• » Name: Brillyance
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The Reality From out West

Wu Tang: The Death of a Dynasty

                If this same spot was available like 12 years ago, that symbol alone would be enough for a blog. The “W” which represented the Wu was at their height, the strongest symbol ever in hip hop. Stronger than the Roc-a-Fella logo and the diamond Roc artists throw up, Stronger than the Double R logo, it meant more than any symbol you could think of. Oh how the mighty have fallen. The Wu is nowhere near where they were, or where they should be. It almost hurts that I can say this without feeling that I’m stretching the truth, but compared to how they used to be, Wu Tang Fell off…..

“If you want beef, then bring the ruckus/ Wu Tang Clan ain’t nothing to fuck with”
Rza “Wu Tang Clan Ain’t Nothing to Fuck With”

                So the story has to start somewhere. Mine starts with a man complaining that something has taken over him, then an elder schooling him. Wu Revolution. I would six months later snatch everything with that “W” on it, but I started in 1997 with “Wu-Tang Forever”. The Wu blew me away, they were 10 deep (including Cappadonna), and they all (except ODB to me) brought it lyrically. While I sometimes had to go back again to really pick up on Raekwon and Ghostface, and some things had to be written off as New York inside shit, “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx” and “Iron Man” stayed in heavy rotation, “Liquid Swords” was lyrically superior to damn near everything out, and Rza’s production remained on point. I liked “Wu Tang Forever” more than “Enter the 36 Chambers” because at the time (like 1997) I couldn’t fuck with it, it sounded dated (lyrically, and quality of the sound). Method Man was my favorite member because of all of them, he was the average Joe type but with dope lyrics. He wasn’t too lyrical, he wasn’t too street, to me, Method Man symbolized hip hop. At the age of like 14 or 15, I just knew the Wu would dominate rap forever. Why not? If you looked around out here in Cali, they were everywhere. Huge billboards, Wu wear jackets, the “W” on people’s cars, 2pac guest spots,they were EVERYWHERE. For them to have such an impact here (during the whole supposed East Coast/West Coast thing) I could just imagine how huge they were in NY. I figured they were gods (no pun intended) in NY. To me, at that time, they WERE NY. Leather Jackets, Timbs, Lyrics (back when damn near everyone in NY was real emcees) NY slang (due to the 5 percenter background) I stereotyped all the young people in the hoods of NY to be like Wu-Tang members, which to me, was a hella of a compliment. How could anything fuck up the Wu? Wu could never fall off! Well actually……

                While I’ve criticized people for criticizing artist for not staying the same, and credited Lil Wayne’s improvement to his changeup with the production, and said that I’m not worried Little Brother isn’t gonna have the same production they’ve had before, I’m gonna have to criticize the Wu for not staying the same, and blame their falling off in part to the change up with their production. I know it’s a contradiction…but so what. With the releasing of several solo projects, and several off-shoots of the Clan, Rza couldn’t do beats for everyone, while scoring movies and writing and producing for his own album. The clan started adding in other producers to help in on solo projects, and some of the beats for “W”. I gotta admit, I wasn’t big on it, and neither were a lot of other Wu Tang Fans.  Sales dropped, and reviews dropped. Those Wu-Tang banners started disappearing. As the west started to lose its stranglehold on the rap game, other artists from NY started to blow nationwide. The likes of Jay Z and DMX were now the nationwide “CNN for the streets” of NY, and Wu Tang became less and less significant. Add in the fact that a lot of the Wu solo’s weren’t that tight (“Tical 2000” anyone?), and the Wu emblem continued to lose its luster. When “Supreme Clientele” dropped, Wu fans were overjoyed. Reviewers praised Ghost’s follow up to “Iron Man”. When the group followed that up with “Iron Flag”, quality wise, they were back where they belonged, however, the damage was already done. They say time waits for no man; well the rap game waits for no artists. While the Wu got back to where they used to be quality wise, other artists from their time, like Nas and Jay Z had stepped they’re game up, and stole the spotlight with their beef (the best rap beef ever..Says who? Says me). Those Wu billboards were definitely gone, there was no Wu Wear to be found anywhere, since at this time, there was Phat Farm, and Roc-a-Wear. Things changed, and Wu-Tang got left behind.

                While the Wu is back to dropping that quality music (every Ghostface Album, that last Method Man album “421, the Day After”, The Rza....or I mean Bobby Digital shit), they don’t receive anywhere near the respect they deserve. While they were honored on "VH1 Hip Hop Honors" (which is, to me, the best thing VH1 has on TV, and they need to hury up and do another) Wu-Tang clan SHOULD be hip hop royalty. If an original Wu artists drops, it should be a major event everywhere hip hop related. One of the things about hip hop is, to a certain extent, it’s a young man’s game. The main audience is the youth, so when you’ve been in the game as long as Wu-Tang has, if you’re not a part of the new popular trend, and you don’t have a big machine behind you pushing your music, you’re not gonna have you music everywhere all over TV, and radio. Sure Method Man’s CD was dope, but all the ad space and all that other shit are for the youngins, and they don’t care about Method Man. Should they??If they claim to be a part of this hop hop shit, I think so, but realistically, they don’t. So Labels (Def Jam) don’t care to push the CD major and have dude with 3 or 4 videos, because they feel Method Man fans, (kats like me) don’t need all that, we’ll know it drops, and we’ll support it. They don’t invest a lot of money in it; because they’re not gonna get that money back. No matter how much they advertised that CD and shot videos, they couldn’t have gotten the kids all over it. 

                Every time I see a W sticker on the back of a car I smile, and remember back when I first started messing with Wu-Tang and those 10 dudes were at the top of the rap game. Even if you anticipate “8 Diagrams” like I do, you gotta admit, Wu-Tang isn’t at the same level of significance they used to be. Add in the loss of OB…Big Baby…Dirt McGirt, who I didn’t think was that tight, yet to me, was definitely a part of what made Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang, and you have to realize things are definitely different for the Wu. Is this a bad thing? I’d say yes, but sometimes that’s just how shit is.

               

 

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