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Retired Cop Finds Trove of Unreleased Jackson Songs

US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
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Retired Cop Finds Trove of Unreleased Jackson Songs

US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File

A retired California highway patrolman has stumbled into possession of a trove of unreleased Michael Jackson songs -- which the world may never have a chance to hear.
Gregg Musgrove, now a stay-at-home dad, procured the tapes after an associate purchased a storage unit in the city of Van Nuys that contained the recordings, according to the Hollywood Reporter, AFP said.
The unit had once belonged to music producer Bryan Loren -- who also worked with artists including Whitney Houston and Sting -- but whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Inside were cassette tapes and digital-audio tapes (DAT) of 12 unreleased tracks Jackson had worked on before releasing his Grammy-nominated "Dangerous" album in 1991.
Sadly for Jackson's many fans, an attorney hired by Musgrove to contact the Jackson estate was told that the estate owns the copyright on all of the late singer's musical recordings and compositions, so they cannot be released publicly.
The estate later clarified for the Hollywood Reporter that it holds the master recordings of the recently unearthed songs in its vaults, and that "nothing commercial or otherwise can be done with the DAT copies."
Some of the songs had only been rumored to exist, while others had been partially leaked, Musgrove told the Hollywood Reporter, but added "a couple aren't even out there in the world."
Some tapes include the voice of Jackson and apparently Loren discussing the songs and the creative process.
"To hear Michael Jackson actually talk and kind of joke back and forth, it was really, really cool," said Musgrove.
The tracks include one titled "Don't Believe It," an apparent reference to rumors about Jackson concerning sexual assault against minors. On another, "Truth on Youth," Jackson appears to engage in a rap duet with LL Cool J.
It was not clear what Musgrove might have paid his associate for the tapes, but he still stands to come out ahead.
He plans to offer the tapes to major auction houses, and buyers are expected to line up.
In 2012, Lady Gaga purchased 55 pieces of Jackson memorabilia -- reportedly including one of his crystal-studded gloves -- while a jacket he wore during his "Bad" tour sold for $240,000.

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André 3000's Alt-Jazz, ‘No Bars’ Solo Album Stunned Fans. Now, It’s up for Grammys

André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
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André 3000's Alt-Jazz, ‘No Bars’ Solo Album Stunned Fans. Now, It’s up for Grammys

André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)
André Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, arrives at the 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2015. (AP)

No one was expecting it. Late last year, André 3000 released his debut solo album, "New Blue Sun," 18 years after his legendary rap group Outkast's last studio album, "Idlewild."

But "New Blue Sun" has "no bars," he jokes. It's a divergence from rap because "there was nothing I was liking enough to rap about, or I didn't feel it sounded fresh. I'm not about to serve you un-fresh (expletive.)"

Instead, he offered up a six-track instrumental album of ambient alt-jazz — with special attention paid to the flute.

"The sound, that's how I got into it," he says of the instrument. "The portability, too. You can't tote around a piano and play in Starbucks."

He's also invested in the flute's history — like learning about Mayan flutes made from clay, a design he had re-created in cedarwood. "There’s all kinds of fables and, you know, indigenous stories that go along with playing the flute — playing like the birds or playing your heart like the wind — it kind of met (me) where I was in life," he says.

"Flutes — wind instruments in general — are the closest thing you get to actually hearing a human," he continues. "You're actually hearing the breath of a person."

"New Blue Sun" is a stunning collection, one that has earned André 3000 three new Grammy Award nominations: album of the year, alternative jazz, and instrumental composition. Those arrive exactly 25 years after the 1999 Grammys, where Outkast received their first nomination — for "Rosa Parks," from their third album, "Aquemini" — and 20 years after the group won album of the year for "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below."

"It matters because we all want to be acknowledged or recognized," André 3000 says of his new Grammy nominations. "It's a type of proof of connection, in some type of way ... especially with the Grammys, because it's voted on by a committee of musicians and people in the industry."

He's a bit surprised by the attention, too, given the type of album he created. "We have no singles on the radio, not even singles that are hot in the street," he says. "When you're sitting next to Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, these are highly, hugely popular music artists, I'm satisfied just because of that ... we won just to be a part of the whole conversation."

He theorizes that it may be because popular music listening habits are broadening. "A lot of artists are just trying different things. Even, you know, the album that Beyoncé is nominated for, it’s not her normal thing," he says of her country-and-then-some record, "Cowboy Carter.We’re in this place where things are kind of shifting and moving."

For André 3000, "New Blue Sun" has allowed him to "feel like a whole new artist," but it is also an extension of who he's always been. "Being on the road with Outkast and picking up a bass clarinet at a pawn shop in New York and just sitting on the back of the bus playing with it — these things have been around," he says.

He's also always embraced "newness," as he puts it, experimenting creatively "even if it sounds non-masterful."

"Even producing for Outkast, I was just learning these instruments. If I ... put my hands down and play ‘Ms. Jackson,’ I'm not knowing what I'm playing. But I like it," he says.

As for a new Outkast album, "I never say never," he says. "But I can say that the older I get, I feel like that time has happened."