Wu-Tang Clan founder the RZA always sounds like he has cotton balls stuffed in nostrils. But in a good way. He also always has something interesting to say. Here, in a snippet from an interview he did at last weekend's Splash! Festival in Germany, he talks about how sometimes dictatorship is better than democracy. The interviewer starts to look a little nervous. Now here's a video mash-up that makes it look Adolf Hitler is performing Notorious B.I.G.'s "Live Freestyle '95." READ MORE

Last week, HBO put out a promotional video for their vampire series True Blood that featured Snoop Dogg rapping about the show's characters. (I liked it. Not everybody did.) Now the great Port Arthur, Texas-based MC Bun B has recorded a rap over the instrumental track from Outkast's "ATLiens" in celebration of the seventh anniversary of the Japanese clothing company Lafayette. READ MORE

His Wu-Tang Clan will be performing their 1993 debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) this summer on the annual Rock the Bells rap tour. (Only four shows this year, though: New York, L.A., San Francisco and D.C.) But for now, Raekwon is back on a track produced by BT, who made the beats for "Return of the North Star" and "Penitentiary" from last year's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... 2. Also, look at this Wu-Tang pizza someone made.

I remember people saying, back when the recession started, one good thing that could maybe come out of it was it could save music from its dismal state. Not the music industry, which was already pretty much doomed whatever happened, but music itself. Because of the commonly held belief that bad times make for good music. I guess because of the famously fertile early '70s? That is probably my favorite musical era. But maybe that's because that's when I was born. Do people have a built-in preference for the music that was made around the time they were? Do the first sounds we hear, even before we're fully conscious of it, become the ones our tastes gravitate to? Pandora should do a study. Anyway, I was skeptical. And I guess I still am. It's always hard to see the relative quality (if it's even valid to assert such a thing) of current art without the benefit of a couple years' hindsight. But I'd offer the resurgence of the Wu-Tang Clan as evidence that something good did happen during the recession. It has taken me by surprise in a way that makes me very happy. Above, "Criminology 2.5," the first track from the Wu-Masacre album, coming March 30th from Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon the Chef. It's a remake of a 1995 song, but the guys sound as strong and as sharp as ever. They've maybe mellowed a bit with age, but not in a bad way. Here's the track list and production credits for the new album: READ MORE