The album itself was really cool and enjoyable. I don't really like the black keys's vocals and in my opinion most hip-hop backing tracks suck so this was a very apropriate combination. Each sound reinforced the other's message and impact. Also, the production quality was amazing; every track sounded like all of it was recorded in a studio at the same time, while in reality the artists may have never met eachother.
But what's really amazing are the implications of such a style of musical producition. This album combines two relatively expensive productions, both of which probably made tons of cash for their record companies, in to an original album that's apparently public domain. I have no idea whether or not he got the rights to either album, but at this point suing him will not stop the production of this album. In fact, at this point, I'm just as qualified and able to distribute Wick-it's album as he is.
The idea of producing music like this is actually very subversive of modern American capitalism (which is suprising because music has only actually been anti-capitalist, like, once.) If every track changes from, say, "Song A" by Artist 1 to "Song A/B mashup" by Artist 1 vs. Artist 2 ft. lil wayne and gucci mayne Wick-it remix, then what do we do about paying them? When everyone with a computer can get pretty close to the top of production values, who do we worship as our pop icons? Even the most "subversive" punk rock has had exactly the same power structure as any modern musical genre- there are a few "stars" who produce music that's definitively "theirs," and it's literally illegal to change their music and redistribute it, even if you paid for the data that comprises their song. This mash-up style represents a very real change in the way music is produced. And I think that decentralized, free music will be very interesting indeed.
