Jack White, Insane Clown Posse, Mozart. Divided, they are all worshipped in their respective circles. But together?

White’s Third Man Records label recently released a collaboration between White, JEFF the Brotherhood and the juggalo rappers of ICP using a melody line lifted from a Mozart song. The track, titled “Leck Mich Im Arsch” (of which you can probably guess the translation), is available both in digital form and on vinyl.

Wait. Jack White actually did an Insane Clown Posse song? The Insane Clown Posse? With Jack White?

I thought someone was pulling something over on me until I actually heard the thing. If you can imagine Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J rapping over a groovy White Stripes riff and backed by a heavenly choir and a church organ, then you might hear something like I did. After ruling out Photoshop and great impersonations as the culprits, I deemed that this improbable song was

actually real.

I went in not expecting to like it one bit – that Jack White had finally lost it and was doing anything that was getting thrown at him.

But after listening to only maybe half of the song, turning it off and giving it some thought, what surprised me more than the track itself was that I was actually a fan of it.

Now, I know what you’re going to say next, so let me explain

my rationale.

Jack White has built this entire section of his career trying to top himself. With each new band or business move, he’s attempting to go farther than anyone else has before and chart new ground for artists in the years to come. He’s like how I would imagine Bob Dylan to be if he was more like Diddy.

With that, we have to take into consideration where blusey garage rock has gone in the past, and where we perceive it to be capable of going. It’s a genre like any other genre in that it is mostly set in its ways and yields less true innovation as it gets older.

Not that that’s a problem. When the attitude is right on, that’s all you really need to have a great band. But to try to remain vital and new, you have to find ways to challenge people’s perceptions of you. That is what Jack White is doing.

Jack White is the guy who played in three bands at once, has written a Bond theme with Alicia Keys, opened a record store/recording studio that has constant lines around the block, done the music for a song for an Australian Coca-Cola ad and pressed a vinyl 7″ of an auto-tuned Carl Sagan video. What’s the next logical step to take? There isn’t one.

The boundaries of his profession pushed him, so he pushed back. He did things that he saw some merit in, even if the merit was just to express a post-modern approach to the same blueprint. That mentality shines through on “Leck Mich Im Arsch.” White doesn’t wait around for new or interesting opportunities. He puts himself out there, and if that means doing a (to put it lightly) darkhorse song with ICP, then that’s what it means. He knows that it’s going to be “good” even if it isn’t, and he doesn’t seem cocky about that. He’s just doing whatever strikes him as intriguing.

Naysayers and those upset by this recent move: think about it less as a collaboration and more of an experiment in taking risks. With the right level of confidence, even the most unlikely of ideas can speak real volumes, and Jack White has personal affirmation for miles.