Perhaps the most innovative of the gangsta rap genre, the
\nWu-Tang Clan have combined the mysticism of a Saturday afternoon
\nmarathon of “Kung-Fu” with the grim reality of racism and urban
\nviolence.<\/p>\n
And if the phrase “strength in numbers” proves true, it is
\ndefinitely with the Wu. Because the group has so many members, they
\nhave been able to make an impact on the music world every year
\nsince they formed . That’s mainly due to the solo projects each
\nband member has released since the band’s inception.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for casual Wu fans,
\nWu-Chronicles<\/i> is now available. The “best of” collection
\nfeatures highlights from each of the band members’ solo outings
\nalong with a couple unreleased tracks thrown in the mix.<\/p>\n
The album kicks off with “4th Chamber” from one of the better
\nMCs of the group, Genius. Their fascination with the martial arts
\nis immediately evident as a sample of a martial arts movie is laid
\nout before a harsh, throbbing stacatto beat hits the listener.Less
\ntalented rappers may obsess over filling every blank air space with
\na relentless beat, but each member of the Wu-Tang, especially
\nGenius and Method Man, make effective use of silence.<\/p>\n
Fans of the late Notorious B.I.G. a.k.a. Christopher Wallace,
\nwill no doubt want to check out track three, “The What,” as he
\ntrades off boasts with Method Man.<\/p>\n
Though each member of the Wu-Tang has a chance to show off their
\ncertain strengths by putting all their songs on one album, it
\nleaves the collection somewhat disjointed. With the exception of
\nthe unreleased tracks, “Latunza Hit,” by the Wu-Syndicate and “96
\nRecreation (Demo) by Cappadonna, The RZA and O.D.B.,
\nWu-Chronicles<\/i> comes off as nothing more or less than a
\nnicely packaged mix tape.<\/p>\n
Critics of the gangsta rap genre will have plenty of their
\narguments reaffirmed with
\nWu-Chronicles<\/i>. While the musical styles may be varied, the
\nlyrical subjects are fairly universal. Glocks, double breasted
\nsuits and tales of enemies taken out in a litter of gunfire litter
\nall the tracks on
\nWu-Chronicles<\/i> along with the typical misogynistic banter
\nassociated with gangsta rap.<\/p>\n
The only other major gripe about
\nWu-Chronicles<\/i> is that most of the tracks come from albums
\nthat were more focused and realized than their last collaborative
\neffort,
\nWu-Tang Forever<\/i>. Taking them out of their context and
\npasting them together with the works of another group member is
\nsort of like having an album full of Breeders and Frank Black
\nsingles. It may be a decent mix to do at home, but released on a
\nlarge scale and it doesn’t quite gel.<\/p>\n
Still, for casual fans, it’s definitely worth the purchase. If
\nonly due to the simple realization that you’re going to bankrupt
\nyourself trying to buy each members’ one or two solo albums they
\nhave released. So, pick your favorite tracks off of
\nWu-Chronicles<\/i> and choose your own Wu adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7269],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-38893","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-wu-tang-clan","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38893"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}