The main barrier stopping me fully embracing Rap/Hip-Hop is the fact that I always listen to the music first and not the vocal work. I'm not saying that that is the best way to approach Rap. I know thats wrong but I have difficulty changing the way I listen to music after 20 odd years.

However I do like Hip-Hop and when a band hit's me, I stay hit. I probably only have about 20 Hip-Hop albums and I think I can add Wu-Tang to the list.

As has been already said, the hooks and melodies take a back seat to the delivery and tone of the vocals but the manner in which they are delivered is rightly heralded as influential.

I cannot say that I will listen to this album a huge amount and anybody new to Hip-Hop may want to go for something a little melodious and easier on the ear. I will however keep this in my libary and give it a blast now and again.

I've always loved Wu-Tang more than other rap groups like NWA, Public Enemy or DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and I think the reason for that is none of them are as loud, abrasive, profane or as kick-ass as Wu-Tang. This is probably my favorite album of there's because it's the only one I have and have listened to it's entirety. I can't decide whether Shame on a Nigga or Protect Ya Neck is my favorite song. So yeah, uh if this were the new album releases forum I'd vote this excellent twice. This isn't an album for rap fans, it's an album for music fans.

I had reservations about being able to listen to this album without being objective, purely because it was rap.
A genre I know very little about, or am particularly drawn to.
However, CA's description in his review of how "The members of Wu-Tang Clan use sword-fighting as a metaphor for rapping, with their tongues serving as swords", allowed me to listen to 'Enter the 36 Chambers' from a different perspective that I would have otherwise had.
It gave me the idea that I should pay particular attention to the lyrical content in much the same way I listen to soul...from the exclusive viewpoint of the artist.

It did the trick.
Wu-Tang's 'Enter the 36 Chambers', on a musical level, didn't immediately grab me from the go, but with each contribution the various rappers made to this album, came a different flavour that revealed itself after repeated listens and with that, a better understanding of why this album is so highly regarded.

Wu-Tang's newest fan.

you people need a decent compilation ,you're saying 'rap' like it's a dirty word. i thought people stopped calling it rap a decade ago! RZA pioneered that minimal style, as ****ing cool as that was there's more to be had.

there's a really old page I have in my bookmarks called the Wu-dictionary, it 'translates' alot of the Nation of Islam vernacular and code they use... if you listen along to early Raekwon/Ghostface or something and read the bars, the guy's actually a poet, it's just that the thick Staten island drawl obscures it
if none of you do already you'd like A Tribe Called Quest, or any of the Native Tongues collective, Tribe were very musical with the jazz/hip hop sound. I find alot of white people prefer the conscientious lyrics aswell

I wouldn't say the word 'rap' was a dirty word to me, although I did used to think it was spelt with a silent 'c'.
And who could blame me, when the only rap that was on my conscious radar, was the gangsta' variety with it's bling etc. ramming that particular brand of lifestyle down my throat.
Which btw '36 Chambers' didn't.

Feel free to pm me a compilation.

I have albums by:

A Tribe Called Quest (2)
The Roots (3)
NWA
Marxman
Run DMC
Busdriver
Surreal & The Sound Providers
Strange Fruit Project
Public Enemy
Dangermouse & Gemini
Sage Francis
cLOUDEAD
Deep Puddle Dynamics
2 Pac
Notorious B.I.G
Dead Prez
Black Star
De La Soul
Dizzee Rascal (3)
DJ Format
Dr.Dre

Which is not bad for someone who does'nt have a huge love of Hip-Hop/Rap.

We have reviewed the album stating that it is'nt our first love but that we still like and appreciate the album which is fair play.

Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to be a **** about it, I just think there's an era, 1988-1996 (broadly) of rampant musical and lyrical creativity that's being missed out on. Hip hop has had a bad rep for a long time now, the major labels managed to take a street-level art form and just make it... ****? There's also that assumption that if you want the harder stuff you have to sacrifice the lyrical content, obviously Wu Tang made an exception. I'll stick up a 10-track mix.



edit: :offtopic: sawwy

There are a couple older albums I'd like to send you one day. GZA - Liquid Swords and Jay Z's either reasonable doubt or the black album.

Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II
http://www.nealosis.com/demo/playlis...um/art/574.jpg

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cch223/ima...ppets_main.jpg

Marry images of peyote and the Arizona plains,
the early 80's hardcore scene and by counter-point,
three long-haired freaks. Meat Puppets is all of these things
but through the juxtaposition resembles none of them.
Only the disaffected outsider could produce something
so simultaneously alien and emblematic, and these disgruntled,
often-spat-upon teenagers are just that.
Their punk inheritance is obvious, but all bridges
with the hardline aesthetics of hardcore are burned and left behind,
replaced by the dual antitheses of punk rock,
country/western & psychedelia.
The beauty is in how these elements interact-
how punk breathes passion into country and acid rock visualizes
the vast and mystical beauty of the desert.
Combine these elements with Kurt- err..
Curt Kirkwood's strained, paradoxically melodic and atonal vocals
which intone acid-friend murmuring of life, death, time, politics,
and of course, acid. Every song on here is essential,
from the skewed hardcore of “Split Myself in Two” and “New Gods,”
to the absolutely gorgeous instrumental tracks
“Aurora Borealis” and “I'm a Mindless Idiot.”
At this point this album is 25 years dated,
but its sounds are as timeless as Ennio Morricone's themes.

if there are actually those of you who do not own this:
pm me.

^this is excellent. 'Acid-punk n' western' is OTM. Though I thought Nirvana's versions were better... Kidding!
They sound arid and shot-away enough to transport you to another place - you know, a place where they have a big, hot SUN. One of the best band names ever also.
fave tracks thus far: Lost, Plateau, New Gods