do you remember the other day, when i posted highlights from a wu-tang radio show from 1997? you're not concentrating, are you? it's right here.
anyway, in that post, i mentioned a 1994 set, also on radio one (mark tonderai's show), that was floating around. the good people of wu-tang mountain, who were paying attention, have dug it up. here it is. if anybody has audio of the wu at brixton academy in 1998, i'd just about go ape!
more links? hip hop is read has been making compilation albums out of all the tracks sampled on various classic hip hop records, which is a great idea and a lot of work. plenty of wu-solo albums in the list. they've been hitting about one a day, and so far james brown is winning, with 'nautilus' by bob james getting more play than the guns of navarone on a bank holiday.
from da bricks did the same for illmatic over at oh word, along with a lot of background info on the originals and their use by nas' small army of super-producers.
how's about a video: 'protect your neck' live in 1993.
the video for the new wu-tang clan single (assuming it gets a physical release) is about the most half-assed rap video i've seen in a long time, which is saying something (though not much).
it's chiefly notable for the misspelling of 'raewkwon' and 'ghostface killa', the two most vocal critics of 8 diagrams. crivens! how will rae and ghost respond to this new form of diss? perhaps they'll deliberately give u-god the wrong directions to their house party, or swap some condiments around so inspectah deck pours salt into his cup of tea. at any rate, ghostface's video for 'we celebrate' wins this round, despite being silly:
anyway, here's some music from back when the wu could direct their internecine quarrels towards positive ends: battling, cheeky antics, and freestyling over each other's beats, on the westwood radio show in 1997. the first track features rza, odb and method man over the 'big beat' sample later popularised by jay-z and dizzee rascal. rza does a decent impression of slick rick's 'children's story' over the 'c.r.e.a.m.' beat.
for the whole show, including phone-ins, interviews, and imaginative use of the term "hornswaggled", head to the wu-tang mountain.
there's an earlier westwood show (1995?) kicking around somewhere, which is even better - method man and ghostface striving to outdo one another, stopping the others from getting a word in edgeways, and airing out a long-suffering dj for spinning inadequate tracks. if i find it, it'll end up on GMS sometime. at one stage, meth claims to be "dirty like harry, death wish like bronson, got it going on, i'm a don like johnson". a fine sentiment!
in other wu-related news, shyheim is releasing a mixtape called enter the bottom, a taster for a forthcoming album, the bottom chamber. just thought i might mention that.
Galactic Mystery Solvers is on hiatus for a month of festive cheer. hence this '97 mentality series has to wrap up sharp-ish.
1997>2007
Exhibits V, W, X, Y and Zee
Five of this year's best albums were made by people who made five of 1997's best albums. Longevity kicks ass. I reckon that the 1997 ones were better. But basically this is just a list of ten cracking albums. I expect that'll do. Go and search for them on youtube or something.
Nick Cave Boatman's Call > Grinderman
Camp Lo Uptown Saturday Night > Black Hollywood
El-P of Company Flow Funcrusher Plus > I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever > 8 Diagrams
Euros Childs of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci Barafundle > The Miracle Inn
Think Differently, an indie off-shoot of the Wu empire, recently released the 2005 gig that half the Wu-Tang Clan (GZA, Raekwon, Deck, U-God) played with live funk band the El Michaels Affair.
It’s one of the very few noteworthy live hip hop albums, and is worth tracking down for the Staxed-up succession of Clan classics and solo tracks (even the cut from U-God’s Golden Arms: Redemption works out), but also for the between-song banter. In particular, Raekwon reveals himself as the temperance arm of the Wu, needling U-God for knocking back too much “apple cider”, and suggesting that his fellow rappers are “drinking cups like it’s the Gulf War.” He also suggests that the El Michaels Affair are “on some Scooby-Doo shit”, and that the Wu will soon be wearing silk, playing Vegas, and generally being “the Tony Bennetts of rap.” Cider, the Wu-Tang Clan and Tony Bennett are three of GMS’ favourite things. I can’t comment on Vegas, but my buddy Double S went there for his honeymoon, and said it was “fine as fuck”, or something along those lines.
Tony for Mayor
Here’s ‘Triumph’, with the Wu amusing themselves by doing impressions of RZA at the end. For an incisive verse-by-verse analysis of ‘Triumph’, head here.
‘Watch Your Mouth’ features all eight members, each with eight tight lines (except for Raekwon and Masta Killa, whose verses are slower and more disjointed). The beat’s a grower – a bit like Kanye West’s ‘Barry Bonds’, it seemed static and simplistic at first, but with repeated listens sounds deadeningly heavy and malicious. As a full posse cut to lead off the album, it’s not exactly ‘Triumph’, but it’s better and more consistent than I’d expected, given the allegedly parlous state of the recording process: all eight members sound pretty much on the same page. It works as a statement of intent, tersely dismissive of the current rap scene, with a single-minded determination to reclaim the dark, threatening and mysterious elements that used to characterise the Wu. It’s self-mythologising without being self-aggrandising.
Of the eight MCs, GMS gives the ‘verse of the week’ award to Inspectah Deck – his precise, focused battle-rhyming, enlivening posse cuts like this, is his greatest strength. Plus he’s been under the radar for the past few years, as I tend to avoid his solo stuff. Like most Deck verses, it’s not about anything, beyond inventive boasting and polysyllabic rhymes, but it fits nicely with the song’s self-reliance and hostility to “frauds”:
This is boulevard hard, larger than your black car Camouflage rap guard, I stomp the yard I.N.S. spit monster bars, split long cigars My clique dodge, bitch y’all are frauds I get it in like Tim off the glass, spreading my name I’m like the Pres sending men off to blast What I spit make ‘em spend all they cash, I’m so Wu, so new, that I ain’t rip off the tags
Of the others:
Raekwon slows his flow, which initially sounds half-assed, but ends up entirely unsettling, sort of like on ‘Heaterz’ off Wu-Tang Forever. Best lines: “I’m from a boulevard where n****s get jabbed and peed on”, “You know we hungry and talk funny.”
Masta Killa does his usual abstract, disjointed stream-of-consciousness. Probably the song’s weakest verse, but I like the line “We keep it ninja, take money, stay ninja.” Good attitude, Masta Killa.
Method Man’s verse is straightforward corner-boy drug-pushing stuff. Maybe he thinks appearing in TheWire means he can bridge the gap between the Wu and the Clipse. I prefer more stoner / comic book geek nonsense from Meth, but he sounds lively and reinvigorated. Plus he follows Masta Killa with the line “Garbage, ya time’s up, go finish them rhymes up”, sort of like how Ghostface followed Masta Killa on ‘Triumph’ with “Ayo fuck that!”
Ghostface is good at rapping. Best line: “Got a bathtub full of white, lay in it like sand”, making a claim to be the Brian Wilson of the Wu.
U-God gets a lot of stick for not being as stellar as the rest of the Clan, but like Deck, he’s a strong team-player and I’ve got a lot of time for his rich, deep voice and his unusual rap vocabulary. Especially when he’s saying things like “I’m like the Grouch, my mouth’s a circus”, and “I’m a good learner”.
RZA packs a lot into his verse: killer bees, numerology, a nod to the Gravediggaz, and money-under-the-table record deals, before taking it back to the, er, essence, with references to Wu clothing and Raekwon’s ‘Ice Cream’.
GZA finishes off with typical authority, composure and economy, again referencing old songs, talking about hunting for 45rpms in attics with RZA, acting as usual both as a member and an observer of the Clan, and delivering one knock-out line: “You can roll as a whole, they’ll send you back in fractions”.
Do you know what it's like falling in the mud and getting kicked, in the head? With an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does, that never happens. Sorry, Ted, skip that, it's a dumb question.
tracks posted here are for sampling purposes only and will be deleted in a few days. if you are, or represent the band, and desire the deletion of a track, please contact GMS and it will be done. support bands - buy their music, go to their shows.
