The Wu-Tang Clan is a New York City-based hip hop group, which consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, the late Ol' Dirty Bastard and Cappadonna who officially joined the group in 2007 prior to the release of 8 Diagrams. They were formed in (and are generally associated with) the New York City borough of Staten Island (referred to by members as "Shaolin"), though some of its members originate from Brooklyn, along with one member from The Bronx.
One of the most critically and commercially successful hip hop groups of all time, Wu-Tang Clan rose to fame with their uncompromising brand of hardcore hip hop music, and their success enabled all of its members to pursue solo careers, with varying degrees of success. They have introduced and launched the careers of numerous other affiliated artists and groups, often collectively known as the Wu-Tang Killa Bees. In 2007, MTV ranked Wu-Tang the 5th greatest Hip-hop group of all time.
History
Foundation and name
The founders of the Wu-Tang Clan are cousins Robert Diggs, Gary Grice, and Russell Jones, (RZA, GZA, and Ol' Dirty Bastard, respectively) who had previously formed the group Force of the Imperial Master (later known as All in Together Now after the release of a popular single by that name). The group attracted the attention of some notable figures in the industry, including Biz Markie, but did not manage to secure a record deal.
All In Together Now was never signed to a record label. See, me, GZA and ODB had a crew called FOI: Force Of The Imperial Master, nahmean? We made a song, called ‘All In Together Now', which became famous on tapes throughout Brooklyn, Downtown Staten Island, New York, all the way down to Miami. I remember Biz Markie, when he was famous and I wasn't famous, and he was like: "Yo! I heard that shit! Your song with Ason Unique and the Specialist". I was the Scientist. So we never got signed as a group back then. We never had a serious record deal under that title.— RZAAs the crew dissolved, GZA (then known as The Genius) and the RZA (then known as Prince Rakeem) embarked on their solo careers with Cold Chillin' Records and Tommy Boy Records respectively with the album Words from the Genius , and the EP Ooh I Love You Rakeem , but to little success. Their frustration with the workings of the hip hop music industry would provide the main inspiration to Wu-Tang Clan's revolutionary business plan. According to The Wu-Tang Manual , at the group's inception, RZA promised the members that if he had total control of the Wu-Tang empire, it would conquer the hip-hop world within a dynastic cycle, after which he would relinquish his total control. He devised what he refers to as his "five year plan", in which the group would release a full length group album, and record a follow-up group album five years later, while releasing solo albums in between this time period to launch solo careers.
Wu-Tang Clan was gradually assembled in late 1992 from friends and accomplices from around Staten Island, with RZA as the de facto leader and the group's producer. The name "Wu-Tang" is derived from the name of the mountain Wu Dang (Wudang Shan) in northwest Hubei Province in central China with long history associated with Chinese culture, especially Taoism, martial arts and medicine. The RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard adopted the name for the group after the film Shaolin and Wu Tang . The group's debut album loosely adopted a Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang theme, dividing the album into Shaolin and Wu-Tang sections.
The group has also developed various backronyms for the name (as hip hop pioneers such as KRS-One and Big Daddy Kane did with their names), including "We Usually Take All Niggas' Garments," "Witty Unpredictable Talent And Natural Game" and "Wisdom of the Universe, and the Truth of Allah for the Nation of the Gods".
Enter the Wu-Tang and solo albums
The Clan first became known to hip hop fans, and to major record labels, in 1993 (see 1993 in music) following the release of the independent single "Protect Ya Neck", which immediately gave the group a sizable underground following, especially after their tour with Kat Nu and Cypress Hill. Though there was some difficulty in finding a record label that would sign Wu-Tang Clan while still allowing each member to record solo albums with other labels, Loud/RCA finally agreed, releasing their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) , in late 1993. This album turned out to be critically-acclaimed, and to date is regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. The success of Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers established the group as a creative and influential force in early 1990s hip hop, allowing Ol' Dirty Bastard, GZA, RZA, Raekwon, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah to negotiate solo contracts. RZA mentioned on wuforever.com:
We reinvented the way hip hop was structured, and what I mean is, you have a group signed to a label, yet the infrastructure of our deal was like anyone else's ...we still could negotiate with any label we wanted, like Meth went with Def Jam, Rae stayed with Loud, Ghost went with Sony, GZA went with Geffen Records, feel me?....and all these labels still put "Razor Sharp Records" on the credits.. ..Wu Tang was a financial movement. So what do you wanna diversify....? ..Your assets?— RZAFirst round of solo albums
The period between the release of Enter the Wu-Tang and Wu-Tang Clan's second album is considered to be "the greatest winning streak in rap history." The RZA was the first to follow up on the success of Enter the Wu-Tang with a side project, founding the Gravediggaz with Prince Paul and Frukwan (both of Stetsasonic) and Poetic. The Gravediggaz released 6 Feet Deep in August 1994, which became one of the best known works to emerge from hip hop's small sub-genre of horrorcore.
It had always been planned for Method Man to be the first breakout star from the group's lineup, with the b-side of the first single being his now-classic eponymous solo track. In November 1994 his solo album Tical was released. It was entirely produced by The RZA, who for the most part continued with the grimy, raw textures he explored on 36 Chambers . The RZA's hands-on approach to Tical extended beyond his merely creating the beats to devising song concepts and structures. The track "All I Need" from Tical was the winner of the "Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group" at the 1995 Grammy Awards.
After the release of Method Man's Tical , Ol Dirty Bastard was the next member to launch a solo career. His debut album; Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version was released in March of 1995, and is considered a hip-hop classic.
Late summer, and early fall of 1995 saw the release of Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... , and the GZA's Liquid Swords , which would turn out to be the group's two most significant and well-received solo projects. Cuban Linx was a diverse, theatrical criminological epic that saw RZA move away from the raw, stripped-down beats of the early albums and towards a richer, cinematic sound more reliant on strings and classic soul samples. The album is highly notable in that it revived, and expanded the Mafioso Rap genera, which started to decline several years beforehand. Lavish living and the crime underworld are referenced throughout using quotes from the movie The Killer, with the mystique of the Wu-Tang Clan deepened by the adoption of crime boss aliases and the crew name Wu-Gambinos. The album introduced a flurry of slang words to the rap lexicon, and many artists have gone on to imitate its materialism. Cuban Linx featured all but one Wu member, and featured the first debut from close Wu-Tang affiliate; Cappadonna. The album also featured rapper Nas, who was the first non-Wu-Tang-affiliated MC to appear on a Wu-Tang album. GZA's Liquid Swords had a similar focus on inner-city criminology akin to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx , but it was far darker, both in GZA's grim lyrics and in the ominous, foreboding production that saw The RZA experimenting more with keyboards than ever before. Liquid Swords features guest appearances from every Clan member, and is linked together by excerpts from the movie Shogun Assassin (which was also referenced in the movie Kill Bill, scored by the RZA). 95' also saw the release of the Wu Wear clothing line, which would turn out to be massively successful, and influential on hip-hop culture. It initially started as a mere way to make money from the demand for bootleg Wu-Tang shirts, and evolved into an extensive collection of designer garments. Soon, other hip hop artists were making similar ventures and by the mid 2000s, a clothing line was almost a prerequisite for hip hop superstardom, with clothing lines launched by Puff Daddy, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Nelly, Ludacris, 50 Cent, and more.
Almost a year after the release of Liquid Swords , Ghostface Killah released his first solo album, Ironman in late October of 1996. The album struck a balance between the sinister keyboard-laden textures of Liquid Swords and the sentimental soul samples of Cuban Linx , while Ghostface himself explored new territory as a lyricist. Ironman was critically acclaimed and is still widely considered to be one of the best of Wu-Tang solo albums. Alth
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