Jaydiohead

Related to the idea of remix and mash-ups, make sure and check out Jaydiohead, by Minty Fresh Beats. This is similar to the idea of the Grey Album, except with Jay-Z laid over Radiohead instead of the Beatles. The tracks are available for download on the site. Get them while you can!

The tracks are very well mixed, and tend to lean towards putting Jay-Z lyrics over Radiohead music. It isn't the first time we've seen remixes of Radiohead's music. The band put up a site that has challenged fans to use the "stems" from select songs on their latest album In Rainbows for a remix. Being a HUGE Radiohead fan myself, I think this what Minty Fresh Beats has done here has the potential to be incredibly transformative.

Radiohead has a reputation for being radical in many instances. Their album In Rainbows was released on the Internet with a "name your own price" model. Although this has already been done before by artists such as Prince, it's never been done on such a large scale (the act was seen as a big fat middle finger to the music industry). Thom Yorke, the lead singer of Radiohead, who has an anti-WTO and anti-globalization stance has been involved with a good number of activist causes. Although their lyrics tend to be cryptic at times, with albums such as Hail to the Thief, it's not too hard to understand that their lyrics tend to a somber critique of the world we live in.

I'm looking forward to taking a closer listen to the juxtaposition of the two artists and see what radical messages emerge. I'm not too familiar with Jay-Z, so if anybody has any insight into some of these remixes, I'd love to hear your take on them. Here's a quick preview of one of the tracks, "Wrong Prayer". It also looks like Minty Fresh Beats is offering up the ability for people to make their own videos to go along with the songs, and the best will replace what they have posted!