Wu-Tang Clan, the legendary hip-hop group that managed to make hip-hop ‘cool’ amongst a whole lot of white kids. While this is a super feat in itself, the real genius behind the clan is thankfully found in their music. Their first album ‘Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)’ released towards the end of 1993, is still regarded as one of the monoliths of hip-hop recordings. The album solidified the clan’s reputation for extensive use of sampling, particularly from old samurai flicks such as Shogun Assasin (1980), and their use of dark and grimy beats, crafted and produced by the head of the clan, RZA. The clan contained 9 members: RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Masta Killa and U-God, and their first single ‘Protect Ya Neck’ was one of the first hip-hop recordings to feature 8 rappers dropping verses (Masta Killa was incarcerated at the time). Big L later released a song titled ’8 Iz Enuf’ which also featured 8 rappers, in response to ‘Protect Ya Neck’. Each member had a distinct style and brought something individual to the table, it never sounded like you were just listening to 9 black dudes yo’ing all over the place. Of course, a few of the members weren’t all that great (U-God, Masta Killa…) but despite this each member all went off to deliver very successful solo albums, with the best being GZA’s ‘Liquid Swords’, Raekwon’s ‘Only Built 4 Cuban Linx’ and Ghostface’s ‘Ironman’ in that order (of greatness).
