After the release of "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)", RZA's plan goes ahead and the Wu-Tang Clan expands into industry. The supergroup's heavily sought-after contract, and found with Loud/RCA, allows any artist to sign with any label as a solo member: Method Man joins Def Jam, Ol' Dirty Bastard signs with Elektra, GZA goes with Geffen, Raekwon and Inspectah Deck stay at Loud, Ghostface Killah signs with Epic. Each album is half co-owned by the group's label, and a portion of the revenue from each solo album goes to a common fund for all group members.
"36 Chambers" ideally opens what is termed the «first wave» of Wu-Tang albums: excluding the excellent horrorcore CD by Gravediggaz (RZA group), between autumn 1994 and autumn 1996, the first records of Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Raekwon, GZA and Ghostface Killah were released. These albums have a lot in common, public success (chart rap: #1, #2, #2, #2, #1; "Tical" is certified platinum, the others are all gold), critical success (the first two have received much praise, while the last three are considered classics by critics and fans alike), the one-man producer RZA, the abundant homages to Hong Kong cinema (often relating to kung-fu films), a total component of the Wu-Tang Clan as a guest both in the rapping and in the singing parts and the fact that they are all records belonging to the hardcore hip hop subgenre. In fact, they boast different nuances of hardcore: "Tical" features many battle raps, ODB's disc is characterized by a strong unpredictability in the ways, times and places of the author's execution, "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" is one of the first albums to propose a gangsta rap declined from mafia films set in New York, definitively institutionalizing mafia rap, GZA's «total lyricism», which completes one of the most beautiful, powerful and poetic albums ever recorded, hands down album of the year, and the Ghostface album that stops somewhere between a gangsta approach and mafioso rap, resulting in a perfect, aggressive and very raw street album. None of these albums are your regular hardcore rap album.
Part of the great merit of the success achieved by these records lies in the fact that the boys of the Staten Island supergroup have concentrated almost exclusively on their records, limiting guest appearances to a minimum on non-Wu albums. RZA is the first Wu-Tang Clan rapper to guest on a non-Wu album, taking part in Scientifik's "Criminal" (1994), then he's also on records by Cypress Hill (with U-God) and DJ Muggs (with GZA). In this period, Method Man is the Clan's busiest guest rapper ending up in one masterpiece album after another: he's in the records of Biggie Smalls, Shaquille O'Neal, Spice 1, Show & AG, 2Pac, Mobb Deep, Foxy Brown, Redman, and in the soundtracks of "Batman Forever" and "How High". ODB is on a Big Daddy Kane album, Raekwon is featured on Fat Joe, Bounty Killer and Mobb Deep disks, Ghostface is featured on Mobb Deep and Real Live, while the other guys are on soundtracks and Wu-efforts.
"Tical" marks Raekwon & Inspectah Deck's solo circuit debut, ODB album puts GZA, Ghostface & Masta Killa on the map, while U-God & future member Cappadonna make their first solo guest spot on album by Raekwon. RZA, Method Man, Inspectah Deck and Raekwon are featured on all five solo albums, Ghostface and Masta Killa are on all except "Tical", U-God is not present on the first two discs of the wave (because he got out of prison and only managed to record material for the other three solo discs), GZA limits his contribution to a verse for Raekwon and ODB, the future Clan member and guest of honor on the second LP of the supergroup, His Imperial Highness Don Cappachino aka Cappadonna the Great spits in records by Raekwon and Ghostface, while ODB, due to lots of serious problems, several with the law, he appears uncredited once on the hook of a GZA track where he says two things, and another time, uncredited, on the last track by Raekwon where he sings for some time.
After seven classic albums in a row, including the one with Gravediggaz, the Wu-Tang Clan is preparing to face 1997 as its year of return to the hip-hop scene, devastated at that point, in their humble and humble opinion.
1. "Wu-Revolution" (ft. Popa Wu & Uncle Pete ft. Blue Raspberry, uncredited)
Over a simple boom bap, great bassline that's powerful, heavy and vibrant, honest drum, fascinating samples, there could be everyone, everyone, just everyone. From the title you might expect this to be the new "Protect Ya Neck", the sensational new nine-bladed posse track that destroys all the hateful glossy pop rap that is raging in these years. The group hasn't released anything together for four years, "36 Chambers" is far away. Who comes? Doesn't matter, right? It could also be Cappadonna dropping hardcore bars alongside RZA and U-God. But no. None of that, not even close, don't look for rap here because you won't find anything in this grueling and wearing introduction realized by the best hip-hop group in history. Listening to it is difficult and painful. Popa Wu and Uncle Pete talk and sing for seven minutes, mostly Five Percenters related themes. Yes. Wu-Tang Clan baby. This is the final record in Robert "The RZA" Diggs' five year plan and it just starts like this. In the best way. In the best of the worst ways. What the fuck, Bobby. What did you do here? What is this stuff? Why? Popa Wu and Uncle Pete. You should pretty much know who Popa Wu is if you've listened to "The Purple Tape" or "Ironman", Uncle Pete on the other hand, I have no clue, sorry. As a start, it was hard to do worse, but it was very easy to do better. SKIP.
2. "Reunited" (GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, RZA & Method Man ft. Ms. Roxy)
Deadly boom bap, tough drum, deep bassline, gorgeous violin, from the first seconds you know you're about to witness a classic, this is the real intro, the real first cut of "Forever". There's a woman in the intro of the song, it could be Blue Raspberry, casually crossed by some members of the Wu-Tang Clan in 1992 in Atlantic City, and that later contributed to some of the group's solo records, also because she says much the same thing in the intro of a Raekwon song. And she's also uncredited in the background of the previous song. Instead, it's Ms. Roxy. It matters little.
GZA kicks things off by explaining what's been happening since the first bar and summarizing the two-hour, twenty-seven-track album in five words: the Wu-Tang Clan returns after many years with an ultra-awaited double disc, selling four million physical copies in two months. He delivers focused, hardcore, punctual, energetic, dope flow over a fantastic RZA production. Ol' Dirty Bastard delivers a light-hearted and funny verse in the second verse, with a good flow and his usual raw hardcore style. RZA tries a looser and faster approach to the third verse, the track ends with the contribution of Method Man, relaxed, calm, excellent, dope flow. It should be a song that goes back to the origins of the Wu-Tang Clan, a track with only RZA and GZA, then Method Man adds his verse, which was originally meant to be completed by the other two emcees back and forth in this battle rap, third and last single of the double LP.
3. "For Heaven's Sake" (Inspectah Deck & Masta Killa ft. Cappadonna)
The third track features a sped up soul sample from King Floyd's "Don't Leave Me Lonely", excellent boom bap, gorgeous bassline, hard, dry, dirty, underground drum. Battle rap more aggressive than usual. Resounding entrance by Inspectah Deck destroying the beat, impeccable delivery, energetic, clean, sharp, spectacular. Absurd flow, he takes the song. Masta Killa has a more calm and relaxed style, goes with the flow of the beat, then Cappadonna, I really don't know what he's doing and what he's saying, it just sounds like completely out of place here. Maybe it's not his ideal beat or he just wasn't too inspired. This track is of a spatial influence in the entire hip-hop economy, many will build their entire careers around this sound, the «chipmunk soul», including Kanye West.
4. "Cash Still Rules/Scary Hours (Still Don't Nothing Move but the Money)" (Raekwon, Method Man & Ghostface Killah ft. La the Darkman, uncredited)
Female soul sample looped tight and haunting in the background, thick bassline, honest, midtempo, dusty, excellent drum. This is the first beat credited to 4th Disciple on this album, also the first by a producer other than RZA on a supergroup LP. The song is a direct sequel to "C.R.E.A.M.", Raekwon opens the track, then Method Man, finally Ghostface.
Raekwon remains tied to the mafia themes and criminal narratives that made him famous with his first solo album. There's no hook or long intro, Raekwon spits out bars from the first few seconds over a beautiful melodic loop from Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World" that seems to inspire some of Julee Cruise's best songs for "Twin Peaks". His calm, smooth, great delivery paving the way in the sequel to "C.R.E.A.M." which this time boasts a verse from Method Man, inspired in the second verse, and Ghostface Killah taking the place of Inspectah Deck featured in the original. There's La the Darkman, Wu-Tang Clan affiliate and uncredited who recites the hook alongside Meth, but is overshadowed by the rapper. Starks enters and delivers the final verse in his energetic style, and his bars fade as the song ends. It's a cut that actually disappoints, potentially it could have been the banger of the album, instead he's choked by an uninspired Method Man who no longer seems to want to rap to focus on anything else in his artistic career.
5. "Visionz" (Method Man, Raekwon, Masta Killa, Inspectah Deck & Ghostface Killah)
This is the unique beat provided by Inspectah Deck in the double disk, before that he was credited only once as producer in a movie soundtrack. Rhythm that rolls back, crazy dissonant piano keys, honest drum, metallic, harsh, midtempo, great samples, good bassline. Method Man enters but is still asleep, his sleepy soporific flow leaving much to be desired on a production that demands energetic execution. Raekwon is better, but still doesn't seem fully suited to this beat, despite a great smooth flow and good verse. Masta Killa doesn't bring that energy that the rhythm demands, his contribution here is passable and interchangeable. Finally, Rebel INS arrives and wakes up the others and tries to turn on the track, even if it now seems late, two minutes of sleep have passed. Ghostface spits bars with some energy, but this track also disappoints, unbelievable. The song is originally supposed to show you the futuristic visions of these guys, but in the end, everyone goes where they please lyrically, and it comes out a rambling battle with no pretensions. Rollie Fingers has the shortest stanza, but look what he did, he's clearly the best in here too.
6. "As High As Wu-Tang Get" (Ol' Dirty Bastard, GZA & Method Man)
Gunshot, cheerful intro by ODB, boom bap, good bass line, excellent samples, dry dusty midtempo drum. Good rap by GZA, dominating the rhythm with his own style, ODB on the hook comes as if the track was his, Tical on the second verse, good flow, regular, nothing extraordinary in this tune.
7. "Severe Punishment" (U-God, GZA, Raekwon, RZA & Masta Killa)
Skit from the kung-fu movie "The Master" (1980, aka "3 Evil Masters"). The track sees these dudes claiming that they are better than the rest in a powerful and tense battle rap. U-God is on the first verse of the album after twenty minutes, he goes hardcore and delivers beautifully, energetic, aggressive, great flow, confident, focused. He immediately rips the cut and walks away. Short break with short skit from the same film, then GZA takes the mic and delivers bars with sweeping spatial style. Raekwon boasts an excellent fast and urgent silky flow, RZA on the other hand has a more cautious style, rough voice that goes better with the soul of the rhythm, raw, underground, dirty, dry drum, pounding hi hat in evidence, good samples. It closes Masta Killa with an enviable calm, before the outro again with skits from the kung-fu movie.
8. "Older Gods" (Ghostface Killah, Raekwon & GZA)
Second contribution of 4th Disciple in the construction of this project. Excellent boom bap, midtempo drum, candid bassline, acoustic guitar arpeggios, sad looped piano keys featured on beat and rap. Gorgeous rhythm, dirty, underground, dusty, raw. The beat is amazing, it's so well done that it seems to be made by RZA himself at his finest. The title refers to the elders who act as father figures to the boys growing up in the city's slums, and is also a reference to the veterans of the Five Percenters. Smooth, flowing, crisp delivery of Ghostface Killah. It follows Raekwon with a similar flow, calm, silky, clean, hook of Diamonds & Starks, in one of their best and most beautiful songs in their period of prime form. GZA sharpens the final verse like a veteran samurai and rounds out one of the album's best joints with a great, dope flow. The three are all at their best over a fantastic production by 4th Disciple, and come from three immaculate solo records released back to back: this track would look good on any of those records.
9. "Maria" (Ol' Dirty Bastard & RZA ft. Cappadonna)
Boom bap, solid bassline, dirty, dusty, dry, midtempo drum. ODB lurid intro and verse, hardcore Cappadonna has no better lyrics, BZA returns with seedy lyrics delivered in a singsong, almost spoken, never rapped, almost mumbled style. The final verse is from RZA, who succeeds in the difficult task of vomit even worse bars than the two guys who preceded him: his voice echoes over the track, it's less rough than usual on a circular loop that keeps coming back. The final orgasms typical of an ODB song were missing, closes a skit from the kung-fu movie "4 Assassins". Up to this point, apart from the intro, the album has been perfect, one excellent track after another. More or less it went like this, we can argue about some of the seven tracks that preceded this massacre, but from now on, it doesn't make much sense to talk about it anymore. Questionable beats by RZA sounding like a reject, questionable performers, absurd, terrible lyrics. It's all far-fetched. This is a resounding low point for all artists involved. Skip this thing, whatever it is.
10. "A Better Tomorrow" (Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, U-God, RZA & Method Man)
The title of the song is a direct reference to the 1986 John Woo film of the same name. 3rd pearl of 4th Disciple. Excellent production, wonderful boom bap with gorgeous strings, great piano, dusty, dry, dirty, distant midtempo drum, great bassline. Immense sample from "Love Theme from 'Romeo and Juliet' (A Time for Us)" by Peter Nero. Inspectah Deck's intro and socio-conscious verse, that he delivers with an energetic, punctual, confident, dope style. His performance throughout the album is outstanding. Hook by Deck and Masta Killa, then Noodles delivers with his monotonous, slow, almost faded style, spitting socio-conscious bars his way. U-God with more pathos, focused, confident, knows he has to prove something on this double LP and tries again to rip the track, succeeding with his socio-conscious verse, also narrating the fact that his two-year-old son was hit by a stray bullet and almost killed him.
After the chorus, the one that could have been easily, very easily, Wu-Tang Clan's best song ever is permanently and irretrievably marred by the supergroup's original Cappadonna aka RZA, at his sleaziest and most obscene. Bobby Digital spits raw, rough and energetic, while all the other guys are engaging in socio-conscious verses, he praises sexual bars and comes up with an entire ultra-misogynistic filler verse that clashes with both the song and the rest of the album, he seems to have stayed with the themes of "Maria", the previous song, which sucks. Method Man makes up for it, so far he has slept, but here he makes up for it, and it was about time: Johnny Blaze spits out the piece's shortest verse, but kills the cut with a socio-conscious stanza impressive in power in its resounding compactness and confident, ruthless, and accurate execution.
This is one of the most powerful songs on the album and possibly the best. It creeps me out.
11. "It's Yourz" (Raekwon, RZA, U-God, Inspectah Deck & Ghostface Killah)
No intro, no skit, no kung-fu movie, Raekwon walks in and spits out bars with a raw, energetic, hardcore flow, paving the way for the last track of the first disc of "Forever". Solid boom bap, loaded bass line, kick drums come and go, good sample for this battle. U-God boasts a slow, smooth flow, then RZA with an opposite style, aggressive, rough, messy. Inspectah Deck has the shortest verse but kills the cut with awesome spatial flow. Hook, then closes Ghost Face Killer with good energy. This track is also one of the Wu's best posses, despite a RZA who lyrically falls short of any of the other performers. Chosen as the second single from the double LP, in the video of the song the Ghostface verse is replaced with that of "Older Gods".
12. "Wu-Tang Forever Intro" (RZA & GZA, both uncredited)
Intro for the second CD of this double disc. RZA solo. Excellent beat by RZA unfortunately wasted for this 2 minute skit in which the boy raves about random things more or less related to Wu and the fact that they are the best and that the others suck and that you don't become an emcee overnight if your name isn't Elgin Turner. I dwell on the few freebies The Abbot offers because something curiously catastrophic happened not long after he dropped this skit. Bobby says he "has on his side" Killah Priest — dropped from this album, as well as being left out of contract after settling with GZA's management agency, which fails; later, he moves away from Wu in this period and manages to build an independent career — the three big groups closest to Wu-Tang, Sunz of Man, Royal Fam and Killarmy — all disbanded within a few years of this tribute, the first two having several albums shelved, and then getting a revival in the streaming age — his group Gravediggaz — which melts at the same time as the three previously mentioned — 12 O'Clock — forgotten affiliate who has been present with the supergroup since day zero and who has made few but important appearances alongside most of the rappers of the Clan, often as part of duo Two on da Road alongside Sunz of Man emcee Prodigal Sunn; it's interesting, because the artist is not often honored by Wu-Tang Clan members, especially on albums of this importance — and among others, last but not least, his cousin GZA, who says a couple of sentences in this intro.
From this double LP onwards, GZA never participates in a track with RZA again, practically. You can count them on your fingertips. The Genius grants him at least one guest slot on each of his CDs, as well as the track "Do U" for Bobby Digital album "Digital Bullet" (2001), which sounds like an outtake that for some reason failed to make the final tracklist of GZA's "Beneath the Surface" (1999), and little else. He's not even on Wu-Tang records, with the exceptions of singles "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)" (2000) and "Uzi (Pinky Ring)" (2001). In 2004, for "Soul Survivor II", the sequel to his acclaimed album, Pete Rock manages to get "Head Rush", a song in which RZA and GZA rap together one after the other, a real rarity — it happens only once in this 27 track, in "Triumph", where, however, the sequence of the performers isn't casual — only happened twice, one in "Third World" by DJ Muggs a few months before the release of this double disc, and the other in "Protect Ya Neck", the supergroup's first historic single included in their debut. Then it will only happen a couple more times in the next twenty years. A few seasons later, Ghostface accomplished the then virtually impossible feat of having everyone on one track for his album "Fishcale" in "9 Milli Bros.", but RZA only plays the intro and doesn't rap, unlike everyone else, with even ODB spitting a couple of bars posthumously. The following year GZA is a guest on "Afro Samurai", but on a track where Bobby isn't there. In 2008, GZA finally returns to spit with his cousin, but the Wu-Tang is in shambles and nobody really cares anymore what is going on and why.
Fully skippable intro.
13. "Triumph" (Inspectah Deck, Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, U-God, RZA, GZA, Masta Killa, Ghostface Killah & Raekwon ft. Cappadonna)
Considered one of the best tracks ever, despite Cappadonna, it's the first hip-hop song to get a million-dollar music video budget. Also, for the first time in history, the radio is forced to play a six-minute rap song.
Momentous sample from The Rance Allen Group's "Just Found Me", accelerated brilliantly by RZA, tight and taut strings, dirty, few piano keys, excellent light dusty midtempo drum, powerful dope bass line. Crazy ODB intro as the Killa Beez fly from Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island attacking New York City. The music video is spectacular. ODB is one of the best hype man and he does a perfect intro, you really can't tell him anything, he's extraordinary. First verse of Inspectah Deck taken directly from a freestyle made together with Killa Sin (of Killarmy) that he had intended for a Tony Touch album, but he also thought it was too good to be confined to a compilation and decided to use it again for this track.
That of Inspectah Deck isn't even an entrance, it's a tank break-in. He delivers bars with an unmatched style, energetic, hardcore, clean, flawless, he dominates the rhythm with a spectacular flow and delivers what is considered by most fans to be one of the best verses in hip-hop history, if not the best. Method Man has been asleep through most of this double record and his will to rap is fading, but here he's forced to get back on his feet to avoid being swept away by the lyrical fury of Rebel INS, who is playing at a level too high for everyone. Tical delivers with more energy than any of his other tracks here, he's focused, he's punctual, he's awake, hitting bars with one of his best flows and trying to hold his own. To help him, there is Cappadonna, considered one of the weak points of this posse, one of the best ever in hip-hop: the man spits hardcore, messy, erratic, haphazard, he doesn't seem entirely comfortable with the rhythm.
Fourth verse of U-God who, unfortunately for the others, here is totally in splendid shape and doing what he wants. One of the worst regarded rappers of the Shaolin supergroup walks away with his own style, syncopated, slow, singsong, spectacular in his own way. RZA realizes that he has to do something beyond the ordinary to not come off as the weakest of the crew on what could be their best collective track ever. Steels comes in rough and starts spitting messy like a machine gun firing randomly into the bush trying to hit something. The next rapper is his cousin The Genius who boasts a completely opposite style, calm, orderly, precise, fluid, punctual, his quiet and brief rap sails over the track and is serene, clear and understandable, unlike what RZA just let us hear. These are also pretty much the last bars of GZA in the second CD, and there's still half an album away from finishing it, which is unbelievable.
Masta Killa is even calmer than his mentor GZA, he's walking at a slow pace, reciting lines in spoken word more than rapping, totally at ease with the beat. He overwhelms the piece with some of the song's tighter lyrics, though sadly he still goes unnoticed by listeners, despite an atypical and different delivery style compared to all the other interpreters of the song. Ghostface Killah brings energy back into the track with his explosive yet precise, clear, smooth, hardcore flow, and brings it back to the street, In the last verse, Raekwon keeps it on the street and follows the criminal imprint given by Ghostface a few moments before with a once again energetic, hardcore performance, decisive, confident, dirty delivery, excellent flow.
It's originally meant to have the same order of performers as the first single, "Protect Ya Neck" from the previous album, but eventually the order changed, notably the last five verses having a link between the performers: RZA and GZA are cousins, GZA is Masta Killa's mentor, Ghost and Raekwon are the group's unofficial duo. Six-minute cut with no hooks. Absurd hit. Superlative.
14. "Impossible" (RZA, U-God & Ghostface Killah ft. Tekitha)
Soundscape number four for 4th Disciple. It would be useless to mention that the boy paints the fourth masterpiece out of four, but it's always better to remember this, because sometimes this producer doesn't receive due credit. He's great on this album. His production totally complements RZA's, these beats, some of the best of the Wu-sound era, are cut from another fabric. The rhythm is nervous, there is an uncontrollable kicking drum, a powerful booming bass, good cautious a bit melancholic samples straight from a Beethoven song, the rhythm is excellent.
RZA recites the intro wrapped in Tekitha's singing (at the debut in the rap circuit), who launches the piece. Long verse by RZA, flow messy, irregular, rough and urgent, nervous and agitated: this is evidently one of his best contributions on the double LP. U-God better than RZA, smooth, sharp, confident, clean, energetic. Throughout the album he has done a colossal crazy job, if it weren't for Inspectah Deck's performance that overshadowed everyone on this double disc, Lucky Hands would be the rapper of the album. Here, Golden Arms has one of the best verses of the project, and the best of the song. If it weren't for the fact that the boy who's about to arrive has decided to once again outshine everyone else, including U-God, and come up with one of the defining verses in a hip-hop track.
Deep soul hook sung by Tekitha, wonderful, then Ghostface writes the history and narrates a stirring verse about a friend who was shot, delivering with spelunking depth. Verse of the year for The Source, best verse ever for Ghost himself, best verse ever by a Wu-Tang member for RZA. Outro by Raekwon as Tekitha sings. Classic cut.
15. "Little Ghetto Boys" (Raekwon ft. Cappadonna)
Title similar to a song by Dr. Dre from "The Chronic", RZA also pays homage to the same sample, from the homonymous song by Donny Hathaway. Boom bap with tight metallic drum, good bass, amazing strings and horns, great melody. Skit between Raekwon, Cappadonna, Ghostface Killah, RZA, Method Man and a female cop. There's a long skit, a Cappadonna verse, an outro and the breathing sample at the end of the song. It inevitably fades into the background and the casual listener could even overlook it due to all these dispersive elements. But look what Shallah Raekwon has done here: he comes in at his best and delivers a hardcore verse, energetic and flowing, he's just great on a rock solid soundscape. For the hook, the sample by Donny Hathaway is left to breathe, beautiful. Don Cappachino enters irregularly and leaves messy as he wants, hardcore.
He's an addition that, perhaps only after several listenings, feels necessary. Splendid sample, the rhythm breathes for a few minutes. This sounds just like a song taken from "Ironman", if not directly from "Only Built". Cappa also places a casual mafia reference, it should be emphasized that this single fact neither makes this track mafia rap nor the album, which is often labeled within the discs of the mafioso rap subgenre due to the numerous references that the boys make throughout the disc, while failing to build a single track that can fall within the definition of «mafia rap».
16. "Deadly Melody" (Masta Killa, U-God, RZA, Method Man, GZA & Ghostface Killah ft. Streetlife)
Massive boom bap, deadly bass, crazy, dusty, dirty, midtempo drum, it's perfect, awesome beat, light melodic samples. Intro and verse by Masta Killa with a singsong rap, slow, fluid: he goes away and offers one of his greatest performances on the album and in career. U-God with an even more singsong style, syncopated, slow, confident, great flow. After two tight verses from two of the supergroup's least regarded guys, an intricate back and forth begins: RZA decides to break up the following verses and weave them together. So we have a few bars of RZA, even less from Method Man, RZA again, then a couple by Masta Killa, a single line from U-God, a couple of GZA (for this last one, they are the last two bars of the disc), then Johnny Blaze returns, and Streetlife has its baptism in a Wu-Tang Clan album with some lines, after having already been a guest in "Tical" and "Ironman". It's not over. Ghostface drops his verse with a phenomenal dirty flow, the first not to be broken since U-God performed at the beginning, so the piece sees the unexpected and punctual return of Streetlife, who gets a full verse and gets things back on the street with a criminal, mafia twist, while the rest of the track went thug / hardcore with no frills. It's one of Wu's most spectacular songs, full of constant mic changes, phenomenal, aided by an excellent, impeccable rhythm.
17. "The City" (Inspectah Deck)
Fifth and last rhythm of 4th Disciple in the album, yet another masterpiece. Boom bap, heavy bass, tight, dirty, dusty, midtempo drum, untouchable underground rhythm, sickly sad strings in evidence. Absolute pearl of the genius of Rebel INS. He richly deserved his own solo track, his own moment to shine. Here goes hardcore. Shoot to introduce the rhythm. Confident, energetic, slick delivery of Inspectah Deck sweeping the record with the first of four chosen lead pieces for "Forever" (if CD2 intro performed by RZA, CD2 outro performed by Raekwon, and bonus track "Sunshower" performed by RZA don't count), the others are performed by ODB, U-God and Tekitha later.
18. "The Projects" (Raekwon, U-God, Method Man & Ghostface Killah)
Good bassline, dirty, dusty midtempo drum, haunting sample from O'Jays' "Cry Together", excellent rhythm. The track revolves around themes related to the projects. Intro by Lex Diamonds along with Wu-Tang affiliate Shyheim, uncredited, and verse by Raekwon keeping it in the streets with a steady energetic style. U-God's contribution is limited to saying the song title in the hook. Method Man keeps it in the streets in the second verse, the guy isn't really putting in any effort and you can hear him, but if you don't pay attention his interlocutory verse is still solid by the standards of the group. Chorus, last stanza entrusted to Ghostface. He'll keep it in the streets, predictably. Instead Tony Starks, one of the best rappers out there between 1993 and 1997, decides to rip the track: he absurdly enters and pulls out a misogynistic graphic verse with a hardcore delivery, smooth, confident, dope great style.
19. "Bells of War" (U-God, Method Man, RZA, Masta Killa, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah)
Elegant production by RZA, good light bassline, soft light drum, dark and sad samples, guitar in the background. Hardcore track. U-God on the first verse, hardcore, energetic, focused, punctual, confident, leaves with a great flow. Method Man is on this album with the summer camp attitude, he's strolling casually and lightheartedly in the middle of the track, he feels like he doesn't want to be here, he still has a good voice, a decent flow, but he's not committing even paid for this thing, it's incredible. It's even more amazing that he sounds so effortlessly good, especially on this type of production. RZA puts more energy, his verse is decent, Masta Killa delivers a few bars, Method Man & Raekwon in totally useless spoken word in the middle of the track, which seems to be over, instead then Ghostface Killah emerges who manages to keep the same dark mood proposed by the rhythm in his flow. Outro by RZA.
20. "The M.G.M." (Raekwon & Ghostface Killah)
Sensational back n forth of a single verse between Lou Diamonds and Tony Starks on a boxing match at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bright underground beat, the first of two provided by True Master: boom bap, melodic soul sample, thumping, dirty, dusty drum. Anthology delivery from Raekwon and Ghostface delivering one of their best duets and an obligatory choice on Wu-Tang Clan's second effort. The rhythm breathes in the end, it deserves.
Very impressively, the boys have done nothing wrong with this second LP so far, but from the next track forward the record gets bogged down in the mud in an equally incredible way and definitely comes out of the "classic" box with three deeply questionable choices in the next six tracks before the outro.
21. "Dog Shit" (Ol' Dirty Bastard)
Boom bap with good sample, bass line, midtempo light dry drum. ODB comes with light-hearted, sleazy and highly misogynistic lyrics, for some he offers a bit of wit and hilarious comedy in a dark and brutally hard double disc, to me he gives away a track with no replay value that's really one of the few I don't want to hear on this double CD.
22. "Duck Seazon" (Raekwon, RZA & Method Man)
Dark, lethal, crazy rhythm by Bobby Steels. Boom bap, soft synth line slowly falling from the sky, dark looping piano keys, tight, dry, echoing drum, warm bass line. Slow, loose, smooth, silky, energetic delivery of Raekwon eating the track. RZA delivers an extra verse in what is considered one of his best verses ever by fans, raw, ungainly, hardcore, energetic, aggressive style. Method Man spits almost softly, minimum effort, slow flow, tired, weak. Shallah Raekwon returns and smashes the track with an energetic, raw, hardcore second verse in one of his best songs in his heyday, it dominates the cut. Outro, kung-fu skit from the movie "The Unbeaten 28".
23. "Hellz Wind Staff" (Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Method Man, RZA & Raekwon ft. Streetlife)
Skit from the same film that closed the previous track. Boom bap, oriental sounds, melodic samples from "Signed D.C." by Love, heavy bass line, dark swirling horns, maybe a flute, syncopated midtempo drum. The track's title is similar to one of the tracks on GZA's "Liquid Swords". The piece is a hardcore battle rap. Regular, energetic delivery of Streetlife that opens one of the last posse tracks of the double edition. Kung-fu movie skit, then Ghostface, hardcore, energetic, rough, great flow. Still skit, Rebel INS delivers inspired, hardcore, great performance. Method Man follows immediately, this time in a different way than most of the disc, with energy, dynamism, style, good work. RZA always nervous in delivery he precedes Raekwon to the final verse, hardcore, energetic, flowing, he takes this track too.
24. "Heaterz" (Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Ol' Dirty Bastard, U-God ft. Cappadonna)
Second and last beat provided by True Master. Masterpiece. Boom bap, hard, powerful, powerful, unstoppable drum, fantastic melodic soul sample from Gladys Knight & the Pips' "Giving Up (1970 Version)", strings, driving bassline. Intro and first verse by Lex Diamonds, energetic, hardcore, fluid, dope. Inspectah Deck comes in and delivers hardcore, energetic, flowing, great flow, confident, inspired, he's at his best these days. He steals the cut. A few bars of ODB, who for some reason always contributes a limited amount even throughout this album, here hardcore and rough as always, then fourth verse for U-God. Lucky Hands delivers confident and at his best, hardcore, slow, with his sing-song style paving the way for his friend Cappadonna, in his fifth and final contribution to this double disc, the first in a Wu-Tang Clan project, with the difficult task of going to complete the Staten Island supergroup's last posse track in this project. Good rough, raw, dirty flow. It's one of his rare notable performances on this effort, and he's overshadowed by all the others in every case. This is followed by a skit by Dom Pachino, rapper of Killarmy, together with Tekitha, both uncredited. Thus ends the last Wu-Tang Clan posse track in this project. I don't recommend to listen to the three next tracks, so you may wish to finish listening here as well or skip straight to the bonus track "Sunshower".
25. "Black Shampoo" (U-God)
Honest production, U-God gets his solo track and uses it to build a choice dedicated to women where he delivers a single verse about shampoo and other things. More than one thesis could be written on this song and on the consequences it had, even on the dynamics of the supergroup. It's clearly one of the tracks most despised by fans and considered one of the weakest tracks on "Forever" and also the worst. First of four consecutive Wu-Tang Clan solo pieces, all useless. This is material for U-God's detractors and those he deems him to be the weakest member of the supergroup. Up until this point he had been unassailable on this double album. Skip.
26. "Second Coming" (Tekitha)
Tekitha, singer affiliated with Wu-Tang not present in the previous disc or in any other disc before this double CD, here at the debut, she gets a solo cut in a Wu-Tang Clan album. Before her only GZA ("Clan in da Front"), Method Man in the eponymous cut, Inspectah Deck ("The City"), Ol' Dirty Bastard ("Dog Shit") and U-God ("Black Shampoo"), the last three right on this disc. Tekitha sings beautifully for four minutes a couple of verses where she basically says Wu-Tang has come to save hip-hop, paying homage to the immortal "MacArthur Park" by Donna Summer, an authentic masterpiece. Unfortunately this song is not at that level. It should be added that placing an rnb song on a record that was deeply hardcore all the time to close the double LP was, in hindsight, an unfortunate choice, and for which it's difficult to find an explanation.
Why was this done? This is a fair question to ask. The answer is there. I personally think RZA was hoping to replicate the success he had on Raekwon's album, where he did the exact same thing, build an entire hardcore CD and put the rnb song at the end ("Heaven & Hell") where however, together with the singer (Blue Raspberry) which pays homage to a seventies soul song, there were the two main rappers, who went to build a masterpiece on an immaculate production. Almost the exact same thing was done with "All That I Got is You" in Ghostface's album. In this song, none of that happens. You expect at any moment U-God or Ghostface will leap and spit hardcore to ignite the cut, sadly that never happens, and that's too bad because, yes, at that point it could turn into a noteworthy closure, another classic in the Wu-Tang Clan's extensive discography.
27. "The Closing" (Raekwon)
Raekwon solo outro in spoken word, overbeat. Random helicopter arriving.
28. "Sunshower" (RZA) [international edition]
Beautiful boom bap, gorgeous samples, crisp bassline, dry dusty dirty midtempo drum, Christmas bells in the background, raw, messy delivery by RZA, two super long verses on this bonus track for the international double CD version. According to many fans, this is the brightest moment in RZA's solo rapping career and is hailed as a masterpiece song at his peak.
Final Thoughts
Four years after the critical and commercial success of the debut, the Wu-Tang Clan is back to drop an album. This two-hour spectacular double album is strong, powerful and coherent, one of the best hip-hop record releases of 1997 and one of the best double albums in the history of the genre, together with those of 2Pac and Biggie. It's an immensely talented effort, fantastic excellent lyrics, often written in stream-of-consciousness, ranging from conscious to violent subject matter, from political bars to references to organized crime, featuring fewer pop culture references and less kung-fu movie references, more homages to the Five Percenters, and losing much of the easy-going fun of the debut in favor of a more focused, crisp and professional rap. The production is cleaner, more refined, glossy, majestic and triumphant, it sounds better than the debut, and is curated by RZA who creates it together with the students of the Wu-Elements 4th Disciple, which boasts five productions, and True Master, author of two beats. Inspectah Deck has a rhythm.
The album's top performers are Raekwon and RZA with 15 appearances on 28 tracks (including one bonus), followed by Method Man (14), Ghostface Killah (12), U-God (10), Inspectah Deck (9), Masta Killa (7), GZA (7), ODB (6) and guests Cappadonna (5), Tekitha (3), Streetlife (2), Popa Wu, Uncle Pete, Ms. Roxy, Shyheim, LA the Darkman, Dreddy Kruger of Royal Fam and Dom Pachino of Killarmy. The boys are in their prime. Inspectah Deck is clearly the MVP of the double album, he kills everyone on every single track where he's featured with extraordinary technical lyricism, many of his stanzas are considered among the best of the year and even more, and with masterful execution. He pretty much picks up every track that he's in. GZA limits his presence on the record, even if managing to obscure some of the other performers in his songs ("Reunited", "As High As Wu-Tang Get", "Severe Punishment", "Older Gods").
Ghostface Killah is strong almost everywhere, putting his signature especially in the second part of the disc ("Impossible", "The Projects", "Bells of War", "The M.G.M.", "Hellz Wind Staff"). Raekwon also stands out in the second part ("Little Ghetto Boys", "The M.G.M.", "Duck Seazon", "Hellz Wind Staff", "Heaterz"), with the honor of having the final verse in the driving single "Triumph". U-God is certainly the real positive surprise of the disc: if we removed his solo track at the end, the boy doesn't disappoint and delivers some of his best verses and flows ever, standing up to some of the best rappers of the period in their prime, and sometimes surpassing them in several tracks that are also memorable thanks to the contribution of Baby Huey ("Severe Punishment", "A Better Tomorrow", "Triumph", "Bells of War", "Heaterz").
Method Man is one of the negative surprises, he arrives at the record in a period where he no longer wants to rap, by his own admission, and he plans to focus his energies on other projects outside of music. He's one of the most present emcees on the disc and is memorable only for a short, though very incisive, final verse in "A Better Tomorrow" and that's it, there are no other particular extraordinary contributions from him throughout the record, he just mumbles something in the rest of the tracks without adding practically anything. Almost worse than him RZA, the busiest guy behind the mic together with Shallah Raekwon, both present on fifteen tracks, but no song is essential thanks to his lyrical or stylistic contribution. If it weren't for the fact that the guy has made almost every beat of five classic records in a row (I also include "Tical" and it would be six with what is considered almost a pioneer record of horrorcore with Gravediggaz), and the fact that, one way or another, he spit few bars on these five records, Rakeem would be considered the weakest rapper of the bunch.
ODB's presence is limited to four stanzas. Cappadonna has five and is the guest of the double album. In twenty-seven tracks Dirt McGirt spits four times and makes three intros. The exclusion of him from "Triumph" is sensational and the fact that he's absent from much of this effort, added to the fact that his rare appearances aren't as immediately memorable as those on the first disc ("Reunited" and "Heaterz" are good, "Maria" and "Dog Shit" suck; only his hype man intro to the Clan major hit on this record is so much better than everything else he's done on these two hours), weighs heavily in the economy of the project. As for Masta Killa, it's possible you may not realize that Masta Killa is actually on this double LP. You almost don't realize he's there, if you don't pay attention you don't see him, but he's there: he has a slow, cautious approach to rapping, without excesses, inspired by that of his mentor GZA but without that evident incisiveness. After the first half of the second CD, the rapper disappears, but is now present almost everywhere before: if you pick your favorite track off the record, chances are Masta Killa is somewhere in there too.
Silently, without anyone really realizing it, this guy has featured on four classic records, those of ODB ("Snakes"), Raekwon ("Glaciers of Ice", "Wu-Gambinos"), GZA ("Duel of the Iron Mic") and Ghostface ("Winter Warz"), and in the years following the release of this record, unlike many others, he has patiently waited for his turn and built an enviable career. Almost in the opposite way to that of Noodles, Cappachino the Great best knows as Cappadonna here disappoints enormously, after making a lot of noise with his loud and excellent guest appearances on albums by Raekwon and Ghostface: the group's rapper affiliate (later legitimate member) scuppers every track he's on in a brutally embarrassing way, unintentionally attempting to also bring down "Triumph" with what is one of the worst verses on the double disc. The other guests look like veterans compared to him, take Streetlife comes and goes in a glacial way in "Deadly Melody" and he's so much stronger than Cappadonna that you wonder why he's not there to fill those guest slots.
The album comes out just before summer 1997, released by Loud and RCA with BMG distribution. After four months, it's certified four times platinum. First on three continents, one of the top ten best-selling rap records of the year. Nominated for a Grammy in 1998 in the category of Best Rap Album, "Forever" loses to "No Way Out" by Puff Daddy. The event is made famous by ODB arriving at the ceremony in a shiny new dress: "I don't know how you all see it, but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best."
Its legacy is gigantic, representing a monumental effort by the Wu-Tang Clan, putting in 20 spectacular tracks out of 27. It's one of the best double albums ever, maybe the best. Definitely the heaviest and hardest. For many performers, it's the best record of their career: Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, Cappadonna, Tekitha, Streetlife, RZA himself, they can't say they have a better solo record. And also for the other guys it represents one of the peaks of their career, in these two hours there are some of their best performances and verses. Absolute must-have for fans.
Highlights: "Reunited", "For Heavens Sake", "Cash Still Rules", "Visionz", "As High As Wu-Tang Get", "Severe Punishment", "Older Gods", "A Better Tomorrow", "It's Yourz", "Triumph", "Impossible", "Little Ghetto Boys", "Deadly Melody", "The City", "The Projects", "Bells of War", "The MGM", "Duck Seazon", "Hellz Wind Staff", "Heaterz".
Rating: 9/10.
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