Trol23 casts his ear over the new Wu Tang offering.
Yes! That's right, it really is the return of the Wu. But, given how prolific they've been over the years, you'd be forgiven for asking exactly when they went away in the first place. Nonetheless, they're back with a new album and it's a real pleasure to say...it's good! Not all good by any means, but generally pretty good, and definitely better than the rather poor '8 Diagrams'.
This album is produced by the Wu Tang DJ, Mathematics, and there is a noticable shift back to a more DJ-like way of producing that RZA moved away from after 'Wu Tang Forever'. The fact is that when you talk to people about '36 Chambers' it's always about how raw it is, how grimey the rapping is: that's what made it amazing. Lately a lot of Wu stuff has started to feel a little over-produced.
Listening to the album initially was worrying. There's nothing wrong with the first 5 tracks particularly: the rapping is tight, but beat-wise they just don't grab. Then track 5, 'Steppin 2 Me', raises the bar a bit with a cool flip of the 'half steppin' sample. But it's Track 6, 'All Flowers', that brings it back to that real 'break your neck' involuntary head-nodding hip hop that the Wu do better than almost anyone when they're on their game.
It's foot down for the rest of the album 'til 'Rush'. For me this is the stand-out track on the album: it's all Method Man and GZA and the harpsichord loop is addictive. Mention must also go to 'Early Grave', featuring the vocal talents of the late Ol' Dirty Bastard: where the recording for his verse has been hidden away is anyone's guess.
It's got to be tough to have come out with one of the most seminal rap albums of all time and for everything you put out afterwards to always be compared and contrasted with it. This isn't an album as important as '36 Chambers', or even as good as 'Wu-Tang Forever'. But considering how much cash the Wu must roll in these days it's gratifying that they can still be a high profile antidote to the super slick and usually utterly rubbish pseudo-rap of hip hop's top dogs (see Timbaland's new single with Katy Perry for a great example).
Click here for all London hip hop.
Click here for all London DJ music.
Click here for things to do in London.
Add an event