There is much to be said about this performance from last night in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, such as, "No two people have ever had less on-stage chemistry than Jay-Z and Bono, which is understandable because Bono is old and embarrassing while Jay-Z is the best." But instead, let's just leave it at, "Ooooh! Look how furry Adam's collar is!"

"Fuck you. You brand yourself by brazenly and arbitrarily associating yourself with things that you know people consider cool."

So then I decided not to write about it because I felt stupid that I didn't understand what the hell was so cool about Harry Patch. But then!

A clip from the much publicized Diane Sawyer interview with Rihanna aired on today's Good Morning America, and if it's any indication of what's to come when the interview aires in full on 20/20 tomorrow night, it should probably be required viewing for young women everywhere. The emotional maturity she displays, in her ability to remove herself from the situation long enough to think critically about how best to handle it, is a far cry from what most would expect from a 21-year-old pop star.

Walter has created alternate covers for 18 Wu-Tang and Wu members' albums in the style of Blue Note Records record covers, and the results are pretty wonderfully contradictory, weird mashups of an easy listening aesthetic with gangsta rap photos and text. The best one is after the jump.

“The whole premise was such a joke,” he told Paste, “and I think maybe I took it too seriously. I started to feel like I was becoming a cliché of myself.”

I think maybe he means he was becoming a parody of himself, in which case, sure, I guess. It's not exactly clear to me, though, how deciding instead to write a long-form concept album about the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, complete with an accompanying film and a full orchestra is any less a parody of his persona. Perhaps if he takes a moment to recognize that that persona is actually a parody of all of indie rock culture, with the precociousness, the preciousness, the general sense of wonder at the world, and comes to grips with it the way so many of his fans have, his "existential crisis" will finally come to an end. [via NME]

I'd never say that we cover all songs on the show any more than All Things Considered covers all news items, or ABC World News covers the world. We do cover a lot of ground, but, of course, it's impossible to cover everything.

Robin and I receive hundreds of CDs a week. We toss all press releases in the recycle bin and we try to come to what we love honestly. I won't fake what I do when I host the show. I tend to play music that speaks to me, and so my lack of love for hip-hop, country, classical and metal, stand out as big holes in our coverage. With the exception of classical, those genres tend to sell the best and get covered by traditional media and radio the most, especially hip-hop and country music. And while I can find all of that music on my local radio dial, including jazz, gospel and Latin, nowhere can I hear The Low Anthem, Bill Frisell, Anoushka Shankar, Taken by Trees or even Bon Iver.

I have no real problem with his stance on the situation, really, because of my admittedly strong, possibly irrational resentment of the fact that those who identify as fans of indie rock are more expected to broaden their horizons than fans of any other genre. But yes, technically I suppose you're asking for it when you host a show called All Songs Considered, then proceed to list all the types of songs you'd actually rather not consider, thank you very much. [via Largehearted Boy]

"He is a crumb. I'm gonna put my foot on his neck until he responds," Beans said as the segment came to a wrap. Beans added that he's ready for a lyrical tangle with his once-close clique member and that he would relish a retort from Jiggaman for the "What You Talkin About (Average Cat)" song.

"Please make a record," Beans yelled on-air. "A week's been out, dog. I'm not taking nothing from Jay as an artist. He ain't no walk in the park as an artist. All I'm saying is I don't gotta jog to keep up to him."

On one hand, obviously I'd like to see Jay-Z respond with a rhyme of his own. It's part of the tradition of hip-hop, after all, and it's certainly a lot of fun for us, the listeners. But there's also a lesson to be learned here, about how keeping quiet can be just as effective in achieving your goal (making the other person look really, really fucking stupid) as fighting back.

So you might assume I'd have no use for a green, apple-shaped USB drive containing stereo remasters of the band's 14 studio albums (in lossless FLAC format, and as 320Kbp/s MP3s), plus 13 mini-documentaries, cover art, rare photos and extended liner notes. You would be wrong, though. The limited run of 30,000 is available for pre-order right now at the bargain price of $280, and I need it pronto. [Music Radar]

I have very high hopes for Rihanna's new record, Rated R (due out on November 23rd, along with every other big pop record of the year), but I'm not feeling great about it at the moment. The first single, "Russian Roulette" is overly dramatic and completely joyless, which, yes, I know, is to be expected. The second single, "Wait Your Turn," was released along with its official video on Rihanna's website today, and it's a step in the right direction—hyper-stylized, reggae-tinged verses, the infectious "the wait is ova" refrain—but in the grainy, black and white video, we see a performer in love with her new image as some dark, mysterious badass robot but without any real proof that she's got the songs to go with it. [Idolator]

Watching this video of Weezer performing the ridiculously "I'm Your Daddy" with a special guest appearance by Mr. Kenny G on soprano saxophone, there are many things one wants to say: about the fact that Rivers Cuomo has basically become a stand-up comedian, about feeling like what he's doing might actually be sort of a slap in the face to the other pop-stars and genres he seems to be parodying, even if he'd never admit it. But then one realizes that, fuck, he still writes better melodies than everyone else. And, hooboy, that Kenny G sure can blow, right?!

“I'm leaving London to go back up north, to Manchester. I've been advised to do a Rod Stewart, as in a tax exile, but I don't want to do it. But London has lost its spark.”

Yeah, you know, he's probably right. It makes sense that the entire city of London, rather than a 42-year-old ex-guitarist from an irrelevant rock band, would just go ahead and lose it's spark. [Gigwise]

The latest single from 50 Cent's forthcoming album Before I Self-Destruct (which just got bumped up to a November 16 release date) is a "song for the ladies." Or maybe it's more accurate to call it a song "for prospective mothers," since 50 spends much of "Baby By Me" explaining why he'd be a great father and partner. Hint: It's because he'll give all the women who have his children one million dollars—which, when you think about it, is kinda like having your book picked for Oprah's Book Club.

A lot of musicians use Twitter nowadays. Why don’t you?
Just because I’m a twat doesn’t mean I can do it. I don’t know. I guess I don’t want everyone to know what I’m doing every second.

You dated Natalie Portman for a spell. Are you guys still on good terms?
Very good terms. She’s one of my best friends. I love her super-much. Super-much.

You know, if this dude would just come around, I feel like we could get, like, Tracy Morgan-caliber tweeting out of him.