by SHANE SINNOTT

So apparently one of the things that happened at SXSW this year is that GZA, founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, showed up, loaded, during Black Lips sets for impromptu collaborations. One of the results is an iTunes EP out this past Tuesday called 200 Million Thousand, featuring a version of “The Drop I Hold” with GZA contributing a verse. The Lips’ promo folk are working hard trying to sell this as a “genre-defying collaboration,” but in truth it sounds like all they did was overdub a GZA verse about two-thirds of the way through the studio track. Listen here: tinyurl.com/c4zmlq. And before we leave the ever-growing genre of People Who Aren’t Hip Hop Artists Making Music With People Who Are Hip Hop Artists, there’s a mash-up going around of Dead Prez vs. Grizzly Bear, called “Two Weeks of Hip Hop,” by an outfit called the Hood Internet (thehoodinternet.com).

In one of the lower moments for the ever-litigious RIAA, they have just settled a lawsuit against Michelle and Robert Santangelo, aged 20 and 16 at the time of filing, for downloading Hanson’s “MMMBop” (tinyurl.com/dn43gc) and “Beat It” by Michael Jackson (tinyurl.com/cys9ot), among others. The amount, after four years in court? $7,000. The family, headed by their divorced mother Patricia, has already paid half the amount, and will pay the rest in six installments of $583.33 before October. Cara Duckworth, spokesperson for the RIAA, says they are “pleased.”

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, so here are two songs to get you started—because, uh, everybody who’s cool gives their mom a mix CD, right? The Beatles, “Julia”: John Lennon’s ode to his mother, killed by a car when he was just 17. “Half of what I say is meaningless/But I say it just to reach you, Julia” (tinyurl.com/cut9ym); Kanye West, “Hey Mama”: “My mama told me go to school, get your doctorate/Somethin’ to fall back on, you could profit with/But still supported me when I did the opposite”… aaaw (tinyurl.com/chgges).