VH1 prides itself on being a mashup of pop culture, so it seems only fair that we turn our attention to mashups of the musical variety! Although sometimes frowned upon for teetering towards copyright infringement, blends done with exquisite skill create a track that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Done right, a mashup enhances both songs, allowing us to discover new sonic possibilities contained within sounds that had become stale and boring. If that ain’t art, we don’t know what is.

Since the advent of cheap audio editing software and websites like YouTube, it’s become much easier to create and share “revisions” of well-loved tunes. These DJs work hard on their tributes, and so we’d humbly like to offer a showcase for some of our favorites. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Remix Rewind!

To get us started, we tapped Jay-Z to head-up our inaugural post. Mr. Shawn Carter helped spark our love of mashups back in 2004, when his Black Album was expertly mixed with the Beatles‘ White Album by DJ extraordinaire Danger Mouse, creating (what else?) The Grey Album. The best of two (very different) worlds blew our 16-year-old mind at the time. So now we’d like to check out 10 other awesome uses of Hova’s verses and beats. Enjoy!

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The massive Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN hosted a mix (over 150) of musical acts spanning across genres from country to soul. The crowd was in for a treat with acts like Phish, fun., Bon Iver and Kenny Rogers blessing the stage for the four-day festival. Lionel Richie was on hand to join Rogers for “Lady” and “All Night Long (All Night).” And Richie wasn’t the only surprise.

Rumors quickly spread that The Roots would bring out a special guest. Low and behold in what turned out to be the crowd shocker of the night, D’Angelo, who hadn’t performed on a stage in 12 years (when his last album Voodoo was released), was The Roots surprise guest. According to Yahoo Music,  ?uestlove announced, “I’ve been waiting 12 years to say this. Ladies and gentlemen…D’ANGELO!” Sounding as if he’d never stepped away from the music, D’Angelo played the piano and guitar doing a nine-piece set including oldies like Jimi Hendrix’s “Have You Ever Been To Electric Ladyland” and “Power Of Soul,” Funkadelic’s “Funky Dollar Bill,” and “Hit It And Quit It,” Sly & The Family Stone’s “Babies Makin’ Babies,” The Beatles‘ “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window,” Led Zeppelin’s “What Is And What Should Never Be,” and the Time’s “My Summertime Thang.” And we can’t think of any better way to do a comeback performance than with the legendary The Roots band. Check out our gallery of fun photos from Bonnaroo. Read more…