Will.i.am objects to posthumous Michael album

Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am is objecting to a new Michael Jackson album released Tuesday, saying the King of Pop would never have agreed to such a release.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, will.i.am recalled that Jackson was a perfectionist who would never allow music to be released until he had approved it.

"I knew this man," he said of his late friend. "And he was very critical about every single detail. He stood in the studio himself, mastering and mixing everything. How can you release a record without that Michael Jackson? It's not Michael Jackson."

Will.i.am said he is "disgusted" that record executives went ahead with the posthumous release of the album Michael.

"I think, if Michael wasn't around to put his opinion, then that record shouldn't come out," he said in an interview with a Cleveland radio station Wednesday. "Every single record that we've ever enjoyed from Michael Jackson was done his way — from Off the Wall to Thriller to Bad, and before that."

He recalled how upset Jackson was when he discovered an unfinished track had been released on the internet in 2009, a couple of months before his death.

Will.i.am has pledged not to allow the release of tracks he himself created with Jackson and was critical of Akon for allowing his Hold My Hand collaboration with the King of Pop to be released.

Teddy Riley, who was one of the main producers of Michael, told Reuters on Tuesday that many of the tracks had to be digitally enhanced.

"I had to do more processing to the voice, which is why people were asking about the authenticity of his voice," said Riley, who worked with Jackson on his 1991 album Dangerous. "We had to do what we had to do to make ... his voice work with the actual music."

Riley is unapologetic about releasing Jackson's work after his death.

"Who wouldn't want to continue such a great entertainer and such a great legacy?" he said.

The Jackson estate is reported to have several more songs that were never released, but has not committed to creating a new album.