Illegal Art is a sampling label that was started by a person using the name Philo T. Farnsworth in 1998. The label was instantly launched to infamy with the legal threats surrounding Deconstructing Beck, a compilation made exclusively from sampling Beck's music. This was followed by two other theme-based compilations, Extracted Celluloid and Commercial Ad Hoc. All three were co-released with Negativland's Seeland Records label and sponsored by RTMark. After these theme based compilations, Illegal Art focused on artist releases. One of the most popular artists on Illegal Art is Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis), who in 2006 released his third album, Night Ripper, to critical acclaim on the label, earning a Wired Magazine Rave Award a year later.
Illegal Art also released the Steinski Retrospective, spanning his work from 1983-2006. It includes the legendary Lessons, that have been described as "one of the most desirable and prized bootleg recordings in hip hop" (Antidote). It also contains a variety of other essential tracks, and his critically acclaimed Nothing To Fear: A Rough Mix, an hour-long mashup that was produced for Solid Steel/BBC London and hailed as "the closest to a masterpiece the genre has produced."
Read more about Illegal Art: Art Show, Artists On Illegal Art Label
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