The Inevitable LIQUID SWORDS poll

"Gold" was the first track i memorized, so it wins

good blend of hard-as-fuck beat and solid lyricism and early wu street vibe

4th Chamber

shit i actually want to vote for 'gold'

4th chamber has best beat but gold has 'in the park, settin up a deal under blunt fire / bum niggas on the bench sleepin had em wired / peeped my convo, the address of my condo and how i turn a nigga name to john doe'

"iron man be sippin rum/ out of stanley cups"

that "gold" line that deej quoted is incredible, i agree. i'm actually torn b/w that song, the title cut, "cold world" (one of inspectah deck's best performances in a career full of them), and "4th chamber," w/ "swordsman" being a dark horse (i like how gza plays off that track's loping beats) -- and will decide later.

"iron man be sippin rum/ out of stanley cups"

-- Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, October 9, 2007 8:02 AM

+

I ran the Dark Ages, Constantine the Great, Henry the Eighth
Built with Ghengis Khan, the wreck suede wiley Don

+

Loungin, between two pillars of ivory
I'm lively, my dome piece, is like buildin stones in Greece
my poems are deep from ancient thrones I speak

+

Veterans got the game spiced like ham

+

RZA's verse is first rap verse i ever memorized

=

4th chamber wins w/ease

I'm gonna have to go with "Liquid Swords" just because when I first got this I listened to it literally ten or more times before I could move on. It perfectly encapsulates everything I love about Wu. No organ was ever better.

RZA's verse is first rap verse i ever memorized
4th chamber wins w/ease

OTM. If not for that it would be "Killah Hills 10304," IMO the most perfectly efficient "gangsta as mobster boss" scene-paintings I've heard.

"Who used to drive like sacks of blow on this remote
area we labeled Dead Man's Island
Two hundred miles south from Thailand
Right off the docks, I got the various custom made yachts
Burial plots, for my niggas hit with fatal shots
There's no need for us to spray up the scene
I use less men, more powerful shit for my team," and on from there...faboo.

4th Chamber got axed on the "pure essence of an album" thread with the argument that GZA was really the third-place contender on that track, and the pure essence of a GZA album should be pure GZA. I can see that reasoning, but now that we're just talking flat-out 'best track' type poll, it's gotta be 4th Chamber. "Protons, Electrons Always Cause Explosions."

I remember when GZA did Liquid Swords on Squirt TV, and that won me over pretty hardcore.

as awesome as the convo/condo/John Doe line is, "4th Chamber" is a legit contender for greatest Wu-affiliated track ever. there's just no way I can possibly not vote for it.

Styles are played out like mark fives sneakers, lyrics weak like clock radio speakers

Either the title track or "Cold World." I'd probably go for the latter for its production (don't care for the hook, but LOVE the shimmering synth lines).

As someone just getting into the early Wu solo albums, btw, I'd have to give Liquid Swords the nod for best. It's a cautionary tale free of moralizing - it just lets the facts play out for themselves in a sinister, shifting landscape. You just don't hear many rappers describe themselves "not the actor but the author of a modern day opera with a main character."

4th Chamber got axed on the "pure essence of an album" thread with the argument that GZA was really the third-place contender on that track, and the pure essence of a GZA album should be pure GZA. I can see that reasoning, but now that we're just talking flat-out 'best track' type poll, it's gotta be 4th Chamber. "Protons, Electrons Always Cause Explosions."

haha i did that because i wanted "Gold" to win

which i will vote for here as well

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I'm not sure if I voted in this or what I voted for if I did or what I would have voted for if I didn't.

Too bad I missed this, my vote would have put 4th Chamber over the top...

So, exactly what is happening to the guy in the bottom middle of the cover's head?

the flying guillotine!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_guillotine_(weapon)

step your kung-wu game up

What's up with the two tracks listed on the album sleeve that don't actually appear on the album, "Hell's Wind Staff" and "Unexplained"? Were they tunes that were dropped off of it? "Hellz Wind Staff" on Wu-Tang Forever doesn't seem to be the same tune, because it doesn't feature GZA, Killah Priest, nor Dreddy Kruger, like it says on the Li

What's up with the two tracks listed on the album sleeve that don't actually appear on the album, "Hell's Wind Staff" and "Unexplained"? Were they tunes that were dropped off of it? "Hellz Wind Staff" on Wu-Tang Forever doesn't seem to be the same tune, because it doesn't feature GZA, Killah Priest, nor Dreddy Kruger, like it says in the Liquid Swords credits.

Whoops, sorry for the double post.

Some discographies list track number 9 as "Hell's Wind Staff/Killah Hills 10304", but that tune has only GZA rapping, not Killah Priest, Dreddy Kruger, and Masta Killa, like "Hell's Wind Staff" is supposed to have according to the credits.

'Swordsman' should have won, its one of the best things basically ever.

Killah Priest, Dreddy Kruger, and Masta Killa are probably on the Don Rodriguez skit before "Killah Hills."

I still don't understand why BIBLE was on this album.

to annoy you

Killah Priest, Dreddy Kruger, and Masta Killa are probably on the Don Rodriguez skit before "Killah Hills."

Nah, that's RZA and GZA talking with ODB singing on the background.

yo that niggas emsingin

his idols would lock down airports
and extort some import
catchin ten percent of what the fiends snort

TOMMY AIN'T MY MOTHERFUCKIN BOY

I breaks it down to the bone gristle

the prominent, dominant Islamic, Asiatic black Hebrew

the sharpshooters hit the prosecutors

now guess who's on the witness stand singin?
a well known soprano
a smash hit from sammy gravano

Energy is FELT once the cards are dealt
With the im-pact of roundhouse kicks from black belts
That attack, the mic-phones like cyclones or typhoons
I represent from midnight to high noon
I don't waste ink, nigga I think
I drop megaton BOMBS more faster than ya blink

I'm low-key like seashells

what does GZA do between noon and midnight?

my vote woulda went for "living in the world today" but wuteva.

what does GZA do between noon and midnight?

Lines of coke off strippers?

what is the meaning of crime?

is it Criminals Robbing Innocent Motherfuckers Everytime?

I'm just swingin swords strictly based on keyboards
Unbalanced like elephants and ants on see-saws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIDQoRuJr0c

protons electrons always cause explosions

But with knowledge of self from off the shelf
Made things seemed complicated, now small like elves

"Picture bloodbaths in elevator shafts" always made me think he wrote the line while watching "The Shining."

Damn near impossible to choose but today it's "Gold."

One of the great lyrical albums by anyone ever:

Like my man Muhammad from Afghanistan
Grew up in Iran, the nigga runs a neighborhood newsstand
A wild Middle Eastern bomb specialist
Initiated at eleven to be a terrorist
He set bombs in bottles of champagne
And when niggas popped the cork, niggas lost half they brains

My Priority is that I'm First Priority
I bone the secret out a bitch in a sorority
So look out for A&M
The Abbot and the Master
Breaking down your Pendulum

As I fiend MC's out with a blow that'll numb the a-
-ppendix, I'm holding more weight than Columbia
Index Interscope, we RCA, clan
That's coming with a plan to free a
Slave of a mental death MC don't panic
Throw that A&R nigga off the boat in the Atlantic

Adults kill for drugs plus the young bucks bust
Ducking handcuffs, throats get cut when dough rush
Out of town foes look shook but still pose
We move like real pros through the streets we stroll
Bullet holes lace the windows in one-six-oh
So control the avenues that's the dream that's sold
Building lobbies are graveyards for small-timers
Bitches caught in airports, Ki's in they vaginas
No peace, yo the police mad corrupt
You get bagged up, depending if you're passing the cut
Plus shorty's not a shorty no more, he's living heartless
Regardless of the charges, claims to be the hardest
Individual, critical thoughts, criminal minded
Blinded by illusion, finding it confusing

B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)

possibly one of the dopest Wu albums ever but GZA's acronym card is revoked forevermore!

strong disagree, great acronym

Tbf that one’s a CD-only bonus track and it’s 100% Killah Priest.

I heard that acronym at a Fundamentalist church convention long before Liquid Swords

xp its backstory is more complicated than I thought:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVy1QEulhDc

https://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/features/articles/the-making-of-liquid-swords-gza/

I am utterly baffled as to how Duel Of The Iron Mic got zero votes. It might be the best track on this album.

This is not a eighty-five affair, made clear
When the gods get on to perform storms blew up
Wu's up, causin the crowd to self-destruct
Killer bees are stingin somethin while I reveal
Science, that's heavily guarded by the culprit
Bombin your barracks, with aerodynamic
Swordplay, poison darts by the doorway
Minds that's laced with explosive doses
Damagin lyrical launcher
Lunge at the youthful offender then injure
Any contender, testin the murderous master
Could lead to disaster, dynamite thoughts
Explode through your barrier, rips the retina
Who can withstand the astonishing punishing
Stings to the sternum, shocked in the hip-hop livestock
Seekin for a serum, to cure em

And who the hell voted for BIBLE?? Because that should not have been on the CD. Should have just ended after 'to have it happen to my own neck is... ridiculous'

eeeeeeeuuuuuuurrrrrrhhhhhhhggghhhhh

lol

Cold World - Gold - Living in the World Today is the part of the album I don't really replay, it's dark and atmospheric and doesn't hit clear like the first two or 4th Chamber.
Shadowboxin' / Hell's Will / Investigative Reports (my potential vote) is the part I treasure, so inventive and fresh.
I'd say the album is stronger with BIBLE, it's welcome to have a bright track top it off, nice endless loop.

oh wow "Cold World" gets me every time. Took me years to trace the Stevie Wonder sample.

and "Shadowboxin'" is Method Man's finest moment anywhere.

There's no shame in voting for "B.I.B.L.E."

Also FWIW, I think it was meant as a "bonus track." Like GZA left it to RZA to figure out where to put it, and he didn't know where it would really fit within the album, so he just tagged it on to the end.

(I didn't vote for "B.I.B.L.E." though)

a true gem, very dark, very enjoyable

title track, duel of the iron mic, 4th chamber, shadowboxin, swordsman
^^can't choose

bible does seem tacked on

happy 28th birthday to this timeless masterpiece, released 7 november 1995

gotta read the labels

Happy birthday indeed! That really is a stacked track list when you see it laid out in poll form. Surprised that 4th Chamber did not win at the time, considering it is THE GREATEST SONG IN THE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC

Best album in history.

Aiyyo camouflage chameleon