NEWS
EVENTS
Era of Wu-Tang
RnB/Hip Hop | Tuesday 24th September 2013 | Alina
Robert Diggs, known as RZA, has taken part in rap battles since he was eleven, afterwards becoming of a former of the Wu-Tang Clan at the start of the '90s in Staten Island, New York. In 1993, he co-operated with some of his friends (Raekwon, U-God, Inspectah Deck, Method Man, GZA, Ol Dirty Bastard and Ghostface Killah) to tell the world about their uneasy lives, drug dealing pasts and the bad neighborhoods of Staten Island, through their single, "Protect Ya Neck". They call the area in which the majority of participants have grown up, 'Shaolin', and decided to name the group after the 1983 movie "Shaolin and Wu Tang". It tells a story of a Martial Arts school and its rivalry with Shaolin. In this way, they wanted the band to show their attitude towards the hostile and dangerous areas of the Staten Island, i.e. Shaolin.
In 1993 the band released their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang"(36 Chambers), yet again with reference to martial arts. It is believed that this album began the revival of East Coast hip-hop. The band members have said that they went through all thirty six levels of Shaolin, meaning that the student has become a "master" of martial art, while other musicians have knowledge of only the basics.
The success of the second album further grew RZA’s hip-hop empire. Once RZA managed to build this, many members of the group, such as Streetlife, Capadonna and Tekita, gained popularity and made successful careers on their own. Thus, by the time of the new album, the album had sold more than 600,000 copies in the first week. In addition, Wu-Tang Forever was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album of the year, although P. Diddy won the nomination.
After the release of the second album, RZA decided to concentrate on his producing career. Furthermore, at the end of the 90s, he helped many rappers to release some successful albums, in order to establish themselves as individual artists. After working on a variety of side projects, the band once again teamed up and released the album The W. In 2000, Ol Dirty Bastard spent time in prison, so his voice had to be recorded on the phone. Sadly, in 2004, he passed away due to a drug overdose, which became a big loss for the members, and they even recorded the track “I Go Through Life”, as a tribute to him.
The period between 2006 and 2010 was the time when the artists worked on their solo albums. In 2006, Ghostface Killah (Fishcale u More Fish), Inspectah Deck (the Resident Patient), Masta Killa (Made In Brooklyn) and Method Man (4:21… The Day After) were released, and in 2007 came out the second Ghostface Killah’s album, and one by Raekwon. Finally, the whole band released 8 Diagrams. The album caused mixed reaction from the listeners, critics and even the band members. Now the band is getting ready for the release of their new album, A Better Tomorrow, which would be released to commemorate twenty years since the release of 36 Chambers.
The influence of Wu-Tang on hip-hop is unprecedented: the manner of their readings, the gangster nicknames, phrases and aesthetics – all of it inspired at least two more generations of rappers. In addition, RZA has produced most of the band members; many, including Just Blaze and even Kanye West, borrowed his style of mixing the ‘dirty’ bits with samples of soul and jazz. RZA was not only a talented musician; he was also a successful businessman. He came up with a new business model of producing albums of all members of the group together and each of them individually. Therefore, showing that each of them has its own role and attract a new audience, also turn Wu-Tang Clan into a recognizable brand. Logo of the group was placed not only on the album covers, but also on clothing, skateboards and more dozens of products.
