Prove to me that Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Liquid Swords are worthy of their hype.....

http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2001-4/img212.gif

with U_ij = Only Built For Cuban Linx, A = Liquid Swords, and V_i = hype, it follows that W_i = sum of all hype over the entire universe > worthy hype. QED, motherfucker.

Liquid Swords is untouchable from "when I was little..." If "Liquid Swords," "4th Chamber," and "Shadowboxin'" don't do it for you I'm not sure what you'd like about ANY Wu-Tang.

PS - You can enjoy Supreme Clientele without digging Wu-Tang.

PPS - Tical 2000 > Tical

I'm on a Mission, that n*****z say is Impossible
But when I swing my swords they all choppable
I be the body dropper, the heartbeat stopper
Child educator, plus head amputator
Cause n****z styles are old like Mark 5 sneakers
Lyrics are weak, like clock radio speakers...

Aiyyo..
Camouflage chameleon... ninjas scalin' your buildin
No time to grab the gun, they already got your wife and children
A hit was sent - from the President
To raid your residence - because you had secret evidence
And documents - On how they raped the continents
And it's the prominent, dominant, Islamic, Asiatic Black hebrew
The year two thousand and two, the battle's filled with the Wu
Six million devils just died from the Bubonic Flu
Or the Ebola Virus, under the reign of King Cyrus
You can see the weakness of a man right through his iris...

I slayed MC's back in the rec room era
My style broke motherfuckin backs like Ken Patera.
Most rap n*****z came loud but unheard
Once I pulled out, round em off to the nearest third
Check these non-visual n*****z with tapes and a portrait
Flood the seminar, tryin to orbit this corporate industry
But what them niggaz can't see
Must break through like the Wu: unexpectedly.
Protect Ya Neck, my sword still remain imperial
Before I blast the mic, RZA scratch off the serial
We reign all year round from June to June
While niggaz bite immediately if not soon...

Ahhhh that kills me.

I'm deep down in the back streets - in the heart of Medina
About to set off something more deep than a misdemeanor
Under the subway, waiting for the train to make noise
So I can blast a nigga and his boys - for what?
He pushed up on the block and made the dope sales drop
Like the crashin of Dow Jones stock
I had to connect to cross seals, to catch more mil's
Than ho-bitches got birth control pills
I'm in the park, settin up a deal over blunt fire
Bum niggaz sleepin on the bench, they had em wired
Peeped my convo, the address of my condo
And how I changed a nigga name to John Doe
And while we set up camp, we got Vamp
Put the stake through his heart, I ripped his fucking fangs apart
Snake got smoked on the set like Brandon Lee
Blown out the frame, like Pan Am flight 103
He got swung on, his lungs was torn, the
kingpin just castled with his rook and lost a pawn
A regular on the block, and played look-out
For playing predator with a glock, he should have took out

Chorus:

No neighborhood is rough enough
There is no clip that's full enough
I can't fold, I need gold, I re-up and reload
Product must be sold to YOU...

Cuban Lynx I like but have never loved and also can't see why its considered such as classic. I agree that Tical > Cuban

Half of "tical" is great, the rest is a mess. Even Method Man himself agrees that it isn't anywhere near being as good as "36 chambers", "ob4cl", "liquid swords" and "iron man".

"Ob4cl" owns everything else Wu-Tang made (other than the best tracks off "iron man perhaps) lyrically, slang-wise, beatwise and even skitwise but "liquid swords" is close, real close. I'd suggest the reason you don't get "ob4cl" is because it wasn't made for Cannibal Ox fans looking for "dense and dark lynch-ean" rap or "oppressive dark gotham soundscapes" or whatever. Stay waitin' for the new El P instead, d00dz.

Why? Erm ... Knowledge God, Rainy Dayz, Ice Water, Glaciers of Ice, Verbal Intercourse ...

Of course Tical beats everything ...

deej could quote the whole album: there is not a single misplaced line in that piece, and there's just littly perfect nuggets sprinkled throughout that will just stay with you forever ("Shit is weak like clock radio speakers", "RZA shaved the track Niggaz caught razor bumps", "Picture blood baths in elevator shafts", "What is the meaning of CRIME? Is it criminals robbing innocent motherfuckas everytime" just off the top of the dome).

ob4cl - the highs on this album are just fucking awesome - it's fashionable nowadays to bow down before the unquestionable genius of Ghostface, but Raekwon absolutely destroys Incarcerated Scarfaces tout seul; Guillotines has one of the most amped jump-offs of all time ("Poisonous paragraphs smash the phonograph in half I be the Inspector Deck on the warpath/1st class leaving mics in a cast causing ruckus like the aftermath when guns blast" for fucks sake); Verbal Intercourse has arguably Nas's best verse ever ("Through the lights cameras and action glammer glitter and gold I unfold the scroll plant seeds to conquer the globe when I'm deceased..." getting narrowly beaten out by Ghost killing shit "by the way young blood hit me off with that Green Bay hat"). Northstar (CD bonus only I'm afraid vinyl authenticats) is one of the most atmospheric Wuu tracks of all time too, had that shit on repeat for two weeks. But the best must be Glaciers of Ice. If you do not feel this beat, and those lyrics, then the Wu is not for you.

There's stuff on Cuban Linx which I usually skip, but that's because if I dig it out it's to re-listen to a clutch of the greatest hip hop songs ever recorded. (almost ashamed to admit it but I did actually get the shivers just remembering those quotes and typing them out). If I put on Liquid Swords it's to listen to one of the best hip hop albums of all time, probably all the way through.

Ironman is not as good, but then again it's not even Ghostface's best album so it shouldn't really be put up against Cuban Linx or Liquid Swords. Tical, Return to the 36 etc. are not in the same league.

True. I didn't buy the last album, but Ghostface's best moments have (so far) been just that.

Alfred - always good to see a Wu Tang/Kate Bush overlap. I think it's the sign of good taste in music. Did you see my post somewhere about the Kate Bush/RZA collaboration album?

You serious, Dr J? Damn! And here I was thinking that a Kate Bush-Big Boi collaboration was more likely!

"Ob4cl" is Wu's version of a summer album. It was released in the summer and made in/inspired by being coked up in Miami and watching too much Scarface. It was the most accessible album they'd done to that point and, sound wise, it's very thin (listen to it in yer car : there's very little bass and the drums are mostly Q. Tip-ish clitter clattering snares rather than the boom-bapping breaks someone like Primo was using around the same time). Only way i could ever think of it being dense is lyrically.

Anyway, agreed on Raekwon being leagues ahead of Ghostface during those days (even on most of "iron man" Ghostface was still little more than Raekwon's sidekick, wasn't he?) and also agreed on Ghostface's nuts "verbal intercourse" verse being better than Nas'. By the way, that Nas verse was taken from an early '95 mixtape cut called "deja vu" which was the last "illmatic" era track he made before coming out as the Escobar persona later that year on songs like "on the real". "fast life" and "eye for an eye". Worth searching out.

I'll say again that Liquid Swords is not a record that's going to knock you flat the first time you hear it. You've got to listen to it several times before its genius gradually unfolds. If you've done the time and it still doesn't make sense to you, then it's probably not for you.

Taken as a whole, though, it's got an unbeatable film noir vibe. Dark streets, shadowy figures, etc. "4th Chamber" alone is the Wu's greatest moment.

cuban linx is such a summer album though. that was back when 15% of all tunes played by Westwood were Wu, and they were all fucking brilliant. I remember the first time I heard Guillotines being so excited - just the way the break comes in "Why're you still using the Wu Tang method against me? Forgive me I've learned so many styles...Sit back relax fake niggas don't get turns son watch me massage your brain with slang..." Played a lot of Streetfighter Turbo to that one track that summer, for my sins lol

when I discovered that Glaciers of Ice was on THE SAME ALBUM...

whereas Liquid Swords was definitely a sleeper. I remember the first 35 times I heard 4th Chamber I was like what the fuck. Now I got it it's tempting to agree with Edward III although that's a tough call to make.

have to admit to being disappointed when Ironman emerged, after those two. Don't get me wrong it has some absolutely amazing shizznit - Camay, Daytona, 260, All that I got is you (the first hint I got that Ghostface at his best was arguably in another league from the rest of the Wu) but I would have to concur with tremendoid that many of the tracks are a little "sloggy".

return... see, to me odb could never carry a whole album. even at his dopest to me he'd be a posse cut slayer who'd come in with a last verse that would just twist shit 180, kinda like Busta. I would never say though, hmmmm, I really wanna hear 40 minutes of the old dirtyy bastard rapping. that's my problem with dirty, and I guess I'll just have to live with it...

Liquid Swords, on the other hand, packs its gloves full and just keeps punching, with a much more consistent tone and sound (partly due to the lesser reliance on guests). I also just love GZA's flow on this thing, it's somehow very confident and even relaxed even as he keeps racking up the tension. I'm a sucker for the way he builds up an idea from line to line and really suggests a scene rather than leaning on disconnected boasts. I think "Killah Hills 10304" does a better job at selling the drug-dealers-as-Mafioso idea than the entirety of Ob4cl, which gets all the credit for it.

One random question about this record: I recently got it from Napster (free subscription with DSL) and was puzzled to find the tracklist as:

1. Liquid Swords 2. Duel of the Iron Mic 3. Living in the World Today 4. Gold 5. Cold World 6. Labels 7. 4th Chamber 8. Shadowboxin - Hells Wind Staff 9. Killah Hills 10304 10. Swordsman 11. B.I.B.L.E.

No "I Gotcha Back," no "Investigative Reports." They're listed in the AMG tracklist, but I've never actually owned a copy of this myself, just the aforementioned dubbed high school cassette. So what's the deal? Is this a legitimate alternate release, or is Napster just ripping people off?

I can't really formulate an argument why at this juncture but seriously.

some shit you just gotta let slide...

but tical fits that description so so so so perfectly

Cuban Linx = unsurpassable, greatest rap album ever?

Liquid Swords = overrated, ponderous (THIS IS ITS BIG FLAW PEOPLES!!! THE NO LINE OUT OF PLACE AND ALL KILLER NO FILLER ARGUMENTS ARE IN TRUTH INDITEMENTS - THIS GUY IS ALL OH IM SUCH A BIG GENIUS I WRITE SLOW AND THINK REAL HARD - WHERE IS THE PASSION - THE SPONTANEITY - THE CHAOS - CUBAN LINX KILLS THIS SHIT!!!), classic really love it, 4th best wu-release

Pre-forever wu-releases:
1 cuban linx
2 36 chambers
3 return to the 36 chambers
4 liquid swords
5 ironman
6 tical

i suggest you listen to 4th chamber again, or gold, and then please rectify your list

you'd wish people made albums like Liquid Swords these days

sniff

i have spoken.

CAN U FEEL ME STORYTELLIN RAP MAGELLAN

I should take the time to mention that I listened to liquid swords pretty much everyday for a couple years. And, yes, I do wish they made albums like that these days. I love liquid swords. Just not nearly as much as cuban linx. Cuban linx inspires not only deep abiding love, but primal lust and general all-over tinglyness.

Also, the cuban linx beats kill liquid swords'. They're strange, charismatic and forceful; challenging the rappers dominance. Liquid swords' lay back a little too much; I guess, to leave the genius room for his geniusisms.

As for the gza/rock rae/rap thingy - maybe? I like rock at least as much as rap.

The other thing about cuban linx is that it's reakwon's album, but ghost is by far the best guy on it.

I do love OBfCL as much as I do LS though, OBfCL is more of a car record though, which is very important for me

It's kind of impressive and really wack, but in a specific old-skool stoopid way that's also really loveable.

Why he feels the need to do one of these tracks every time out the gate I'm not so sure, but for those keeping count at home:

Publicity >> Labels > Animal Planet