EMI puts it in black and white: No `Grey Album'

When DJ Danger Mouse began garnering attention for "The Grey Album," his inventive remix of a cappella tracks from Jay-Z's "The Black Album" and music from the Beatles' eponymous 1968 album commonly known as "The White Album," it was always a question when -- not if -- his unauthorized project would be shut down.

Last week, EMI, which controls the Beatles catalog jointly owned by Sony Music and Michael Jackson, issued a "cease-and-desist" order against the producer, as well as independent record stores and websites that were selling the CD. Never intended for commercial release, Danger Mouse initially pressed 3,000 copies for nonretail distribution, but it wasn't long before songs from the project were popping up all over the Internet.

On "The Grey Album," Danger Mouse married such tracks as Jay-Z's "99 Problems" and "What More Can I Say" to the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," respectively.

For his part, Danger Mouse said he always understood that his recordings were "illegal" and that "it may get me in trouble, but if I had thought about that I would have never made what I thought turned out to be one of the best things I ever did."