Album Reviews: The Wu-Tang Phoenix Re-Arises Again

The sheen on the iron "W" was scuffed following Wu-Tang Clan's disappointing 2014 album A Better Tomorrow and the whole distasteful debacle of the Once Upon a Time in Shaolin project. Maybe any press is good press, but while Wu-Tang remains generally beloved and un-fucked-with, the PR hit resulting from the one-two punch of teasing fans with a new Wu-Tang Forever-sounding album assembled by one of the team's freshest new beat-makers sold as one single secret copy to one of the most hated men in the world while instead serving to the public a fractured and subpar group project produced by a rusty and out-of-touch RZA, definitively marked a low point in the Wu-Tang legacy. Maybe the lowest point.

Not to be kept down for long, the Wu phoenix has re-arisen again. The whole Wu-Tang conglomerate has regrouped and brought forth a swarm in 2017, releasing a slew of new projects that serve to reassert their present skills and still-fearsome roster depth while burnishing the legacy of the brand. No bullshit, no gimmicks, just dope beats and dope rhymes. (To top it off, the asshole who acquired the single copy album, Martin Shkreli, was sentenced to prison in a case where a prospective juror stated on the record that he held a grudge against Shkreli because "he disrespected the Wu-Tang Clan.")

Here are some capsule reviews of the new projects brought forth in 2017 thus far.

The Wu-Tang Clan Will Rise Again

The 20th anniversary of their debut came and went last fall. The alleged final album from the crew, A Better Tomorrow, appeared less and less likely to become a reality as internecine discord and disharmony dominated any headlines Wu-Tang was getting.

An excellent in-depth feature at Grantland tracked down each living member of the Clan portraying a disappointing image of the Wu collective---fractured, scattered around the country, unable to connect all the necessary pieces to form Voltron, unable to finish their final album because of financial and creative disagreements.

Then, out of nowhere, the newswires blew up with word that the Wu-Tang Clan had actually recorded a secret album (a double-album) produced by talented Moroccan Wu affiliate Cilvaringz and were planning to release just one copy of it. The plan is to tour the album around museums and music festivals before auctioning it off to the highest bidder. Suddenly Wu-Tang, the gritty rap dynasty and beloved cultural phenomenon of the 90s, became one of the most talked about things on the internet.

Wu-Tang's Future Ringz

My brain has been a blob of mush lately and it's been hard to squeeze out any good writing so, while I try to get back on track and put together some material worth posting, I'll quickly share this.

Cilvaringz, the first and only European Wu-Tang affiliate (he is of Dutch Moroccan descent) has gained a reputation in the Wu community for sparking controversy with strong words for the United States and Israel in some of his music, but he's also known for being a masterfully gifted musician who represents the future of the Wu-Tang sound.

His first album, simply titled I (the Roman numeral 1 not the letter "I"), gave most Wu fans flashbacks to the mid-90s golden era with its sharp production interspersed with the wisdom of kung-fu flicks. It featured verses from Gza, Masta Killa, Rza, Raekwon, and numerous Killa Beez with beats provided by Ringz himself as well as Rza, 4th Disciple, True Master, DJ Mathematics and Bronze Nazareth.

Having just finished touring with Method Man and Redman throughout Europe for the whole month of November, Cilvaringz decided to briefly bless fans with a quick peek at the vaults. He posted a 24-minute video previewing instrumentals for upcoming Wu-Tang projects (among them Raekwon's upcoming album and Gza's Liquid Swords Pt. 2) and most of the beats are outstanding. Particularly in the middle of the session, there are a few instrumentals that are as cinematic as anything I've ever heard in any musical genre. Check it out:



My favorites are at the 5:00, 6:30, 9:10 (!), 12:20 (that ought to be the theme for the next Christopher Nolan Batman film), and 16:10 marks.