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The mashup phenomenon is one that kind of blew up a couple of years ago, and has since died down considerably. One thing is still true when it comes to mashups. Some are good, some are ridiculously bad. When Jay Z released an A capella version of the Black Album, it was like an invitation for mixtape and mashup artists (even really bad ones with no resources [or skills] to acquire said A capella tracks by other means), to go crazy. Go crazy, is just what they did. At any rate, it was a smart marketing ploy on the side of Jay Z (as if he was having trouble gaining exposure). One of the more popular mashups that the A capella Black Album spawned, was the Grey Album, by DJ Dangermouse. The Grey Album is a very “haha” clever title for the album, since the beats that Dangermouse used to lay behind Jay Z’s vocals were all laced with samples from the “Beatles’” White Album. It is debatable whether these types of creations really even count as mashups, since the traditional notion of mashups precluded the use of any added beats. Traditionally, the tracks being mixed would just be sped up, slowed down chopped (or not) and overlapped. But, whatevszzz. That is a conversation/rant for a different day. The song that I’m sharing today is a Dangermouse-style mashup, done by DJ BC. BC released a collection called the “Beastles” where he mashed up “Beastie Boys” and “Beatles.” I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I’m guessing that BC’s idea for this track may have possibly had something to do with Dangermouse’s Grey Album. Just a wild guess. Most of the “Beastles” tracks, frankly, are garbage. No offense, DJ BC. Even the song that I’m sharing contains some corny mashup no-no’s such as including samples of speech that attempt to explain, or provide commentary about the track. Whaaaatttttttttttttt? I’m willing to look past that crap though, because the rest of the track comes together pretty well, and because I’m a sucker for projects involving the Beastie Boys. See what you think. Here is “Buildin my Life”