MGF Reviews DJ Axel – Breakin' the Law

Reviews


DJ Axel – Breakin’ the Law
Holden Records (2007)
Rock / Rap / Hip-hop / Pop / Other

Official site

While the art of the mash-up has been around for years, it was more recently popularized by Danger Mouse’s Grey Album, and seeing how well it was received by the public, many underground DJs have now followed suit. The large majority of mash-up albums have been independently released on account of the difficulty of clearing all of the tracks used from copyright infringement.

Peter Axelrad (also known as DJ Axel) has been in the music business in one capacity or another for over 10 years, and being both a fan of rock and rap, the drummer/DJ/financial consultant recently put together an album full of his own mash-ups. It’s part of his own grassroots campaign to get his name out there, as he’s been playing the album in clubs and on college radio stations for the past several months. The aptly titled Breakin’ the Law (perhaps a reference to Judas Priest, which is amongst the bands used on the album, or maybe just an admission) bears the “For Promotional Use Only” label on the back, which, in other words means “Please don’t sue me because I’m not actually selling this, but rather, I’m giving this away and accepting donations.”

For those of you just joining us, a mash-up is when two or more songs are combined into one track; while most of them end up being absolute fusterclucks, certain DJs are able to pull it off.

Axel happens to be one of those DJs. With tracks like “What You Know About Drop Dead Legs” (which layerss T.I.’s vocals over Van Halen’s music) and “Snooperstition” (which layers the vocals from “The Next Episode” over the Stevie Wonder classic), it’s definitely going to win over fans, at least those who can find it. It was recently removed from OtherMusic.com And the party lasts for just about an hour, with Bob Marley and Lupe Fiasco meeting in “Could You Be Kicked, Pushed & Loved”, Queen meeting The Clipse in “Another One Bites the Last Time” (a personal favorite) and The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As But Now Once Known As Just Prince meeting Khia in “Kiss My Neck Off” (a rather apropos combo seeing how Prince has a history of sexually graphic lyricism).

And yes, most of the tracks mash-up very well—even tracks in which the two originals have several decades between their releases, like “Stand Up Fever” (Peggy Lee vs. Ludacris, complete with illustration on the back cover), “Rhythm Inferno” (Lena Horne vs. 50 Cent, which is awesome, and has a bit of a “Going Back to Cali” vibe to it) and “Real Back Poppin'” (Cheryl Lynn vs. Fat Joe and Nelly, which is seamless). Only a few tracks are a bit iffy, with Mötley Crüe drowning out G-Unit (and rightfully so, I guess) on “Shorty Wanna Feelgood”, the same thing happening on “Guns N’ Hovas” (a shouldn’t have to tell you who’s featured on that one) and rather crap “Blade’s Wu-Tang Chili”, which can be written off as the aforementioned fustercluck. And while I’m not particularly big on either Eminem’s newer material or Fergie, “Without Billie Jean” (Jacko vs. Eminem) and “Push It Fergasonic” (Salt ‘N Pepa vs. Fergie) are both very well-executed, with the former getting a decent amount of pub.

As a result, we’re left with what is possibly one of the most entertaining and fun albums to be released this year. The tracks that fall short are still pretty well put-together, and one can tell that Axel really does love his music. Anyone else who appreciates music will find at least a few tracks on Breakin’ the Law that are gold (check out Axel’s MySpace page for some samples), and this is great artillery for the DJ looking to make some heads spin on the dance floor. As previously mentioned, this will be difficult to track it down; a quick Google search yielded no real results except for blogs, but you can try this link or email Axel to get a copy through him directly.

Rating: