One of the defining moments of this year's SXSW was the pair of surprise collaborations between Atlanta garage rock rabble-rousers The Black Lips and Wu Tang impresario GZA. This first took place off the beaten path at The Compound for Dickies Battle of the Bands, inspiring the unlikely pair to enter into a whole new chamber together. Soon thereafter, rumblings shot down 6th Street that the unlikely collabo might occur again at The Vice Records Showcase later that night at Emo's. Sure enough, immediately after the band took the stage, GZA emerged to a roomful of cheers and slack jaws. The following week, the web was atwitter with reports from both events and a grainy MTV video documented a piece of the experience.
But now anyone who missed the display of hip-hop and gutter-rock allegiance has a chance to get in on the action. Indeed, the Lips are releasing an iTunes EP including 200 Million Thousand fave "Drop I Hold," along with a never-before-heard version of the song featuring verses from the Genius himself, GZA. In addition, the release will feature an instrumental version of the track and the video for the album-version of "Drop." All this, for a whopping $1.99 during its first week of availability, beginning next Tuesday, May 5th. Earlier yesterday, AOL Spinner and AOL Boombox jointly premiered the genre-defying collaboration, recorded at Werewolf Heart Studios under the watchful eye of engineer Filip Nikolic. Hear for yourself below.
Here's the actual collaboration. Tell me what you think:
Black Lips — those who made a press campaign out of their near-arrest in India — came to town in March and played a sweaty packed show at Orpheum (here's Snider's feature, here's the REAX review).
The latest press-generating tactic the Lips are enjoying is a collaboration with Wu Tang's GZA. (That's the foursome below with a badass looking GZA. Or maybe his bad-assness is mere confusion, like, "Who are these guys again and what real benefit am I getting from playing with them?)
Check out the release and "Drop I Hold" MP3 after the jump:
