The only thing that comes to mind when Michael Jackson is mentioned, is the fact that he is known widely as the “King of Pop.”
With this in mind, it would be unheard of to hear that some of the works of such a legendary and iconic musical career have been discovered in the unlikeliest places.
This revelation came to light when a storage hunter, a retired 56-year-old California Highway Patrol officer, Gregg Musgrove, chanced upon something he never thought would happen when he started his “treasure hunting” journey.
Gregg certainly never imagined he’d end up with a king’s bounty; Michael Jackson himself.
These inventories include a trove of cassette and DAT tapes containing unreleased Michael Jackson tracks found in a storage unit deep in the San Fernando Valley.
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Musgrove’s journey to the tapes began when an associate contacted him about a storage unit he’d recently bought in Van Nuys.
The unit once belonged to Bryan Loren, a music producer and singer.
According to Musgrove, Bryan’s whereabouts are currently unknown. Bryan Loren is also believed to have worked with Michael on his eighth studio album, (1991), and has also collaborated and written for artists such as Whitney Houston, Sting, and Barry White.
Speaking of the Hollywood Reporter, Gregg Musgrove said:
“I’ve gone to all the fan sites. Some of [the songs] are rumored to exist; some of them have been leaked a little bit.
He went on to say that:
“A couple of the tracks aren’t even out there in the world.”
The full inventory shows the collection of unreleased tracks.
Among them is a track titled “Don’t Believe It,” which seems to reference the rumors that would circulate about the pop star in the media.
Another track on the tapes is titled “Truth on Youth,” which is seemingly a rap duet between Jackson and LL Cool J.
The rapper has spoken in the past about working with Jackson, confirming they had recorded music together.
The song stands out for many reasons, but largely due to Jackson’s rapping on it.
On another tape, Jackson can be heard explaining the intended meaning of a song called “Seven Digits,” which references the identification number of bodies received in a morgue.
Alongside snippets of other unreleased songs.
Jackson, and presumably Loren, can be heard discussing the recording and creative process on the tapes.
“I’m listening to this stuff, and I would get goosebumps because nobody’s ever heard this stuff before,” Musgrove says.
“To hear Michael Jackson actually talk and kind of joke back and forth, it was really, really cool.”
It is sad to say for the fans of the King of Pop, it’s likely Gregg will be one of the few people to ever hear these tapes.
He told the outlet that he and the attorney he brought on approached the Jackson Estate with their findings earlier this year.
However, the Jackson estate, which Gregg says did their research into the tapes, declined to purchase them for reasons known to them.
But did provide him with an official letter stating that the Michael Jackson estate does not claim ownership of these specific cassettes.
They, however, made it clear in the letter, that he and anyone else who might purchase these tapes down the line do not own the copyright on the recordings or the compositions; the estate does.
This means that these tapes can never be released publicly.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, in response, the estate clarifies that these tracks are not new, as the master recordings are currently housed in the estate’s vaults.
