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WU-TANG QUEST 2000! : info
wu-tang clan
information
The revolutionary course of hard-core rap took a sharp turn
to the real in 1993. That year, the platinum debut album
ENTER THE WU-TANG (36 CHAMBERS), struck a strategic, genre
expanding blow for the hip-hop nation. Eternally elevating
the urban art-form, it justly propelled the WU-TANG CLAN to
the apex of rap music. Now bonafide superstars, Staten
Island's Wu-warriors: Prince (The RZA) Rakeem, Raekwon, Ol'
Dirty Bastard, Method Man, GhostFace Killah, Genius (GZA),
U-God, Master Killa and Inspectah Deck, fearlessly return
to rap's forefront with WU-TANG FOREVER, their aptly titled
and much anticipated second Loud Records (enhanced double)
CD.
Emphasizing the point, in addition to "…Triumph," other on
target, off-the-hook cuts adding to Wu-Tang's treacherous
track record include: "Hellz Wind Staff," "Reunited,"
"Older Gods" and "MGM." Like a giant sponge, each track
absorbs your brain cells into the group's complex,
multi-layered world of edgy Wu-Tang ghetto-speak. Once
inside, shocking scenarios, inspired revelations, tragic
truths and even wall-to-wall Wu-Tang insanity take over.
It's all delivered in Wu's infamous, totally unpredictable,
wild verbal combat style. "We're comin' off with the crazy
nigga shit that can't nobody touch," says Ol' Dirty
Bastard, whose confusing, effectively surreal 1996
"Fantasy" duet with mega-pop star Mariah Carey, is an
example of how far Wu-Tang's tentacles reach into music's
mainstream. Yet, they still maintain respect and support
from real hard-core hip-hop heads, and do so without
selling-out. If anything, the mainstream brought in.
Produced by the RZA, the impressive album features the
lethal lead single "Second Coming - Triumph," a sonic
reflection of Wu's cumulative vision, talent, skill and
focus. Avowed students of the mental (or Shaolin) aspect of
the martial arts and Islam, and rabid fans of kung-fu
films, Wu once again attaches an Afro-Asiatic discipline to
the art of rhyming. Drop kicking powerful, "Protect Ya
Neck" (their first hit) type furor into the new mix, they
push the lyrical envelope, plundering metaphorical gold
mines in the process. "This is the bomb Wu-Tang record we
wanted to make for years," advises Raekwon. "It not only
gives the peeps more of what they already liked about us,
it also takes us as a group, to the next level."
In all of hip-hop's history there's never been a rap
aggregation like the Wu-Tang Clan. However, it didn't
happen overnight. On the real, each member had his own sad
street struggle story before the group blew up. Life on the
cold concrete of "Gaten Island" was, and still is, haunted
by crime, drugs, violence, hustling and poor people
striving to survive. Living under such life devaluing
conditions had most of the bad-ass brothers we now know as
the Wu-Tang Clan, caught up in the thick of it. How else
could the stark street images they rap about come off so
genuine, so vivid, so cold, so Wu-Tang?
"And since we share similar philosophies like that," U-God
interjects, "uniting under the Wu-Tang flag was a natural
thing for us to do." After all, GhostFace Killer comes
forth, " we all study Islam, play chess (which sharpens
their warfare skills and killer instincts), live for
kung-fu flicks, read the 'Suntzu: Arts of War' every day,
and are true 'Shaolin Soldiers'." "See," Method Man
concludes, "we came to the game with some ill new shit
nobody was ready for, but everybody had to recognize."
Nonetheless, in total support of each other since day one,
after the group came together and the Wu-Tang juggernaut
was finally fired up in '93, there was no stopping them.
They pooled their talent, resources and ideas, doggedly
determined to win. The rest, as they say, is history. "Most
of us had dealt with the bullshit of trying to do the solo
thing without a strong crew behind us," RZA reasons. "But
we realized that in numbers there is strength, and numbers
are very important to us. For instance the 36 vital points
(or 36 chambers) in the body, that when multiplied by 10
degrees, equal 360 degrees of complete perfection, which we
always strive for." - info from: Loud Records
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