She take my money, well I'm in need

The first time I ever heard a mashup was traveling down a sea side road in South Africa with my older brother. He showed me a mixtape called Bootie, a San Francisco mashup party that posts its best from that year on an annual CD. The first track, "Black Beatle" a Beatles+Black Eyed Peas+Ludacris+Kelis crossover. Needless to say, it was surprising, the songs fit so perfectly, I loved it.


Ever since I have scoured the web for another great mashup. For the most part, they are way off the mark. Some notables include DJ Danger Mouse's Grey Album and "Let It Be Me" as Shaggy+Beatles crossover. The common theme-the Beatles, in their infinite relevance, mashup well with the artist du jour. However, finally I have found one that measures up, without the need for a great Beatles riff to carry the track. My brother (a younger brother, not the one who showed me Bootie) showed me the most recent Bootie CD, and he stumbled upon a mashup artist called "A Fifth Of Beethoven". The song was a mashup of Beethovens "Symphony No. 5" and Kanye West's "Gold Digger".

The track starts out with the intro from West's song and then as if out of nowhere, "Symphony No. 5" comes in and manages to tear up the track. It is an uncanny match as the two songs interplay off of eachother. After 204 years, the Beethovens "5th" got the revamp it needed-it became relevant and relatable. What is impressive about mashup's like this is their ability to span the genre gap that seems so wide sometimes. In this case taking two songs at opposite ends of the spectrum and making them mesh so incredibly well that it blurs the line. Today their is so much territoriality among music fans. People are comfortable in their camps and don't dare cross their respective boundaries. Songs like this though broaden musical taste and show musics innate compatibility across genre, style, and time.

I know that is a lot to put on the shoulders of one tiny, half-decent mashup, but this is what they have become. As music fandom becomes increasingly digital, their will be more and more crossing over as well as a greater variety.

"I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy"-Ludwig Van Beethoven

Or as Kanye would say-"Ima let you finish but Johann Bach was the greatest composer of ALL TIME"

"A Fifth Of Beethoven" by A Plus D from Bootie (2009)

"Let It Be Me" by Shaggy & The Beatles from Bootie (2008)

"Black Beatle" by The Beatles, Black Eyed Peas, Ludacris, & Kelis from Bootie (2007)

-S