DJ Danger Mouse is an American musician, songwriter and producer who has collaborated with many artists. He is known for his 2004 mashup album "The Grey Album" which combined songs from Jay-Z's "The Black Album" and The Beatles' "The White Album". The song "99 Problems" from this album exemplifies postmodernism through its blending of hip hop from 2003 with 1960s rock, showing a combination of different eras. DJ Danger Mouse also created an interactive website for his album "Dark Night of the Soul" which featured cut and pasted images, representing his postmodern view that everything is a remix. However, this album faced legal issues over copyright claims.

2. Who is DJ Danger Mouse?
DJ Danger Mouse is an American
musician that has also done lots of
song writing and producing. He
has collaborated with many people
such as Sparkle Horse, Gorillaz
and Cee Lo Green to form Gnarls
Barkley. His most famous piece of
work was an album he created in
2004 called The Grey Album. He
combined songs from Jay- Z's The
Black Album with The Beatles
White Album (that wasn't originally
called The White Album but
inherited this name through DJ
Danger Mouse so he could create
grey).

3. How is DJ Danger Mouse postmodern?
Charles Jencks has described postmoderism as "fundamentally the electic mixture of any
tradition with that of its immediate past: it is both the continuation of Modernism and its
transcendence". I think this theory can apply to the song 99 Problems found on the
album. The song was created when DJ Danger Mouse produced an album mixing Jay Z's
Black album with The Beatles White album. The Beatles album was released in 1968 but
Jay Z's album was released in 2003 but , many years after. This shows a clear range in
between the past and present. These are combined together to essentially form an
"electric mix" that is postmodern. The song could be seen as 'cool' because it uses
bricolage. It combines two completely different genres, from hip- hop/ rap of the 2000's or
60's pop/ rock. These two combinations shouldn't work but strangely go together well!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lpxr3smvGcw

4. DJ Danger Mouse created an album with Sparkle Horse called Dark
Night of the Soul. The album featured singers such as James Mercer of
the Shins, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry
Animals, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes and Iggy Pop. They
created a website designed for the album. The website consists of
interactive images that look like they have been cut and pasted. These
images could represent DJ Danger Mouse's' idea that everything is cut
up and put together- an idea that postmodernists have that everything
is a remix.

5. This album also got into some legal troubles. He was unable to release
the album because of copyright claims made by record label EMI.
Therefore him and Sparkle Horse decided to release an album case
including all artwork but with a blank CD. However, this CD was able to
be recorded onto, so DJ Danger Mouse 'hinted' that the album could be
downloaded from the internet onto the CD so they'd have their own
copy of the album. This album could be seen as a pastiche to the music
industry because it has sampled or copied songs too much that it has
become ridiculous and DJ Danger Mouse has shown how easy it can
be done. However, some could see it as a homage because he has
been inspired by the songs he has sampled so much they he wants to
change them as little as possible.