Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang-36 Chambers
I can't remember where or when I first became aware of the Wu Tang. I know it was sometime between this album and Wu Tang Forever coming out. I just remember reading about them , their music and the philosophies and imagery behind the group and thinking that this was something that demanded my attention , if only for the originality of it all. When I finally got around to hearing the album I wasn't disappointed at all , it was everything I expected it to be , and more.
Bring The Ruckus has to be one of the best opening statements on a debut album ever, every bit as powerful as a 1969 , or an Anarchy In The UK. You want to know what happened to punk rock? Well it's alive & well and doing just fine here with turntables instead of 3 chords thankyouverymuch.
I can't write a review of this album without mentioning Amsterdam.
For me Amsterdam and this album go hand in hand and each track brings back many happy memories. A friend of mine spent some time living over there in a luxury apartment above a porno cinema and I spent some time staying with him and generally got used to the pleasures that you can get in that city. This album was the soundtrack to those times. It was either this or some faceless trance bollocks , so Shame On A Nigga reminds me of sitting there with a giant spliff waiting for him to finish playing on his playstation so we could go out get drunk. Clan In Da Front reminds me of getting back there afterwards either drunk or stoned & dancing like a twat shouting out 'WU WU WU WU WU'. Can It Be All So Simple was our 5am chill out tune.
Funnily enough it's only the first half of the album that brings back memories , I think I may have passed out before we got to stuff like CREAM or Protect Ya Neck , but even so those songs still piss on what passes for mainstream hip hop these days.
I don't listen to anywhere near the amount of Hip Hop that I should and hearing this again for the first time in ages reminds me of just how good it can be.
Now if only someone would be good enough to point me in the direction of Liquid Swords
