WU - The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan

The Wu-Tang clan are a group of 10 MC’s: RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon the Chef ,U-God,  Ghostface Killa, Method Man, Mastah Killa and Cappadonna   7 of which who lived in Staten Island in New York and 3 who lived in Brooklyn in New York. In my assessment I will be writing about how they grew up, how they base their morals of the people in Kung Fu films, how they used their music as a platform to get people to understand how they grew up in the project and many other different topics to give people insight into the Wu-Tang Clan as people and as a group.  

The Beginning of Wu-Tang

Wu tang clan formed in the early 1990’s in Staton Island New York with RZA being the leader of the group and the producer of the music. The Wu-Tang Clan is greatly influenced by Kung-Fu films which gave them inspiration for the name of the group they also adopted the name for Staton Island as Shaolin. The RZA and Ol’ Dirty Bastard thought of the name after watching the film “Shaolin and Wu Tang”. In 1993 they released their debut album "Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers" which through its entirety has many samples from this film, Enter the Wu-Tang is an iconic album and is in the list of the top 10 greatest hip-hop albums of all time. When they started they were not took seriously because of how many members there were and the concept of the group which made it hard for them to find a label that would take them seriously and be willing to give record deals to each members so they can release solo albums. 

Before entering the Wu-Tang Clan, RZA and GZA both had signed to different labels and each released an album. GZA released an album under his old stage name Genius and it is called "Words from the Genius" which was released February 19th 1991 on Cold Chillin' Records. After recording the album GZA shortly left Cool Chillin' Records because his album was not promoted right so no one really knew about him or the album so after that he left and started to find different options.

"I was signed to Cold Chillin' 'bout five years ago,". They put out an album but didn't promote it. They tried to put it out again last year after everything happened with the Clan, put a '94 date on it, but still didn't put any money behind it, so it didn't sell twice. I'm still proud of it, though. The beats ain't all that but, lyrically, shit was bangin'. So it wasn't all peaches and cream, but I was determined to break through. 'A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.'


After the first Wu-Tang clan album he released an album in 1995 called Liquid Swords, which RZA produced the beats for  this. The sixth song on the album is called "Labels" which shows his anger towards Cold Chillin' Records. Here is a snippet of lyrics from the song, he is using the names of many different labels throughout his verses.

"Tommy ain't my m*****f****** boy
When you fake moves on a n**** you employ
We'll all emerge off your set, now you know God damn
I show living large n***** how to flip a def jam
And ruff up the m*********** house cause I smother
You cold chillin' m************, I still warn a brother."

The sections I have highlighted are the record labels GZA has used in his song. If you read the lyrics you can tell that he is angry towards Cold Chillin records because he says in his verse that they "fake moves" which could relate to how they messed GZA around, even though he was a very skilled lyricist at the time he was one of the lowest priorities at the label. He was also forced to record a song to be played out on the radio called "Come Do Me".

He also mentions Tommy Boy Records which is the label RZA was signed to under the name Prince Rakeem before forming Wu-Tang Clan. He released an EP entitled "Oooh I Love You Rakeem" 


Singles


1993 - The first single they released was a song called "Protect Ya Neck" which gave them a large underground success. This is a song that includes eight of nine members of the Wu-Tang Clan, excluding Masta Killa.

1993 - The second single they released was "M.E.T.H.O.D Man" which is a solo song by Method Man and this song came 17th in the US Rap charts.

1994 - They released "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" as the third single of their debut album which was the first son that Masta Killa was featured in.

1994 - C.R.E.A.M (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) was the fourth single to be released. This song is about the things they had to do round where they lived just to get money. C.R.E.A.M was voted #1 in the Top 50 Greatest Hip-Hop songs in Rolling Stone magazine 

1994 - Can It Be All So Simple was the fifth song they released off Enter The Wu-Tang which came 24th in the US Rap chart.   

Influences

Apart from music, Kung-Fu films were a very big inspiration to Wu Tang. The members of the Wu Tang Clan modelled their morals on the stories of the Kung-Fu Films they used to watch, in the Enter the Wu Tang Documentary GZA says "When you are dealing with Martial Arts, Wu Tang is a sword style of rhyming, and all we did was apply the morals of the story to our every day life basis. The brotherhood, trust, respect, honour and the discipline and we just apply that to everything we do".

All the members either grew up in Staton Island or spent most of their times there, because Kung-Fu films were a big part of their lives they started calling Staton Island "Shaolin". Shaolin is the birth place of every style of Kung-Fu which is the reason why they renamed Staton Island this because each member of the Wu-Tang Clan has a different flow.

The Wu-Tang Clan are a very well known and popular group in the Hip-Hop industries and have influenced many people weather it be their style of producing, lyrical content and subject matter. Kanye West said that his production style is influenced by RZA.

They also influnced Drake, so much so that he brought a song out called Wu-Tang Forever where he mentioned the groups name and played a homage to Raekwon by using the first line off the song "It'z Yourz" which says "Machine gun raps for all my n***** in the back".


Albums

 Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers

This album was recorded in Firehouse Studios and was released November 9th 1993 on LOUD Records and distributed through RCA Records. This album was produced by RZA, his use of samples from Kung-Fu films, old soul songs out of tune piano etc. made the album sound even more underground and rugged. The albums title originates from the film "The 36 Chambers of Shaolin" because Wu-Tang are heavily influenced by Kung-Fu films.

Wu-Tang Forever

This is the second album released by Wu-Tang Clan, it was released on June 3rd 1997 on LOUD/RCA Records. This album was produced by RZA and the executive producers was 4th Disciple, True Master and Inspectah Deck. This album features collaborations from Cappadonna, Street Life and Tekitha. This is a two disc album, the second track on the second disc is called Triumph. The first verse of this track is Inspectah Deck and it has been voted one of the best Hip-Hop verses of all time. This album was certified 4x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America

The W

This is the third album they released entitles "The W", it was released on November 21st 2000  on Loud Records and was produced by RZA and Mathematics. It featured guest apereances from Nas, Redman, Bustah Rhymes, Isaac Hayes, Snoop Dog, Redman and Junior Reid. The singles they released off this album were Protect Your Neck (The Jump Off), Gravel Pit and Careful (Click, Click). This album sold 301,000 copies in the first week of it being released and was number 5 on the bilboard 200. 






Iron Flag

This is the fourth album released by the Wu-Tang Clan entitled "Iron Flag". The album art of Iron Flag was inspired by the famous photo of the Americans raising their flag in Iwo Jima in 1945. This album was released on Loud Records on 18 December 2001. This was the 2nd lowest selling album of the Wu-Tang Clan, it sold 687,000 copies. The singles released off this album were Uzi (Pinky Ring), Rules and Back In The Game. The Album was produced by Rza, True Master, Mathematics, Nick Fury and Trackmasters.     

8 Diagrams

This is the fifth album released by the Wu-Tang Clan entitled "8 Diagrams". It was released 11th December 2007 on SRC/Universal Motown Records. RZA, Easy Mo Bee, Jack Drakoulias and Mathermatics produced this album. It sold 68,000 in the first week of it  being released and it one of the lowest selling Wu-Tang Clan album to date.

This is a documentary including information from family and friends of  the Wu-Tang about how they group formed, how they changed rap music, how they grew up, the death of O.D.B and much more.



Wu-Nation

This is a documentary of how the Wu Tang Clan have been influenced by Kung-Fu, how it inspired them and how each member of the Wu-Tang has different styles.



Wu-Tang Saga

Wu-Tang Saga is the story of the music super group the Wu-Tang Clan told by Cappadonna, chronicling over 9 concerts, a trip to Shaolin aka Staten Island, photoshoots, and the 5 percent philosophies. There's also many exclusive hip hop freestyles, as Cappadonna takes you inside the music business first hand. The first Wu-tang documentary to be entirely narrated by a Wu-Tang member, this is truly an epic Wu-Tang experience.

Wu-Tang Clan - Promo Documentary

This is a documentary Wu-Tang filmed for the release of their 1997 album Wu-Tang Forever. In this documentary you will see where the clan grew up, how the were influenced by Kung Fu, what is 36 chambers, their solo records, what their lyrics are about and much more.

Members

RZA - Robert Fitzgerald Diggs who has many different aliases such as RZA, Bobby Digital, Prince Rakeem, The Abbot, Rzarector etc. He was born on July 5th 1969 in Brownsville Brooklyn, New York. As well as a rapper he is an actor, author, musician, producer and a director. As well as having a solo career and being in Wu-Tang Clan he was in a group called Gravediggaz which consisted of 4 members Rzarector (Rza), The Undertaker (Prince Paul), The Gatekeeper (Frukwan) and The Grym Reaper (Anthony Berkeley). Gravediggaz are widely credited as being one of the most influential groups in Horrorcore which is a small sub-                                                       genre of Hip-Hop. RZA is well known for his music but he is also known for his cameos in films such as American Gangster, Coffee and Cigarettes, Derailed, Due Date, Funny People etc. He has also directed a film called "The Man With The Iron Fists" which he also starred in.

 GZA - Gary Grice also known by his aliases GZA and Genius. He was born August 22nd 1966 in Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the founding members of Wu-Tang Clan. GZA has been voted #17 in the top 50 best lyricists of all time. So far he has recorded 7 studio albums, his first was "Words From The Genius", his second album was entitled Liquid Swords which is his second album came #9 on the Billboard 200 Charts and is said to be the best hip-hop album by some people. He then went on to release: Beneath The Surface, Legend of the Liquid Sword, GrandMasters and Pro Tools, he is to release his new album entitled Dark Matter which is to be released in 2014.

Masta Killa - Elgin Turner, also known as Jamal Arief was born August 18th 1969 in East New York, Brooklyn. He is one of the lesser known members of the Wu-Tang Clan since he was only featured in one song in Enter The Wu-Tang album. He has released 3 solo albums in his career. His first album is called "No Said Date" which was released in 2004 which is pretty late considering most of the Wu-Tang Clan member released albums shortly after the release of their first album. His second release was called "Made in Brooklyn" which was released in 2006 and his latest album which is entitled "Selling My Soul".

 Ol' Dirty Bastard - Russel Jones aka Ol' Dirty Bastard was born November 15th 1968 in Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the founding members of Wu-Tang Clan and is known for his witty lyrics and unique style. After the release of Wu Tang Clans first album he went on to release the album "Return to the 36 Chambers: Dirty Version" which RZA and True Master produced. The singles released off this album were "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" and "Brooklyn Zoo", this album was really successful and reached platinum status. On November 13th 2004 Ol' Dirty Bastard passed away from a drug overdose. Wu-Tang Clan now tour with ODB's son who raps his fathers parts.

Method Man - Clifford Smith aka Method Man was born March 2nd 1971 in Hempstead,Long Island, New York. After the release of Enter the Wu-Tang he released his first solo album called "Tical". Tical was a very successful album and has sold over 1,000,000 copies to date. He then went on to release another 3 solo albums "Tical 2000: Judgement Day", "Tical.0: The Prequel" and "421: The Day After". As well as his solo albums he has released 2 albums with Redman: Blackout 1, 2 which were very successful. As well as having a music career he has starred in a few films and televising shows, just to name a few: The Wackness, How High 1, 2 and Big Daddy.                                                 

Inspectah Deck - Jason Hunter aka Inspectah Deck was born on the 6th July 1970 in Staten Island, New York. Although he is not the most well known member in Wu-Tang Clan he is praised for his lyrics and he is featured a lot in Wu-Tangs first album. He is known for his lyrics and his verse in the song "Triumph" which was released on the album Wu Tang Forever is known to be one the best verses in Hip-Hop. He has released 4 albums: Uncontrolled Substance, The Movement, The Resident Patient and Manifesto.

 Ghostace Killah - Dennis Coles aka Ghostface Killah was born May 9th 1970 in Staten Island, New York. He had very big success after the first Wu-Tang Clan album because of his first solo album "Iron Man" and then went on to make 9 more albums: Supreme Clientele, Bulletproof Wallets, The Pretty Tony Album, Fishscale, More Fish, The Big Doe Rehab, Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City , Apollo Kids, 12 Reasons to Die.



Raekwon -  Corey Woods aka Raekwon was born January 12th 1970 in Staten Island, New York. He has released 6 albums so far, the most sucessfull being "Only Built For Cuban Linx" which was released in 1995. He then went on to make: Immobilarity, The Lex Diamond Story, Only Built For Cuban Linx 2, Shaolin vs Wu-Tang and Fly International Luxurious Art.

 U-God- Lamont Hawkins aka U-God was born November 11th 1970 in Brownsville, New York but moved to Staton Island when he was young. He has been in Wu-Tang since they formed and is known for his short but sweet verses. So far he has released 4 albums: Golden Arms Redemption, Mr. Xcitement, Dopium and The Keynote Speaker.









Conclusion The reason I wrote an article about the Wu-Tang Clan is because I feel they are a vital cotributers to the Hip-Hop and have been pushing the genre forward since the 90's. They completely changed the course of Hip-Hop with their topic of songs, rhyming and producing, if the group never formed Hip-Hop would be comepletely different to how it is now, they have inspired a lot of artists across the world and have kept old school Hip-Hop alive. Their first album is known as being one of the best in Hip-hop history and many members have been voted to be the best hip-hop lyricists of all time.