In one of the more significant accidental discoveries in recent memory, a former police officer going "treasure hunting" in his friend's newly purchased storage unit recently discovered a dozen unreleased tracks Michael Jackson worked on between 1989 and 1991.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Gregg Musgrove, a 56-year-old stay-at-home dad who used to work for the California Highway Patrol, found a trove of cassette and DAT tapes in a unit in Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley. The unit used to belong to singer and producer Bryan Loren, whose voice may be the one discussing the music with Jackson on the tapes.
"I’m listening to this stuff, and I would get goosebumps because nobody’s ever heard this stuff before,” Musgrove told THR. "To hear Michael Jackson actually talk and kind of joke back and forth, it was really, really cool."
The tapes reportedly contain a song called "Don't Believe It," which presumably references the rumors about Jackson's sexual misconduct and child abuse that would soon become allegations. There's also "Seven Digits," whose title refers to the ID numbers bodies receive at the morgue, and "Truth On Youth," a long-rumored duet with LL Cool J that finds Jackson trying his hand at rapping.
The tapes unfortunately will probably never be released to the public. Musgrove and his lawyer approached the Jackson Estate about their findings earlier this year. The estate declined to purchase the tapes and sent an official letter stating that the estate does not claim ownership of the recordings, but the letter also states that Musgrove and any future owner of the tapes does not own the copyright on the materials.
The Estate offered a slightly different story to THR, suggesting that although these recordings are unreleased, they aren't new, per se:
The Estate of Michael Jackson was presented with DAT copies NOT master recordings of Michael’s music, and we
confirmed that the actual master recordings were in fact already located in the Estate’s vaults. It should be clear to all that ownership and rights of exploitation to the recordings remain vested in MJJP Records and that nothing commercial or otherwise can be done with the DAT copies.
The world deserves to hear a Michael Jackson/LL Cool J rap duet, so hopefully all vested parties can make that happen.
