Fazed
Don’t get me wrong—I love mash-ups (at least in theory), but I knew this was going to happen back when a lot of reasonable people I knew were suddenly obsessing over their illegally-obtained copies of‘The Best Bootlegs in the World Ever.’ Long before I finally got around to seeking out Danger Mouse’s ‘The Gray Album,’ I knew it was bound to come to this sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before some soulless hack in corporate marketing figured out how to cash in on the concept. Is anyone surprised that it was (un)retired-rapper-turned-label exec Jay-Z who turned out to be the straw to stir that drink?
It’s hard to review an album that is so effective and unironic a gimmick that it renders the quality of the music on it more or less irrelevant. It’s all about the marketing, kiddies. Sophomoric rap-rockers Linkin Park style isn’t really distinct enough from the hip-hop subculture that surrounds Jay-Z for this “mash-up” to really have any teeth to it. Then again, you’ve already bought a copy, haven’t you?