I haven't exactly been shy about
my love for the
Wu-Tang Clan. For my money there hasn't been a better rap-group to come up.
Everything is there in the group, larger-than-life personalities like ODB.
Classic rappity rappers in the way of GZA and Raekwon. Frenetic madmen a la
Ghostface Killah. A blunted MC in Method Man who can never shake a cartoonish
grin. And then there's a bench of the "second-tier" teammates who
rarely drop the ball when they get called up. Uniting it all is the singular,
uncompromising vision of RZA. While he's justly received his fair
share of flack in recent years for being a hip-hop autocrat, without that
focused power the Wu would've never been the Wu.
Even if the Wu had never climbed
to those lofty heights, "Keep Watch", the first track off of the
forthcoming A Better Tomorrow would be worth celebrating. It's not on
the same level as storied entries into the anthology like Enter the
Wu-Tang, Liquid Swords, or Only Built for Cuban Linx but it doesn't
need to be. Everyone here is hyperfocused in their approach and effortlessly bounces
off each other; a small miracle considering it's been nearly seven years since
their last group LP dropped. Meth's verse kicks off the "instrumental
killing spree" as he goes off the muzzle like a rabid dog and devours
anyone who dare label him "washed up." Inspectah Deck follows suit
and blitzes the circular guitar riff and loping soul vocal (courtesy of
Mathematics) with the intensity of Justin Tuck. Cappadonna renders any
arguments about his place in Wu-Tang Clan proper irrelevant from the word go.
"I'm a project n**** I don't care about the Benz," he chest puffs,
reminding everyone of the grime the Clan originally came coated in. And after
three rounds of brawn, comes the ultimate in brain. GZA indulges his inner
astrophysicist to talk radiating heat and solar clouds. Midway through he
lectures "balance on all sides, it’s such great symmetry," perfectly
surmising why the W has remained so successful after 20 years. They're balanced
and anyone who dares test them will be left kicking rocks.
I've written
before about the countless CDs littering my car, about half-cracked cases and
fraying cardboard covers I hold on to because of their vitality. I'm unwilling
(or unable) to part with them because they all occupy a special place in my
cluttered musical brain. Some are recent additions like Yeezusor Wise
Up Ghost, while others have been around for a minute; surviving countless
scratches and lost cases. Anchoring one of these cluttersome piles in my car is
the Wu-Tang Clan's debut 1993 record Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
For me it's the foundation, the enduring anchor. Still in its original case,
it's stuck with me like the gum under the table of bulldozing posse-cut
"Protect Your Neck". When I first purchased the album, I'd already
been orbiting hip-hop writ large, but Enter the Wu-Tang was my entryway
into the underground. A ticket to a sideshow of: comic book villainy, wanton
violence, and kung-fu flicks. With the record turning 20 over the weekend, I
decided it was time to return to the land of Shaolin.
As a gateway into the warped
world of the W, "Bring
Da Ruckus" decaying drums and deadly-accurate snaps remain an all-time
classic. For quotable samples, few in the annals of rap rival "Shaolin
shadowboxing and the Wu-Tang sword style...". When two close friends and I
pilgrimaged to Chicago's Congress Theatre to see the
crew, the whole crowd was in unison repeating the line as it blared out the
house speakers. Ghostface Killah's gusto-filled introduction has become mantra
in my mind. Self-assured and frenetically paced, his threats "causing
terror, quick damage your whole era" were harried, like he had another hit
to scurry off to across town. In terms of one-two acts, few in any context can
rival the Ghost/Raekwon pairing that sends this track into the stratosphere.
Ghost is the rabid attack dog and Raekwon the Mafioso figure holding the
muzzle. GZA's warning shot to the world is assassin caliber. His next level
internal rhyme-scheme delivered on the promise of the “God MC” Rakim and had
the salvo of a bitter veteran whose debut LP met the sound of crickets. And
that's just the opening track.
An album spilling this much
viscera circa 1993 was almost unthinkable. Sure hip-hop was littered with
promises of violence before, though never quite this joyful. When Method Man's
dusty voice resolves to "sever the head from the shoulders" over the
infernal horns of "Shame
On A N****" it’s the by-product of there being nothing good on TV that
night. As a marble-mouthed U-God rushes in to announce a shooting outside, Meth
is still concerned with a missing
tape. A full two years before Mobb Deep promised to
stab brains with nose brain, the Wu was concocting skits focused on banging
nuts with spiked bats and force-feeding unwilling participants (assholes sewn
shut of course). When hip-hop critics derisively label it "cartoonish
violence" this is the album they mean to cite, but never do.
And there is an almost cartoony
or comic-like way in which these nine MCs joined together for a hostile
takeover. The origin story begins with two cousins, the RZA and the GZA each
nursing their own wounds from failed record deals. While GZA put pen to paper
and crafted dense tales of "God squad that's mad hard to serve, come
fronting hard, then Bernhard Goetz what he deserves", cousin Robert Diggs
began scouring the depths of soul/funk samples with the fervor of a gravedigger
who loves his job a bit too much. If it were ever possible to hear dirt on a
record, RZA made it so. Vocals don't crisply travel through speakers, they float in disembodied fashion. "Can It All Be So Simple"
offers its own origin story as told by a ghost. Elsewhere, drums rattle and
clank like bones. Guitars, pianos, and keyboards travel in broken loops, decaying in
real time. Frequently the group was just shooting the breeze, but fitted atop
RZA's atmospheric production even the endearing lines register as threats. Here
"the sound of the underground" is more literal than figurative.
Slowly the seven other crew
members gathered together, "forming like Voltron". Rap groups were
commonplace when the Wu began, but never this unwieldy or spirited. There was: "Genius"
GZA, spliff-puffing/s***-talking Method Man (whose rugged amiability guaranteed
he'd be the first with a solo
record), Raekwon weighing grams in the backroom with a fierce scowl,
Ghostface's full-speed ahead delivery. U-God's leaden voice only appeared on
the drunken double-dutch of "Da Mystery of Chessboxin"
(he was incarcerated for much of the recording), but his sole verse packed a
mighty wallop. The criminally underrated Inspectah Deck made up for a
less-than-stellar personality through an eagle-eyed rap perspective. Few hard
knock tales have ever expressed as much anguish as Deck's legendary second
verse in "C.R.E.A.M."
where jail bids are served at 15 and stray bullets become commonplace. Masta
Killa's ferocious turn on aforementioned "Chessboxin" corroborates the now
mythic-story he stayed up all-night writing to gain entrance into the group.
And then there's the Ol' Dirty Bastard, named so because "there ain't no father
to his style". In an alternate write-up, I'd spend its entire length and
breadth fawning about the now-deceased ODB. In a group bursting at the seams
with oversized personalities, his looms largest. The man known as Russell
Jones' rap "style" has been described as everything from
"drunken" to "seesawing" and "sing-song". More
frequently he stumbles, composing himself only to bark out a threat or recount
the time he got burnt by gonorrhea. More than a feral animal anthropomorphized
and taught to rap, he was the group’s irregular heartbeat.
All those stray elements and
fragments coalesce into the alien Enter the Wu-Tang. Debut albums have
rarely come as insular as this. Not sure what "jakes" are? Then
you're out of luck. Never seen a kung-fu film or B-movie schlock; this fraught
world will make no sense to you. And yet here we are celebrating its 20th
anniversary as it’s routinely heralded as one of the greatest hip-hop records
released. Wu-Tang didn't kowtow to the prevailing wisdom of the era (innovators
rarely do). We met them on their own terms. Two decades later and they still
"ain't nothing to f*** with". If Wu-Tang really is forever (and recent
in-house fighting calls that into question), this was the album that
ensured their eternality.
Earlier today, duo Broken Bells comprised of the Shins' James Mercer and Danger Mouse debuted a mysterious desert trekking video that ended with the above image. It's now been confirmed that the band will be following up their 2010 self-titled debut with an album titled After the Disco. The LP sports a tentative January 2014 release date and the band teased the announcement on Twitter, tweeting "there may be more than meets the eye".
Check out the minimalistic space fare below, complete with Mercer attempting his best falsetto over a wobbling synthesizer and steady drum beat.
RZA and Paul Banks making an album together
Yesterday's installment of "What's New(s)?" spotlighted the improbable partnership between sample fiend Girl Talk and former Rocafella member Freeway. Today comes an even more unlikely partnership, formed by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA and Paul Banks of Interpol. In an interview for Rolling Stone, RZA took time out from plugging his latest projects to describe the effort which reportedly has been in the works for the past six months. Speaking to the motivation for recording with the Interpol frontman, RZA complimented "Paul just has an energy about him. I think if we put our sandwich together it will be great." Continuing, RZA said "we went to the studio and we started writing songs and they sound very,
very different than what I do, but very unique and very peculiar." Though RZA was quick to temper the praise, ensuring "it won't be able for awhile."
Banks previously issued his rap mixtape Everybody On My D*** Like The Supposed to Be, so this isn't an entirely improbable partnership, but it does raise more than a few eyebrows.
In 2010 Wu-Tang masterming the RZA and Yoko Ono took to the stage in Los Angeles to play chess and do duets in what is easily one of the most unexpected collaborative efforts ever. Now that piece of "performance-art" will be permanently emblazoned on a 10'' single commemorating the event. The record will feature live recordings of the lurching fertilization cycle saga "Seed of Joy/Life Is A Struggle" backed by Yoko Ono's Plastic Band's "Greenfield Morning I Pushed An Empty Baby Carriage All Over The City". Reportedly this is round one in a series of collaborative releases from Ono, so I can only imagine the artists we've yet to hear team-up with Yoko.
"Seed of Joy/Life Is A Struggle"
Coldplay contributes to Catching Fire
Catching Fire is bound to see one of the biggest releases of 2013, so it's only appropriate that one of the biggest bands in music (whatever that designation means circa 2013 is up for debate) Coldplay is contributing to the mammoth undertaking. "Atlas" is Chris Martin and company's first new music since 2011's kaleidoscopic "concept-album" Mylo Xyloto. The song begins grounded by Martin's restrained piano and muted vocals before breaking free and ascending for the heavens in typical Coldplay fashion. In other words, it'll sound great during a cinematic experience.
Catching Fire hits theaters November 22, so look for the soundtrack to hit shelves around the same time.
Arcade Fire...The Plot Thickens
Arcade Fire continues to borrow further down the rabbit hole as the October 29 crawls closer. Wednesday, the blog was reporting the band was definitely doing something at 9pm on September 9 and now it appears their plan is to release a new single entitled "Reflektor" accompanied by a video directed by Anton Corbijn. But that's not all. Arcade Fire Tube is indicating plans to release a "Reflektor" 12'' with the above artwork (a possible callback to the Stones Some Girls) in select record stores throughout the U.S. on September 9. Pictures of a tracklist on the back of the release have also been circulating, and are yet to be confirmed.
And if all that weren't enough to satiate your appetite, the Canadian septet is believed to have played a secret show at a small salsa club in Montreal on Wednesday. No video/pictures of the set have circulated, though Montreal blog The Main is reporting the band debuted a bevy of new tempo shifting songs that: "Imagine the Talking Heads’ "Once in a Lifetime", but if David Bowie had written it while on vacation." Again much of this is still conjecture at this point, but come Monday a part of this ever-growing mystery will be solved.
Reflektor trailer
Jay Z and Kanye West hit the road
In support of their respective new albums, Jay Z (it doesn't get any easier typing that without the hyphen) and Kanye West will be trekking across North American for much of the rest of 2013. Kanye's maiden Yeezusvoyage sets sail on October 19 with Kendrick Lamar while Hov' embarks on the Magna Carter World Tour beginning November 30. Tickets for Jay's shows go on sale September 12, just one day before little brother Kanye's. Check out the tour dates for each artist below, as well as the phenomenal "Holy Grail" video and a taste of what Kanye's latest live show could like in a performance from this year's NY Governor's Ball.
Jay Z tour dates:
11-30 St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center 12-1 Lincoln, NE - Pinnacle Bank Arena 12-2 Denver, CO - Pepsi Center 12-6 Anaheim, CA - Honda Center 12-7 San Diego, CA - Valley View Casino Center 12-9 Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center 12-10 Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center 12-11 San Jose, CA - SAP Center at San Jose 12-13 Las Vegas, NV - Mandalay Bay Events Center 12-18 Oklahoma City, OK - Chesapeake Energy Arena 12-19 Houston, TX - Toyota Center 12-20 San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center 12-21 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center 12-27 Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena 12-28 Birmingham, AL - BJCC Arena
1-2 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - BB&T Center
1-4 Charlotte, NC - Time Warner Cable Arena
1-5 Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum Complex
1-8 Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
1-9 Chicago, IL - United Center
1-10 Detroit, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills
1-12 Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center
1-13 Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center
1-16 Washington, DC - Verizon Center
1-17 Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
1-18 Boston, MA - TD Garden
1-19 Uniondale, NY - Nassau Coliseum
1-21 Pittsburgh, PA - CONSOL Energy Center
1-22 Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
1-24 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre
1-27 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre
1-29 Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center
1-30 Buffalo, NY - First Niagara Center
1-31 State College, PA - Bryce Jordan Center
Holy Grail ft. Justin Timberlake
Kanye West tour dates:
10-19 Seattle, WA - KeyArena # 10-20 Vancouver, British Columbia - Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena # 10-22 San Jose, CA - SAP Center # 10-23 Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena # 10-25 Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena 10-26 Los Angeles, CA - STAPLES Center # 11-1 Salt Lake City, UT - EnergySolutions Arena # 11-3 Denver, CO - Pepsi Center # 11-5 Minneapolis, MN - Target Center # 11-7 Chicago, IL - United Center # 11-10 Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills # 11-12 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre # 11-14 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre # 11-16 Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center 11-17 Boston, MA - TD Garden # 11-19 Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center 11-21 Washington, DC - Verizon Center # 11-23 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 11-29 Miami, FL - AmericanAirlines Arena # 11-30 Tampa, FL - Tampa Bay Times Forum 12-1 Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena # 12-6 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center # 12-7 Houston, TX - Toyota Center #
Check back in Monday for more of the newest in new(s).
Kanye West engages in a type of musical hand-ringing that's almost impossible to avoid. For all his conspicuous consumption, you get the feeling that he trade in that "other other Benz" for a normal-life in a heartbeat. That wish for normalcy is what radiates throughout "White Dress," Kanye's track for the RZA-helmed The Man with the Iron Fists.
"Trying to sneak upstairs to your apartment, aren't you a sight for red eyes," he raps over auto-tuned soul vocals and the tiny twinkle of piano. Yeezy lets his guard down here, and spits the endearing goofball lines that any 'Ye fan loves ("rocking flannels all summer like Kurt Cobain"). The second verse is a litany of microcosmic moments from countryside drives and promises of 30-foot trains come wedding time, to ordering "a girl drink in a masculine glass." It's impossible not to apply a few of the more embittered lines to Amber Rose ("now she's back in the club wearing a tight dress"), with Kanye going on to admit he was "wrong." He prefaces the whole verse with an acknowledgement that "everybody got problems baby, algebra class." Even with all the money, "Power," and private jets, Kanye knows full well he can never outspend his problems.
