The W - review

As with many of the wu-releases during the late 90's and early naughties (00's) this took a while for me to appreciate. 'The W' may well go down as one of their most underated albums in the hip-hop history books, a consciously grimy effort that saw Rza abandon his synths and drum machines in favour of a more old-school vibe, not any kind of old-school, but a 'wu-tang old school.'

Chamber music opens things with a truly inventive beat, Rza at his most confusing and bold, these kinds of beats can't really be broken down. In typical rza fashion- they are as simple as they are engaging. There's always something truly powerful and enjoyable about each member getting his turn on the mic, spitting 16 bars of their own style, and then making way for the next MC. That's what made them so formiddable back in 93' and it's partially that same street spirit that makes the experimental 'Careful (click, click)' such an amazing song. Rza proves himself the true master of beats, as the clan rhyme over what can only be described as an odd drumbeat. Most notably however, Rza has taken off the pop shield or perhaps even used a bad quality mic to make the clan sound as if they were recording using a cheap old 4-track (just listen to the wind in the mic as U-God says "Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum!" It's more than just a gimmick, it works to create a vibe.

'Hollow bones' and 'I can't go to sleep' show the laziest style of Rza's production, namely just taking a track, looping it a little, adding nothing to it, and getting everyone to rap over it. Why does it work then? Well in both cases Ghostface spits entertaining and thought-provoking rhymes, remember this is back when he was establishing himself as many peoples favourite emcee for his abstract, soulful style. Isaac Hayes doesn't add much to 'I can't go to sleep', but Rza's equally emotional verse ensures that the listener won't feel cheated by the simple backing music. It's a fallacy that you have to put a certain amount of work into a beat for it to be considered worthy of praise, Rza clearly shows on these tracks that if the inspiration and emotion is there, a true talented emcee will bring the track alive.

'Let my niggas live' and 'Jah world' put into words the emotions of a generation growing up around crime in a way that few other hip-hop songs ever have or will. In the latters case, Junior Reid shows up to bless the beautiful lo-fi Rza track with his sincere vocals. Ghostface cries his way through another piece of emotional depth that was unheard of in hip-hop before this album came along. In reference to the times of slavery it's hard to forget Ghosts lines,

"I thought we lived by the books, the bible, Qu'ran,
We pick cotton, my back is still hot and dark,
They threw burners in our babies faces,
Pale hands that look scary touched our bodies in the strangest places,
Sweat from the white mans hand,
Fell on our daughters as she cry giving white man head."

If you thought Nas guest appearances couldn't get much better than on 94's 'Verbal intercourse', then his verse on 'Let my niggas live' probably comes pretty close. "Bird shit drop on the window pain, the oxygen is cocaine, that drove many men to die with no name." In reality, just about every track on this album is worthy of a mention, including the old-school wu-banger 'Protect your neck (the jump off)', the new-school wu-banger 'Gravel Pit', and the subtle verbal wizadry of masta killa on 'One blood under W'.

It was a good album, more than I'll say for their next release 'The Iron Flag' which for the most part, suffered from inconsistency. The unique way in which Rza samples ensures that every time he does so it will almost always be worthy of note, and this album, their darkest by far, is easily also their most interesting when you consider that at this point in their career you wouldn't expect such a grimy album in terms of both it's lyrics and most of all sound. All we can hope for is just one more dope Wu-tang album as cohesive and together as this one was.

Y.Misdaq, 20 Jan 2004

-click here to read an interesting article on the video of 'I can't go to sleep', as well as a look at the Wu in the time this album was released