Jay-Z vs. Radiohead

Jaydiohead is a mash-up album of Jay-Z an Radiohead. Git yerself some while the gittin's good. (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Zaren

@#17:

But what if you don’t like Jay-Z *or* Radiohead?
Anonymous

I love Radiohead, and have never heard Jay-Z.
Why is this site playing two albums simultaneously? Oh, it’s called a “mashup” ? Whatever! It still sounds like two albums being played simultaneously. I have the urge to switch one of them off.
Anonymous

You guys and you ~albums~ needs, please. The Grey Album has two great tracks: December 8 (mashup with Mother Nature’s Son) and Change Clothes (mashup with Piggies). Everything else is meh and suffers from too-much-Ringo.
franith

Yeah i would definitely say go for track 6, really adds something to both songs… a lot of the rest come off as a bit token.
susan_butler

i’m a big fan of ‘dirt off your android’
Anonymous

im just happy people are checking it out

i just made it for my friends and I, never expected others would like it…!

thanks gametheory and mr orion, please enjoy and share with your friends :)

-max
ia_

I hope this isn’t using the black album songs again. The grey album is good… but I don’t really want a 3rd version of those songs on my computer when there’s so much else that could be used.
Anonymous

Jay-Z is like the slut of mashup artists. Artists use his acapella stuff so that it’s too easy to mash.
umgrego2

PERUVIANLLAMA: Brilliant! hope that gets posted to BB main page soon.
Jack Grey

Lovely!
jamied21

Love Radiohead, never really been into Jay-Z but this album is brilliant. Instrumental tracks are available too I think.
sheamcf

If you’re not a fan of Radiohead, may I also suggest Dangermouse’s Gray Album. It’s a mashup of Jay-Z’s Black album and The Beatles White Album.

http://www.illegal-art.org/audio/grey.html
fnc

My favorite mashup ever remains Eminem Snookered:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF0qbpgOBIo
thequickbrownfox

I only listen to indie music, and that takes in a very wide stylistic range, but I just don’t “get” Radiohead.
igpajo

At Seth (#14), just because people are saying they’re not fans of Jay-Z doesn’t mean they dislike rap. Just means they dislike Jay-Z or his take on the genre.
kqih

very good !!
thanks !
Anonymous

thanks for checking it out
-max
armahillo

Wow, BB is just now finding out about this?

My wife read about it on ONTD (Oh No They Didn’t, an LJ gossip blog) over 3 months ago.

You guys have heard about “GirlTalk” right?
igpajo

Meh. I love Radiohead and have never been into Jay-Z and IMO, this is just wrong. I love the Radiohead tunes and vocals so much Jay-Z’s just distracting.
gametheory420

who mixed this??
DanielZKlein

Got to agree with #2. I like Radiohead, but these hip hop vocals just annoy me. Wonder if boingboing would also plug a Citizen Two Cups mashup as long as it’s released under the proper license? ;)

(For everyone else feeling like us, there’s an instrumental version as well, but I’m not sure the “phat beats” add anything to the songs either.)
Anonymous

This is awesome. I think this is even more impressive than the Grey Album.
Anonymous

Well the music makes JayZ sound better but it doesn’t do anything for radiohead which was better pre-mashup
Anonymous

somebody was certainly inspired by girl talk’s “set it off”
nycjason

@33 – Jay-Z’s big with mashup artists because he’s released a cappella versions of some of his albums. Makes it much easier to work with.

@everyone who’s pointing to GirlTalk…ever heard of the Bombshelter DJs (DJs Z-Trip, Emille, Radar and P)? Or Double Dee and Steinski? Or any of the others who were doing amazing cut and paste / mashup work long before GirlTalk? Not a knock against him, but he’s not quite the pioneer that y’all seem to think he is…
Rick.

“I only listen to indie music”

Insert eye-rolling emoticon here.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I only listen to Soviet bloc boy band.
peruvianllama

I actually tried submitting this link to BB, but nobody bit. Seems that this post will attract both Radiohead and mashup fans, who will almost certainly enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYa7furgQsA

“Radiohead vs Dave Brubeck – Five Step”, a mashup by Overdub (website here: http://overdubsound.free.fr/bootleg/ )

More on-topic: the Jay-Z/Radiohead combination was technically well-done, but as a few others above me posted I didn’t feel like it was very groundbreaking. Putting rap/hip-hop on top of more alternative or pop-y music is a good place to start, but at this point it’s been done before, in many different ways.
Anonymous

Here is a full a breakdown of the tracks:

1. Wrong Prayer – “Pray” (Jay-Z, American Gangster ) “I Might Be Wrong” (Radiohead, Amnesiac )
2. 99 Anthems – “99 Problems” (Jay-Z, The Black Album ) The National Anthem (Radiohead, Kid A )
3. No Karma – “No Hook” (Jay-Z, American Gangster ) “Karma Police” (Radiohead, OK Computer )
4. Lucifer’s Jigsaw – “Lucifer” (Jay-Z, The Black Album ) “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (Radiohead, In Rainbows )
5. Optimistic Moment – “Moment of Clarity” (Jay-Z, The Black Album ) “Optimistic” (Radiohead, Kid A )
6. Dirt Off Your Android – “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” (Jay-Z, The Black Album ) “Paranoid Android” (Radiohead, OK Computer )
7. Dreaming Up – “American Dreamin’” (Jay-Z, American Gangster ) “Up on the Ladder” (Radiohead, In Rainbows [Disc 2])
8. Change Order – “Never Change” (Jay-Z, The Blueprint ) “Gagging Order” (Radiohead, B-side of “Go to Sleep” from Hail to the Thief )
9. Fall In Step – “Fallin’” (Jay-Z, American Gangster ) “15 Step” (Radiohead, In Rainbows )
10. Ignorant Swan – “Ignorant S***” (Jay-Z, American Gangster ) Black Swan” (Thom Yorke, The Eraser )

-max
toxonix

Here is a combination of sounds I can do without.
Jay-Z is a complete bullshit muncher.
hexcalibur

PeruvianLlama you are my HERO.

Thank you for posting that link.
thequickbrownfox

Well you had better insert an emoticon because I can’t imagine a fan of this Ritalinesque, narcissistic muzak having any emotional trait whatsoever (apart from permanent self-pity).
Anonymous

When does Montanahead come out?
tednugnt

max, incredible job. and to think i dont own a single jayz or radiohead album because i didnt like either until i heard this.

keep em coming!
peruvianllama

Cheers, Hexcalibur! I was compelled to share the awesome. Be prepared to have that/those tune(s) rolling around in your head for the next week or three, however. :)
superduper27

Oh gawd, why did they go and ruin Jay-Z with that Radiohead rubbish that people claim is music?
Anonymous

After listening to the album, I wasn’t convinced, and downloaded the instrumental..
Easier on the ears in my opinion.
:)
nosehat

Well I only listen to New York Russian gypsy punk. At least for the next half hour or so.

I’ve never really understood why Jay-Z is such a favorite for mashup artists. Maybe it’s because his “Hard Knock Life” is already a mashup to start with. Aside from that song (which I like quite a bit) I can take or leave his stuff.

I love mashups both in theory and in practice. My personal favorites combine different melodic bits together, with an awareness of key and chord progression and harmony on the part of the mashup artist (not just an awareness of bpm). Bonus points for creating a clever dialog between the songs’ themes/lyrics.

My personal least favorites are ones that just take a rap or hip-hop song and loop a few measures from the start of a rock classic behind the whole thing–very easy to do and hence way, way, way overdone, and also rarely clever.

YMMV, obviously.
Anonymous

I made this mix, my name is Max Tannone.

Its all good if you don’t like it, but a lot of these comments seem close-minded.

To those that did enjoy it, I’m glad you did.
Anonymous

agree with superduper totally.
brainvoid

Amazing mash up… the one PERUVIANLLAMA sent. I don’t care much about the one with Jay-Z.
Anonymous

@27 i think #26 did.
Rick.

Love it.
funkyavocado

Jay-Z vs Weezer = Jay-Zeezer

http://www.jay-zeezer.com
gametheory420

Max your the shit brother, this is genius stuff ignore the haters
seth matthew

All of the distaste for rap is rather disheartening. Also, this is old news- been out since January or thereabouts. “No Karma” is easily the strongest track.
ifthenwhy

Sorry…

I think the legions of people joining these seemingly opposed musical genres is about as tired as those “ironic” pre-distressed 1970 summer camp t-shirts for sale at Hot Topic.

This is Radiohead as a novelty act.
peruvianllama

#23: wow. Wow.

#33: you said it perfectly. While The Gray Album was really engaging the first few times I listened to it, it has since faded from my list of fav’s, as has most anything that relies overly on the rap+rock combination. Different melodic bits, chord progression, being aware of each song’s interplay with the others… yeah, just, _exactly_ what you said, nosehat. Where do I sign my name..

And to #34: kudos! Like any kind of artwork, there’s both a technical and interpretive component. I think you have excellent brush-strokes, although I’m mostly lukewarm on the scene you decided to paint. :)
arlopickens

Public Enemy vs Herb Alpert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J898EhfXy9w
Anonymous

thanks #50 anonymous, I have been looking for 10 minutes in the googles trying to figure out what Radiohead song Ignorant Swan is from. Of course it’s a Yorke solo song… :/
bigchefjc

Well, if you dont like jay-z to begin with, you probably wont like this…so dont listen, but if you like jay, and radio head, this is a good twist on both. I like track #6 the best, paranoid android is just sick to begin with, and this just makes it a different take.
Mr_Orion

Now this was a nice little piece of music.

Last night I popped this on before bed and now I am glad I did!
This is a great album.