Disco de Wu-Tang Clan: “Wu-Tang Forever [Edited]”

I was 16 years old when this cd dropped, and I didn't listen to hip hop at all at the time. I was a skateboarder, and all I listened to was punk rock back then. I didn't really get the slang, styles, or concepts of hip hop; and I never really gave hip hop a chance before this cd came out. However, I do remember a lot of my friends telling me how nice The Wu were, and how excited they were when this cd was released.

After seeing the video for "Triumph" a few times, I knew that The Wu were dope. I didn't realize it at the time, but "Triumph" actually changed my whole perspective of hip hop. To this day, I believe that this song is the best posse cut ever. Inspectah Dek and Method Man jump start this song with incredible back to back verses, and the beat is epic. I've heard this song hundreds of times, but I still get amped whenever it's playing. Everyone spits a good verse on this song, and the energy of the track is incredible.

"It's Yourz" is another classic. This is a great closing track for disc 1. Similar to "Triumph", this song has a lot of energy. It also has a great hook. This time it's The Rza and Inspectah Dek who lace the track with the most memorable verses.

A lot of people hate on this cd, but I don't understand why. Although "Wu-Tang Forever" is not anywhere near as raw as "36 Chambers", it is definitely more lyrical. I don't agree with all these filler complaints either. I have listened to both of these discs repetitively for nearly a decade, and the only tracks I skip aren't actual songs.

My favorite tracks include:

Disc 1

Reunited-great verses from The Gza and Meth

Visionz-great Production from The Rza

Older Gods-love the beat and Ghostface's verse

It's Yourz-see Inspectah Dek verse

Disc 2

Triumph-The Anthem

Little Ghetto Boys-one of Cappadonna's more memorable verses

Hellz Wind Staff-dope song w/ martial arts vibe

Heaterz-another great beat courtesy of The Rza

The Last Words: Classic cd. It honestly changed my life.

its 1997, and the wu-tang clan has had 6 classic albums (36 chambers, tical, liquid swords, return to the 36 chambers, only built 4 cuban linx, ironman), almost all with huge commercial success. how do you turn that into a 7th hit? make a double album backed with a banging #1 single. it obviously worked since the ablum went gold in the first week alone. but that commercial success is when the wu started losing some of their original touch. 36 chambers had 12 perfect tracks and fans only wanted more, but when 26 tracks come out at once there have to be some fillers alongside the classics (...).

all fillers ignored, however, this album is just killer. triumph, the #1 hit single features every member (odb only doing the intro tho). reunited, the street single, is my personal favorite on the album. rza innovates a little with violin loops instead of his usual keys and it turns out to be dope. odb and gza drop some of the best verses on the album on that song. gza and raekwon also kill on severe punishment with some funny kung-fu samples, and rza's production is top notch on songs like heaterz. deadly melody showcases masta killa's haunting rhyming skill over rza's usual eerie piano loops with tight verses from meth and ghostface too. as high as wu-tang gets is another one of the standout tracks, with meth and gza (probably the best wu members to work together as seen on shadowboxin' from liquid swords) rhyming over a funky rza beat with a dope bassline and a fun singing chorus from odb.

overall this album is one of the best from the 90s and an excellent sophomore attempt from the whole clan, not innovating too much but still offering something different from their first album. unfortunately their next 2 albums almost completely ditch the old wu-tang style and now they're just above-average rappers instead of the supergroup they once were.

Double rap albums are usually long-winded self-indulgent affairs. But then again, the Wu-Tang aren't your usual rap group. We're talking about the Wu-Tang Clan, a conglomeration of some of the best MCs to ever grace the microphone helmed by a producer of ingenious proportions - the RZA. Remember that irrefutable masterpiece Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) that came roaring out like of the underground, slashing and biting? It hit hard and quick - BAM, BAM, BAM! Like the grace and viciousness of martial art fighting, Wu-Tang Clan combined the mystique of sparse minimalist beats with savage lyricism. But while, Enter the Wu-Tang was characterized by guerilla style attacks, Wu-Tang Forever is the group's manifesto drawn out to epic scope, unfolding slowly like a sepia-toned cinematic tale of inner city life. In this, the group sacrifices impact for the overall effect. If it's one thing that Wu-Tang Forever suffers from, its over ambition. But you can hardly blame a group for such a fault. Criticize a rap artist for turning out a cheap cash-in, criticize a rap artist for stuffing a double album up to its neck in filler - but Wu-Tang Forever is neither. Wu-Tang Forever takes artistic chances with RZA fleshing out some of the most captivating soundscapes ever heard in the rap world. Look at the song "Reunited" - where violins wail gypsy-style changing tempo and building up into a climactic frenzy. It's classic Wu at its best. Lyrically, the entire album crackles with the same passionate furious energy of their debut album. Over the spread of four years, the group members have developed distinct personas and defined their rapping style. On Wu-Tang Forever, each member really comes into their own, exchanging rapid gunfire worldplay with experience and ease, playing off each others strengths and weaknesses. All rules and logic argue that with such large individual egos in play, it would tear the group apart but rather it tightens it into a sleeker method of attack. The song "Triumph" is the best example of this with all the group members passing the mics as torrents of lyricism follow each other with relentless power. The Wu-Tang Clan is such a tightly knit combination of talent it seems difficult to ever take them down. Even when RZA's beats and productions don't hit the mark, the MCs carry the song through. And vice versa. There are a few times when both counterparts fail such as Black Shampoo and Maria. But these are minor complaints because even the throwaways work beautifully within the context of Wu-Tang Forever. Check out "For Heaven's Sake" with a trademark stomping militant chorus come-on and its quirky nasal female flourishes. "Visionz" features eerie piano chords tip-toeing along dark alleys and ducking within shadows. Speaking of vision, there's plenty of it on Wu-Tang Forever with the group contributing to the anti-mainstream rap cause and calling for social reform. And while a few times, the group's vision errs (i.e. the condemnation of evolution), nonetheless it remains refreshing and interesting compared to their middle-of-the-road peers. Take Wu-Tang Forever piece by piece, listening to the entire album in one sitting is a feat I myself have not even accomplished. The album is meant to be enjoyed in measured listenings but the overall effect at the end is more rewarding than any hip-hop album I have heard yet.

I seem to be alone on this, but I found Wu-Tang's second cd to be far superior to the celebrated debut. Disc one alone matches Enter..., offering the same swirling brew of rhymes, beats and loops with varying degrees of success from filler to fantastic (For Heaven's Sake and It's Yourz are my favorites). Disc two however is damn near perfect. From the bass boomin' Triumph to the chilling string lines of The City, it's a dense masterpiece from hip-hop's premier producer and a squadron of top-notch rappers whose combined pool of talent may be unparalled, not in hip-hop, but in mainstream music, period. On the whole, the sum of it's parts may be less than perfection, but the bang for your buck is pretty hard to top.

It was tough period for Hip Hop, especially when there was war between the East and West Coast and also the death of 2Pac and Biggie Smalls, also it was the time of Puff and his Bad Boy Family where they had Hip Hop at the palm of their hand. But Wu being the Wu they weren't concerned with it, they carried on and brought out double-CD which would have been a perfect album with one CD, but it's still a decent album. With gems like Triumph and many many more, you can still see that they haven't changed much except they are more sharper on the lyricals and the production work has improved. The album also features True Master and the 4th Disciple for production work.