About this poster

This art print, reproduced from a new 4 foot by 4 foot painting, is my newly realized interpretation of my original artwork for the 2004 'Grey Album' by Danger Mouse. This is titled 'Grave Beazlebum'. This an homage to the classic 80's horror zombie movie 'Day of the Dead' and a metaphorical representation of where we've gotten to in the last two decades as a society.

For those not in the know, 20 years ago this February, the 'Grey Album' debuted. I created the artwork for the poster and vinyl album cover. Worldwide, people downloaded the art for their digital copies that they burned to disc and used it as the CD cover. It's the most truly viral phenomenon that I was ever a part of as it literally went global, it was everywhere. Every magazine, blog, social media site covered it and it even made primetime news.

The 'Grey Album' is a mashup album by Danger Mouse, released in 2004. It mixes an acappella version of rapper Jay-Z's The Black Album with samples exclusively from The Beatles' White Album, hence the name. The Grey Album quickly became a worldwide viral mega hit and gained infamy when EMI attempted to halt its distribution. Jay-Z and the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were impressed by the creativity and production of the album. EMI eventually dropped their lawsuit and hired DM. It was the most genius guerrilla marketing campaign that I've ever seen and been a part of.

Danger Mouse(Brian Burton) was super cool to work with and I met him the following year in LA(see the photo). He's a super cool and very talented guy. He's a force of nature. Since then he's worked with a litany of musicians including Gorillaz, MF Doom, CeeLo, Dave Mercer, Beck, Norah Jones, Black Keys, U2, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Karen O, Adele, ASAP Rocky and Black Thought. He's been nominated for 22 Grammys and won 6 of them. Brian gave me a great quote for my upcoming book, 'Visual Feast'.

- Justin Hampton