HOT
A Record-Breaking Record
There’s a P.T. Barnum side to Jack White’s persona that even the silly backlashers who claim to hate his music (once it got “too popular,” of course) have to admire. (Just kidding — most of those idiots’ default setting is “hate everything.”) On Record Store Day (April 19), White pulled another fun stunt by recording two songs, shipping them out for pressing, then selling them less than four hours later at his Third Man record shop in Nashville. White slaughtered the Guinness record for “World’s Fastest Released Record,” a mark previously owned by a Swiss Polka group that reportedly recorded a live show in 2008 and released it an entire day later (those slackers). The 7-inch vinyl single (sold solely that day to those at the store or in line) certainly broke another record — for world’s first record sold on eBay at a substantial (to say the least) mark up mere hours after it was recorded.
The song recorded for Jack White's record-breaker:
WARM
Doing It All for the Masters?
Prince is again joining forces with Warner Bros. Records, the company he fought release from in the ’90s by writing “slave” on his face, changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol and releasing bad music (though that may have been unintentional). Prince has reteamed with his former label for a reissue of Purple Rain and other classic WB releases, as well as a new album. But Prince may have gotten the last laugh — he also will regain ownership of the master recordings of his WB albums, a major cause of his concern back in his pre-Emancipation days.
Because we don't want to get sued by Prince, here's a crappy video of Adam Levine and the dude from Train covering "Purple Rain":
COLD
Protecting the Brand
To paraphrase Bill Cosby — “Today’s kids with their hippity hoppity and the cuttin’ off the penises and the floogyly doogly.” (Hey, can you make sense of what he says anymore?) A rapper named Andre Johnson (aka Christ Bearer) made headlines recently when he reportedly cut off his penis and allegedly attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story balcony (he survived). News of the tragic events spread quickly, largely because every report stated he was affiliated with Hip Hop legends Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang’s blog and Instagram tried to disown the MC (who indeed had worked with Wu-Tang, their label and RZA) by callously stating “Parental Advisory: Don’t Believe The HYPE. This Mother Fucker Ain’t Got Shit to do with The WUTANG Brand.” Because market research shows Millennials hate rappers who cut off their penises, apparently.
Christ Bearer's group Northstar (please ignore all Wu references out of respect for Wu-Tang's brand):
