Wu Tang Clan-The W

http://www.dylit.com/prt/cappadonna_prt.jpg

Catch me at the ball games with James!

Every Wu rekkid is teh best, but yeah, The W gotcha, like every ghetto got a Tasha...

"Radioactive" has some of the tightest Wu shit evrz

It's definitely their best-produced album, but I do think the numerous guest spots kinda take away some of the group energy. Rapping-wise, I think both 36 Chambers and Iron Flag are better, though obviously all of the albums are good.

What I like about the beats is how varied they are - from RZA's trademark lo-fi piano and string loops to more polished, clubby stuff, to sheer experimentalism ("Careful (Click Click)"). None of the other albums do quite that. And none of the other group or solo Wu records I've heard have a song that'd sound like "I Can't Go to Sleep", which is sad, 'cause it's incredible.

Ghost's Pretty Toney Album is full of stuff that sounds like "I Can't Go to Sleep.

I listen to this more than Forever, but this is just as inconsistent. There's about seven or so GODHEAD songs here, but the rest fails to please meh.

LOL i have worked 18 days straight for too many hours and thought this was an Iron Flag thread.

"I listen to this more than Forever, but this is just as inconsistent."

It's shorter though. I like Iron Flag just about as much.

Iron Flag starts out as this great old school remember-the-day record, but then at some point it kicks into Wu autodrive, which isn't necessarily bad, but somehow less interesting.

Yeah this is my fav. Pretty much the backapcker Wu album I always thought

It's definitely their best-produced album

uh, waht?

bump for Isaac and because I Can't Go To Sleep is so incredible

I love this record

it's a good album, but like someone said earlier, the guest spots are distracting, and I wish they hadn't done them.

the snoop guest spot is great!

...but ODB literally phones it in!

I Can't Go To Sleep is so incredible

― blueski, Friday, August 15, 2008 6:50 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark

^^^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewaBC4VG6k4

This is like the best Wu single ever. Ghostface's rap going steadily more desperate until he sounds like he's about to cry, the strings build up to an incredibly dramatic crescendo until they drop and are replaced by the earthy guitar, then RZA steps in to drop some knowledge. Maybe the only minor flaw is that Hayes's chorus is kinda superfluent, but I still dig how he acts as the "voice of wisdom" both in the song and in the video. And you gotta love the Clan in those Wu pajamas!

Where is that string sample from, btw? The album credits don't mention any source. Or is it an original composition?

it's basically a cover of isaac's "walk on by"

Hey Tuomas, please listen to my favorite album ever and all will make sense:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Mfi3U3bmhGA/SOGw388MlCI/AAAAAAAAAEA/wZewbAW-iuQ/s320/B000000ZGO.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_V1115520853_.jpg

that's a dope album to be your favorite tbf

I think Ghostface actually *does* cry on the track.

yeah agree RZA's awesome at the end

I've been listening to this and seriously considering it for my best of the decade. The production is just ridiculous, almost every song changes beats multiple times and there's just so many weird tricks - different drum patterns thrown in for a couple seconds, etc. It's really avant-garde but within the framework of a pretty accessible rap album, and I agree that all the guest spots fit perfectly and don't take away from the Wu feel.

Best example imo and maybe one of the best rap singles of the decade is "Protect ya neck (the jump off)" All 9 mcs -Cappa filling in for ODB- kill it in different ways. RZA's call and response: Bobby! Then Ghost comes in and gives the song a new swing with his singsongy flow. U-God comes in and the beat drops out, replaced with a new funky martial drum pattern and gothy synths, and GZA goes last with an extended track-and-field metaphor as the main sample comes back in then it ends on some funky guitar stabs, all over a danceable but not too shiny beat.

starts out slow imo but def builds to a fever pitch, way underrated alb

i always really dig iron flag too, late period wu is pretty underrated on the whole

always loved the bits of production on the jump off that you mentioned, and wish more producers would do stuff like that.

really really good, not without clunkers but a lot of real stompin' tracks. every time i put it on it fools me into thinking it's as good as 'enter the wu-tang', until the next time i listen to 'enter the wu-tang'.