The strength of any mashup is the strength of the material, and how ill matched they might seem to each other (the novelty factor) and how well they're made to fit together (the skill factor). So, Jay Z & Led Zeppelin, right? Case closed? Jay Z is certainly the most high profiled mashup target/victim, thanks to the overwhelming popularity of Danger Mouse's The Grey Album (Beatles White Album/Jay Z's Black Album). Led Zeppelin have an overwhelming selection of beats, the whole Bonham factor, and the hooks, the whole Page factor, but DJ Doc Rok effectively uses the underappreciated keyboard hooks of John Paul Jones on the best few of the songs on American Zeppelin, his mashup of Jay Z's American Gangster soundtrack and some classic Led Zeppelin cuts. A lot of factors to consider here, and Doc Rok does a lot of fun & surprising things with the samples to augment Jay Z's gangsterism & typical lyrical bombast & spectacle.

My favorite things about mashups are when the DJ can really incorporate the whole source song to fit the rap, or when he/she uses a part of the source that I never really noticed to make something totally new. DJ Doc Rok does all this on American Zeppelin, whether it's working with the whole of the source material of "All of My Love" combined with "Roc Boys" or stripping "When the Levee Breaks" to the iconic Bonham beat & some Jimmy Page harmonica playing, and pairing this with Jay Z's conspiratorial whisper on "American Dreamin'."

Sometimes, though, these mashups just work as incredible backdrops for some incredible rhymes. Check standout "Ignorant Sh*t" paired with "In My Time of Dying," and the driving blues of Zeppelin doing what they do best, which we all know is getting the f'in Led OUT with Jay Z doing what he does best, which is both promoting and lambasting rap music as we know it. After all, a chorus of "I've got that ignorant sh*t you want, f*ck sh*t ass b*tch, you like it, don't front," is part Mr. Show skit and part an assertion of dominance over rap music in general. Which is kind of what Jay Z does, in general. DJ Doc Rok is offering this album as a free download now (who knows for how long), so check it out while it's still available. I still kick myself for missing the AWESOME mashup of Pavement's Slanted & Enchanted and the Black Album, but good to know the art of the mashup is still alive and kicking, not only just kicking, but kicking ass.