Claim: EMI attempted to halt the distribution of The Grey Album despite the approval of Jay-Z and two Beatles.

The Grey Album is a mashup album by Danger Mouse , released in 2004 . It mixes an a cappella version of rapper Jay-Z 's The Black Album with samples from The Beatles ' LP The Beatles , commonly known as `` The White Album '' . The Grey Album gained notoriety when EMI attempted to halt its distribution despite approval of the project from Jay-Z and the two surviving Beatles , Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr .