Which Wu-Tang Albums Are Essential?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

and why?

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 7 April 2003 07:51 (twenty-two years ago)

36 chambers gza-liquid swordsthats about as far as ill go with "essential"

― chaki (chaki), Monday, 7 April 2003 07:55 (twenty-two years ago)

yes but WHY??

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 7 April 2003 07:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Method Man - Tical (for release yo delf and the Mary J Bilge tracks alone)

― neil, Monday, 7 April 2003 08:38 (twenty-two years ago)

i also want to know which (don't care about the "why" so much). more answers please.

― Alan (Alan), Monday, 7 April 2003 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

ghostface killah-supreme clientele

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 7 April 2003 09:24 (twenty-two years ago)

_36 chambers_ because it redefined hip-hop at a time when it kind of needed redefining. everyone was starting to sound like cypress hill or onyx and if i recall correctly almost every song had "[act's name] - comin' ta getcha!"

method man - tical, because it was a stoned and muzzy work of genius that showcased his lispy gruffness better than anything since; also for having one of the best first sides of any rap album ever (ends with "sub crazy," a fucking great and truly bizarre track musically). some people totally disagree with me on this and think "t2000" was better. ha! ha!!!

old dirty bastard - first album for being so messy and patchwork and exactly suiting ODBs personality. second for being so funky and insane; "i kill all my enemies at birth." "i make your dick disappear/i ain't hearin' no more weird sounds in the air." or words to that effect.

other than the first gravediggaz album i can take or leave the other wu and related stuff. "iron flag" was good, but for a group that has so consistently release mediocre crap i wonder if it doesn't seem better than it actually is. and cappadonna? can someone please shoot HIM?

― your null fame (yournullfame), Monday, 7 April 2003 10:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx. This one is a B-boy classic. Team ups with Ghostface and most of the other Clan. Stunning beats and rhymes. The Chef could not be bettered in 95. All productions were handled by The Rza - not like the later Wu stuff which Mr Diggs farmed out to the c-list. The Rza had an amazingly prolific few years between 92 and 96. Check these. Wu-Tang "36 Chambers", Method Man "Tical", the 1st ODB release, The Gza "Liquid Swords".

― Robert Moore (treble), Monday, 7 April 2003 11:03 (twenty-two years ago)

1. 36 Chambers
2. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
3. Ghostface - Suprememe Clientele
4. Method Man - Tical
5. Wu-Tang Forever

― Esquire1983 (esquire1983), Monday, 7 April 2003 11:09 (twenty-two years ago)

36 Chambers = dense dank urban paranoia, under-produced, you can hear the joins, the one-take vocals, the bargain-basment drum sounds, the patchy FX. Skits are overlong, subject matter is repetitive (basically, 'we're wu-tang, we're miserable and we're fucking hard, fuck you'). But DESPITE and BECAUSE OF all this it is mercilessly gripping. At least 6 fantastic, distinct personas + styles. Irresistible self-mythologizing attached to nasty grime-laded beats. Essential and possibly life-changing?

Liquid Swords/Only Built 4 Cuban Linx = Wu 2.0, really. On these albums, both essential, RZA refines his aesthetics. The same basic principles as 36 Chambers (sinister piano/guitar loops, manic strings, fuzzy bass, head-exploding drums) with a higher budget. Sound is cleaner + more textured, beats have more room to breathe and arragements more multi-layered. Tighter in general. These albums seem linked to me in a kind of 'two sides of the Wu' way, ie GZA = the arcane kung-fu in space mythology, Raekwon = the realer-than-real crack crime narratives. Like '36 Chambers' split in two and taken in opposite directions.

Supreme Clientele = millennium Wu. Bizarre next-level rhyming, so dense as to be near-impenetrable at first. Ghostface raps like the world is about to end and he has to spit out every combination of words in his head before it happens. Every track drips with desperation, misery + confusion. Chaotic, sometimes abstract beats reflect this. For a long time I thought the album had nothing holding it together, then realised the *lack* of pattern is the point, it's an album about disintegration - personal, spiritual, urban, whatever -and is flawed, heroic (oh yeah, and ESSENTIAL) attempt to turn total confusion into redemption.

These are the best ones. First Gravediggaz album also great but not as Wu as the others, so I've left it off.

― pete b. (pete b.), Monday, 7 April 2003 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd say -

* Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
* Wu-Tang Forver (though you've got to be ready to accept that at least 1/3 of the record kinda sucks)
* The W
* GZA - Liquid Swords
* Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
* Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
* Ol Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chamber The Dirty Version

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 7 April 2003 12:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Liquid Swords is essential for the intro sample and the lyric "lyrics weak like clock radio speakers" alone (although there's way more reasons).

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 7 April 2003 12:03 (twenty-two years ago)

another classic _liquid swords_ line:

"woofers thump, tweeters hiss like air pumps
rza shaved the track, niggas caught razor bumps."

i mean, damn.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Monday, 7 April 2003 12:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I could live without everything except for the two ODB albums and Ghostface's Supreme Clientele and maybe Liquid Swords (I've only heard some of this record, but what I heard was encouraging). I mean, 36 Chambers is solid but really hasn't held up to the test of time especially well. Then again, it has (Hank Kingsley's favorite Wu-Tang song) "Shame On a Nigga"....

The first half of Tical is pretty great though, but I'm not sure if I've ever made it all the way through. Tical 2000 sounded unremarkable. There should be a comp of all these albums cause most of 'em have a classic track or two. (Like "Maxine" on that otherwise weak last Ghostface record)

― original bgm, Monday, 7 April 2003 12:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Liquid Swords - seriously dark and creepy lyrics complemented by seriously dark and creepy music.
Return to the 36 Chambers - comedy relief.

― hstencil, Monday, 7 April 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Tical 2000 has some great tracks, but I just can't listen to it all the way through. Too much filr. Search "Torture", "Judgement Day", "Make Ups 2 Break Ups"

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 7 April 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

36 Chambers.
Liquid Swords.
Return to the 36 Chambers.

These are the classic Wu-Tang triumvirate as far as I'm concerned.

see also: Gravediggaz - Six Feet Deep

― cprek (cprek), Monday, 7 April 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

36 Chambers,
Liquid Swords,
Return to The 36 Chambers,
RZA Presents Bobby Digital...I can't believe nobody has mentioned this incredible album from the RZA.

― Dave S., Monday, 7 April 2003 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Wu-Tang - 36 Chambers..., Wu-Tang Forever, The W
GZA - Liquid Swords
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele. Ghostface maintains the highest quality solo output of all of them I think. Supreme Clientele is the classic, but Ironman and Bulletproof Wallets are both solid as well.
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers, Nigga Please
RZA - Ghost Dog sdtk (Japanese version)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 7 April 2003 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Am I the only person who thinks Return to... is mediocre at best? Yes, there are a couple really good beats but generally the music leaves me wanting...something. I don't find much humor in ODB, and even less musicality: his voice=nails on chalkboard. It almost seems that people love it just so they can have that 'goofy' album that they can point to and say 'see, I like fun'.

― oops (Oops), Monday, 7 April 2003 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

if you don't a) think ODB is funny, and b) don't appreciate sloppy beats to complement said funniness, why are you listening to an ODB record in the first place?

I absolutely *love* both albums - mostly for the unpredictability factor. ODB comes out with some super-bizarre, off the wall stuff, he has a willingness to be the loopy clown of the crew - he's a funnier, grosser, better rapping Flavor Flav.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 7 April 2003 21:27 (twenty-two years ago)

why are you listening to an ODB record in the first place?

Because RZA is God, obviously. ODB's ranting only gets in the way of the beats.

― oops (Oops), Monday, 7 April 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The Dirty Version sounds like the RZA made it for $2 and a bag of chips - muddy mixing, sloppy beats and cuts, a bunch of cheap tricks ("let's do the first verse BACKWARDS!") - all things I could conceivably hold against the record, except that they all serve to complement ODB's persona.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 7 April 2003 22:11 (twenty-two years ago)

"Iron Flag" = Wu-Tang's pop album and therefore = brilliant!

Otherwise "Supreme Clientele".

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 8 April 2003 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Return also has this brilliant bit which is like an answer to I Used To Love H.E.R. where he's like "Hip hop ain't a beautiful woman, hip hop is a bitch and she's my bitch!" or something.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 8 April 2003 05:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Supreme Clientele, 36 Chambers, The W, Cuban Linx, Tical.

― Sasha Frere-Jones (Sasha Frere-Jones), Tuesday, 8 April 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd go along with pretty much all of the albums mentioned here! I have all these and more - I absolutely love anything the RZA does. Some sort of ordered first five you need, if you're starting from scratch: 36 Chambers, Liquid Swords, Tical, Cuban Linx, Supreme Clientele.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 11 April 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

i woke up with a verse from enter the 36 chambers in my head and so i'm listening to it for the first time in like a year! it is TOTALLY DOING IT FOR ME!!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 30 August 2004 14:58 (twenty years ago)

Where's the love for the Inspectah Deck record? It's easily the best of the 2nd-string releases--the Masta Killa record goes right over my head, I don't understand all the love it's getting.

The Deck record was the only real shining moment during the lengthy Wu-slump--I actually bought all those shitty records. U-God? Tical 2000? The 2nd Raekwon record? Ugh.

― adam (adam), Monday, 30 August 2004 15:10 (twenty years ago)

haha reading thru this thread is frustrating cuz it seems like there wasn't a single person who covered all the bases.

The core records are 36 chambers, cuban linx, liquid swords, and supreme clientele.

Then you've got a massive second tier that is pretty great as well - both of ODB's solo albums, Tical, Ironman, Forever, etc.

There are gems on most Wu releases if you look hard enough..."Babies" from Iron Flag is amazing, for instance.

― djdee2005, Monday, 30 August 2004 15:17 (twenty years ago)

my favourites are bobby digital, liquid swords, supreme clientele and the w.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 30 August 2004 15:18 (twenty years ago)

In order i reckon Forever, Cuban Linx, Bobby Digital, Liquid Swords & Killa Beez Vol 1 are the most essential but yeah, they're all good really.

― scg, Monday, 30 August 2004 15:25 (twenty years ago)

this thread makes me sad (tearz) about all the wu-tang cds stolen from me. i still have most of the cases, even.

― artdamages (artdamages), Monday, 30 August 2004 15:27 (twenty years ago)

my fave is still "liquid swords". that shit is cinematic.

also that crazy kid: "he cut off the heads of 131 lords. it was a bad time for the empire."

― amateur!!st, Monday, 30 August 2004 15:44 (twenty years ago)

someone nominate liquid swords on the 90s poll or i will die.

― amateur!!st, Monday, 30 August 2004 15:45 (twenty years ago)

did you see kill bill 2 amateurist?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:21 (twenty years ago)

not yet

― amateur!!st, Monday, 30 August 2004 16:26 (twenty years ago)

cuz they watch the movie that's sampled from in it. i don't remember the name.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:28 (twenty years ago)

wutang cds are more likely to be stolen than any other cds i can think of.
I've lost about a half dozen to theft.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:28 (twenty years ago)

It's sampled from a movie of the great comic Lone Wolf And Cub.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:31 (twenty years ago)

Shogun Assassin is the movie (aka the condensed shortened dubbed version for American audiences of Lone Wolf and Cub.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:31 (twenty years ago)

i knew someone would chime in within 3 minutes!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:32 (twenty years ago)

"but to hear it happen to my own neck...is...ridiclous. EEEEHHHHHHZZZZSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsS"

"b.i.b.l.e." sort of sucks, the rest of the record is phenomenal

― amateur!!st, Monday, 30 August 2004 16:35 (twenty years ago)

"i'm low-key like a seashell"

― amateur!!st, Monday, 30 August 2004 16:39 (twenty years ago)

I really like BIBLE.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:42 (twenty years ago)

B.I.B.L.E. is like the best cringey Wu-knowledge song though! It has a gorgeous beat as well. I like "Killah Hillz" off Liquid Swords with that piercing 80's dance keyboard noise.

xpost

― scg, Monday, 30 August 2004 16:42 (twenty years ago)

If someone would burn me Liquid Swords, Iron Flag, The W, Tical and Supreme Clientele I'd be forever grateful. Those are the ones that got stolen from me.

― artdamages (artdamages), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:46 (twenty years ago)

liquid swords is prob still my favorite (gravediggaz excepted as always) but sometimes i wonder if it gets rated as it does only because of that opening sample

― artiste (artiste), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:57 (twenty years ago)

I think someone stole my copy of 36 chambers, it's the only CD I know I own that I can't find anywhere.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 30 August 2004 17:43 (twenty years ago)

Someone stole my copy of Forever and I FUCKING LET THE BITCH TOO.

― R.I.M.A. (Barima), Monday, 30 August 2004 18:30 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 23 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Including solo stuff, right?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:29 (twenty years ago)

"Let My Niggaz Live" is absolutely essential, that Nas verse where he compares himself to Marcus Garvey? Fantastic.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:30 (twenty years ago)

He's only got 20 tracks, dee, and that's not even in my top five The W tracks.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:31 (twenty years ago)

Essential later-period Wu Tang from the albums....

Let My Niggaz Live
Careful (Click Click)
The Jumpoff
Babies

Don't forget "Triumph" from Forever.

xpost alex I think its the best song from the album!

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:32 (twenty years ago)

I scream at the mirror, curse, askin God, "Why me?"
Run in the black church, gun in my hand, y'all try me
I'm God-son, son of man, son of Marcus Garvey
Rastafari irie, Ha-ile Selassie
Police'll try to break us, but the streets raised us
It takes more than metal bars, we destined for ours
I hear murder plans from dopefiends, with elephant hands
Snots in they nostril, the blocks is hostile
There's no pots to piss in, glocks is spittin
Rocks cookin underground bodies stiffin, cops look at bird shit
Drop on the window pane, the oxygen is cocaine
It drove lots of men to die with no name
I been on boats, nut down throats, pee on bitches who famous
Pretty dick, puttin stitches in they anus
I'm the animal that Hugh Heffner created
The only nigga Sadé dated, the most hated, Nas nigga

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:33 (twenty years ago)

Also:

Fast Shadow
Rules

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:34 (twenty years ago)

You can quote his verse all you want, dee, that track still ain't better "Careful (Click Click)", "Hollow Bones" and "Gravel Pit".

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:35 (twenty years ago)

yeah, here's what i came up with in 10 minutes. i know i'm missing tons.

01 Bring da Ruckus (36 Chambers)
02 Liquid Swords (Liquid Swords)
03 Samurai Showdown (Ghost Dog)
04 Hollow Bones (The W)
05 Bring the Pain (Tical)
06 Method Man (36 Chambers)
07 C.R.E.A.M. (36 Chambers)
08 Careful (click, click) (The W)
09 Daytona 500 (Ironman)
10 Shimmy Shimmy Ya (Return to 36 Chambers)
11 Shame on a Nigga (36 Chambers)
12 Ice Cream (OB4CL)
13 Protect Ya Neck (36 Chambers)
14 Gravel Pit (The W)
15 Got Your Money (Nigga Please)
16 Beneath the Surface (Beneath the Surface)
17 4th Chamber (Liquid Swords)
18 You're All I Need (single version)
19 Jah World (The W)

Most surprising thing: no Wu-Tang Forever!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:35 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, you gotta put "Triumph" and "Reunited" on there.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 19 November 2004 22:42 (twenty years ago)

For Heaven's Sake is also worthy of inclusion from that album...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 19 November 2004 22:48 (twenty years ago)

i would take off "gravel pit" and put "rules" on. "gravel pit" is extremely corny.

dee is right, "let me niggaz live" is the most suffocating track they ever did.

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:14 (twenty years ago)

actually what am i talking about??? forget "rules", put "in the hood" on there!!!

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:14 (twenty years ago)

Babies>Rules>In The Hood>Uzi (Pinky Ring)

Iron Flag is completely underrated.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:17 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone else like "It's Yours"? Maybe I'm just a sucker for that type of hip hop track.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:26 (twenty years ago)

Gravel Pit gets the gasface.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:26 (twenty years ago)

Yeah where the fuck are "Babies" and "Rules" and "In The Hood"??

I love Iron Flag so much.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:27 (twenty years ago)

I still don't get the hatred for "Gravel Pit" (and it's been what 4 years now?)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:30 (twenty years ago)

here's my 20

"in the hood"
"uzi"
"rules"
"careful"
"let my niggaz live"
"i can't go to sleep"
"cream"
"protect ya neck"
"clan in da front"
"da mystery of chessboxin'"
"tearz'"
"bring da ruckus"
"cherchez la ghost"
"tooken back"
"shimmy shimmy ya"
"ice cream"
"killah hills 10304"
"living in the world today"
jon spencer blues explosion - "greyhound (remix)"

"duel of the iron mic"
or
"liquid swords"

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:32 (twenty years ago)

there's also nothing from supreme clientele, there
xxxpost

― Magic City (ano ano), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:33 (twenty years ago)

Oh wait how is "Child's Play" not on anyone's lists so far!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:33 (twenty years ago)

(boring explanatory note to my list)

i'm not sure if "liquid swords" is a better track than "duel of the iron mic" but it's got those unstoppable strings and it's got that line about "so deep / it's picked up on radios in tunnel", that line is totally immortal.

obviously i'm missing "got your money" but it just doesn't really fit with any of the other tracks ... even "tooken back" has a busted-up gaptoothed vibe. "got your money" is just so slick and not really the same sort of dna as a wu track.

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:35 (twenty years ago)

Alex is otm about Babies being the best track from Iron Flag, but Let My Niggaz live is the most claustrophobic, fierce and dark track they've ever done.

xpost Cherchez La Ghost >>>> Child's play

And I'd pick Wubanga and Apollo kids over it probably too.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:35 (twenty years ago)

does anybody else have ambiavalent love for "criminology"???

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:37 (twenty years ago)

Also the only track from GZA that would make my top 20 is maybe "Cold World" (and that's a maybe.) That record is just completely outclassed by the rest of the Wu records (and I love Lone Wolf and Cub, but pleazzze.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:41 (twenty years ago)

so it's official: a wu rough guide has to be a box set

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:41 (twenty years ago)

Oh and for rarities someone should mention that track from the AIDS Awareness comp ("America"?). That's a fantastic track.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:43 (twenty years ago)

I guess I just mentioned it. Good for me!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:43 (twenty years ago)

some possibly neglected tracks wot deserve props:

"love jones" off bobby digital.
"sweet love" off the 2nd meth album.
"stroke of death" off supreme clientele.

i'll do a 20 tomoro when i have time...

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:45 (twenty years ago)

that record is just completely outclassed by the rest of the Wu records

haha - i have no idea what your criterion is, alex. my strategy was juts to pick the first 20 songs off the top of my head that i could remember either a chorus or a whole verse from (though in the case of "tearz" it was the sample for the chorus that i remembered)

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:46 (twenty years ago)

Yeah "Apollo Kids"!!!!!

I think I mainly love Wu Tang when they make generic (for them) club hitz.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 20 November 2004 00:49 (twenty years ago)

I like the huge variety of their records that are GOOD, but I think the ultimate "thing" I like about the music is its dirtiness - when I was a kid, there were three things that scared me
1. what my mom would say if she found out I stole candy from the convenience store
2. Homicide: Life on the Street, which my mom let us watch when we were ten. The opening theme song alone was scary, with this barking dog running along this chain link fence. Frightening shit.
3. Wu Tang videos, hoodied up w/ fatigues, ski masks, steam breath in NYC winter, dirty city at night, minor key melodies about drugs and god and gritty voices and Method Man's PCP'd looking facial expressions.

ANYway, Liquid Swords is so amazing, perhaps its the rockist choice because it all works so well as an album for me, the tracks don't stick out (although there are some major exceptions) like they do on Tical, say, but as a whole, its so dark and GZA's voice is so controlled and his lyrics are clever-yet-affecting. His verse on "Gold" is one of the first rap verses I memorized, the "bum n---- sleepin on the bench they had him wired/ peeped my convo the address of my condo and how I change a n---- name to Jon Doe." Then there's that one near the end, "ducked black cats once in a while threw salt over my back," the one about being caught up in superstition, "RZA lets defraud the hoax," and then it goes into this chanted chorus. The beats are so so dirty and they don't stand out in a huge way (except for "4th Chamber," which is definitely one of the highlights in my mind) but the focus on Liquid Swords is very lyrical, I think; GZA wasn't just creating word-collages like Ghostface or coasting on charisma like Method Man or just acting the fool like ODB. He was very much about narrative structure, and I guess he's the Wu-Tang member for nerds but if thats the case then fuck it I'm a nerd who likes my MCs dark and gritty and rapping about wack record labels over a beat that sounds like someone being smacked in the head with a sack of doorknobs.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Saturday, 20 November 2004 01:37 (twenty years ago)

Alright POXX:

Wu-Tang Clan "Bring Da Ruckus"
Wu-Tang Clan "Shame On a Nigga"
Wu-Tang Clan "Can It All Be So Simple"
Wu-Tang Clan "Protect Ya Neck"
Method Man "Bring The Pain"
Method Man Featuring RZA, Inspectah Deck, Street Thug, Carlton Fisk & Blue Raspberry "Mr Sandman"
Ol Dirty Bastard "Shimmy Shimmy Ya"
Ol Dirty Bastard Featuring Method Man & Raekwon "Raw Hide"
Raekwon Featuring Ghostface & Nas "Verbal Intercourse"
Raekwon Featuring Ghostface, Method Man, RZA & Masta Killa "Wu-Gambinos"
GZA Featuring Inspectah Deck "Cold World"
Ghostface Killah Featuring Cappadonna, U-God & Masta Killa "Winter Warz"
Wu-Tang Clan "Triumph"
Wu-Tang Clan "Reunited"
U-God Featuring LeathaFace Inspectah Deck & Method Man "Rumble"
Ghostface Killah "Child's Play"
Wu-Tang Clan "Careful (Click, Click)"
Wu-Tang Clan "Hollow Bones"
Wu-Tang Clan "Babies"
Wu-Tang Clan "Rules"

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 01:45 (twenty years ago)

I realized looking back the split is pretty evenly split between mournful tracks and bangers. Obv I have a certain fondness for posse cuts too.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 01:49 (twenty years ago)

POXX

Wu Tang Clan - "CREAM"
Wu Tang Clan - "Protect Ya Neck"
Method Man - "Bring the Pain"
Method Man - "All I Need" (Album version)
Ol Dirty - "Shimmy Shimmy Ya"
Ol Dirty - "Brooklyn Zoo"
Wu Tang - "Let My Niggas Live"
Wu Tang - "Careful (Click, Click)"
Wu Tang - "Babies"
Wu Tang - "Reunited"
Wu Tang - "Triumph"
GZA - "4th Chamber"
GZA - "Gold"
GZA - "Investigative Reports"
Raekwon - "Verbal Intercourse"
Raekwon - "Wu Gambinos"
Raekwon - "Ice Cream"
Ghostface - "Daytona 500"
Ghostface - "Cherchez La Ghost"
Wu Tang - "Ain't Nothin ta Fuck With"

(I guess, a lot of that stuff is interchangeable with other classics)

Oh and yo, check that cut w/ SWV! I forget what its called, its posse cut remix.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Saturday, 20 November 2004 01:57 (twenty years ago)

I should mention that eliminated the two amazing tracks with Junior Reid on The W and ridiculously good Bounty Hunter/Masta Killa track on Wu Chronicles II ("Eyez A Bleed") and Suga Bang Bang vehicles "KB Riding" and "Don't Test/Stallion", because they weren't strictly speaking Wu tracks BUT these are all some of RZA's best shit so they all deserve a shout-out.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 02:05 (twenty years ago)

anyone ever hear the demos for the killa bees record? in high school one of my best friends was THE BIGGEST wu fan i have ever known (he even imported a texas single from the uk cuz rza produced it; a TEXAS SINGLE!). anyway, i think from the nyc mixtape circuit he got some killa bees demo/home tape thing and we listened to that thing like crazy. it was so fucking good. i have never heard it again. i'm sure by this point it's come out on some sort of comp/collection, and if anyone could point me in the right direction i would be forever grateful.

also, have i ever mentioned the time i went to the wu-wear store in a va beach mall (a friend and i had gone down there to cheer odb when he was being arraigned for stealing shoes from foot locker) and i was so pumped to enter shaolin south but instead of 36 chambers or something the store stereo IS PIPING IN MUZAK! wu is me!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Saturday, 20 November 2004 02:11 (twenty years ago)

he even imported a texas single from the uk cuz rza produced it; a TEXAS SINGLE!

I'm trying to get my head around the concept.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 20 November 2004 02:12 (twenty years ago)

Unless it's on one of two Wu-Tang Killa Bee comps I've not heard it, but there is an insane amount bootleg barely legal Wu-Tang shit floating around on eBay. The most rarity amazing thing I've heard were these amazing Gravediggaz remixes of "Mommy, What's A Gravedigga?" (one of which samples Bo Hansson, I believe--although so does a Black Moon track, I think) on some impossible to find UK EP.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 02:17 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i snatched up maybe one or two killa bee discs but they sucked, so i don't think those are it. i wanna talk to my friend to find out how to get it but he lives in prague now...

i really think the pick, the shovel (or whatever it's called; the second gravediggaz record) is way underrated. that rza a capella track "12 jewels" is amazing.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Saturday, 20 November 2004 02:20 (twenty years ago)

It is really underrated. It totally suffers from being compared to the previous album (and the perception that because Prince Paul wasn't really involved that it must be weak.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 02:22 (twenty years ago)

The Killa Bees comp are wildly uneven, but the second has this fantastic 5 track bonus disc (including the Suga Bang Bang "KB Ridin" track) which makes it almost worthwhile.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 20 November 2004 02:24 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

dude. pretty toney is pretty awesome. i think im finally ready to delve seriously into wu-stuff.

i have nigga please and enter the 36 chambers right now. i think ill pick up this pretty toney, then probably supreme clientele, and liquid swords. what should be next? rza?

― peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 05:05 (twenty years ago)

Is "Do You Really (Thang Thang)" cornier than "Gravel Pit" (which rules too) or something? How come no-one brought that up? I've taped that for a lot of people and they all loved it. As do I.

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 05:29 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Answer me I am yr gatekeeper

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

All of them. Well okay, not the Killa Beez or Killah Priest albums...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 March 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

ten months pass...

I Would Want to Go Back and Hear Them In This Order

Part 1
1. Enter the Wu-Tang Clan: 36 Chambers
2. GZA - Liquid Swords
3. Ghostface - Supreme Clientele
4. Ghostface - Pretty Toney (Because I would want to hear more Ghostface and gain a more modern conception of his character ???)
5. Raekwon - Only Built Four Cuban Linx

Part 2
6. and 7. The W / Wu-Tang Forever
8. ODB - Return to 26 Chambers
9. Watch all Wu-Tang Clan Videos (Absorbing the "wu-culture" or "wu-asthetic")
10. Read Wu-Tang Clan Book (More Absorbtion)

Part 3
11. Relisten to everything in desired format (by song, album, artist, etc.)
12. Find anything you haven't heard yet and listen to it (Disciples of the 36 Chambers (first), Mathematics, Method Man, Method Man and Red Man, Capadonna, U-GOD!!!!, Bobby Digital, etc.
13. Reflect, reject, revisit

― earinfections (Nick Twisp), Friday, 6 January 2006 05:41 (nineteen years ago)

where's odb's 10 other chambers?

― rizzx, Friday, 6 January 2006 08:08 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

I can't find anything on ILM about the new album... there must be something.. link?

― the next grozart, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 08:50 (seventeen years ago)

this makes me want to do a CD-R-Go of wu jams

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 09:08 (seventeen years ago)

Er, if you just do a search for "8 Diagrams", this is like the third result:

Anticipate the forthcoming new Wu-Tang album "8 Diagrams".

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 09:10 (seventeen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.