Artist Justin Hampton drew Jay-Z and The Beatles for the album

DJ Danger Mouse created The Grey Album using Jay-Z's vocals and beats made by sampling music on The White Album.

EMI, which releases Beatles records, has served cease and desist orders to the DJ and record shops stocking it.

The DJ is complying - but is happy for fans to copy and distribute promotional copies that have already been pressed.

Those copies are circulating in the hip-hop community, and the legal wrangle is set to make it more of a sought-after underground rarity.

DJ Danger Mouse boasted that all the music came from The Beatles

"He's not going to produce any more, sell any more or distribute any more - which is what they're asking of him," a spokesman for DJ Danger Mouse told BBC News Online.

"He's done that in an effort to avoid any legal proceedings. But the album's very much out there."

The DJ was "just happy for people to burn it, bootleg it and post it on the internet", the spokesman said. "Consequently, people are doing it."

When the album was being promoted, DJ Danger Mouse - real name Brian Burton - boasted that all the music on The Grey Album could be traced back to The Beatles' 1968 classic.

"Every kick, snare, and chord is taken from The Beatles White Album and is in their original recording somewhere," the press release said.