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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

In stores: CD Reviews

Artist: DJ Danger Mouse
Album: The Grey Album
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label: None

Perhaps the best-known unreleased album of all time, The Grey Album takes the vocals from Jay-Z’s Black Album and puts them over the backing tracks from the Beatles’ White Album.

After EMI Records announced Feb. 10 that it would take legal action against any record store selling The Grey Album, a music activism group organized an event called ‘Grey Tuesday, when 170 Web sites hosted the full album for download. At the day’s end, 100,000 copies had been downloaded. For the first time in history, an album that had not been released by any major label was the No. 1 album in the United States.

The Hatchet finally obtained a copy of the album early last week. The result is nearly better than the sum of its parts; its use of sampling is as interesting and innovative as Public Enemy’s best work or the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique (which also uses Beatles samples illegally). The Grey Album’s apex is the new mix of “99 Problems,” in which Jigga raps, “I’ve got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one/If you’re having girl troubles, I feel bad for you, son” over the scorching guitars from the song “Helter Skelter.” While Paul McCartney gently weeps, having this album would be well worth any lawsuit.

Artist: Various
Album: Kill Bill Vol. Two
Genre: Soundtrack
Label: Maverick

A fair analysis of this soundtrack is impossible without viewing the film. What can be said is this: the songs don’t stand alone as strongly as the songs on the Kill Bill Vol. One soundtrack, but they are a much less vague reflection of Quentin Tarantino’s influences. Three different songs are taken directly from the soundtracks of Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti westerns like “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” We’ll find out how well they work in Tarantino’s warped context Friday when “Vol. Two” is released in theaters.

-Jason Mogavero

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