my love of mashups to this point is this album mashed up by the Otaku Gang, called, “Life After Death Star.” As you might have guessed, music samples from the Star Wars saga are used along with tracks from Notorious
These albums are the few that have influenced me so far, and they make me appreciate the art of a mashup that much more! Which are your favorites?
There are plenty of other mashup albums that are out there and only a google search away from your eardrums. But if you’re lazy– here’s a nice Top 10 list.
Comments