Word: clan
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That's how it goes with Wu-Tang Clan--part music sensation, part myth. And this is its paradox. It is a branded marketing juggernaut, instantly recognizable in remote corners of the globe but not quite able to convert its wide appeal to the mainstream. With its latest album, The W (see review), RZA hopes to harness the band's market power to better management in order to restage the Wu brand and set the Clan on a new growth phase...
...Tang Forever, the group's Wu-Wear clothing line hit $15 million in annual sales, a new Wu comic-book line briefly nudged out X-Men for the top spot in the country, and its first kung fu video game sold 600,000 units for Sony PlayStation. Six Clan members recorded successful solo albums...
While all this may sound good--by 1998, Wu-Tang, Inc., was grossing more than $25 million a year--RZA, Divine and Oli Grant, the band's corporate brain trust, feel the group has spread itself too thin. "A few years ago, I told my brothers [fellow Clan members] that the W is gonna be like the Mickey Mouse ears," says RZA. For brands trying to be cool, though, ubiquity can be a bad thing--just ask Gucci. The W began showing up on too many things, while the band hardly showed up at all. It got to a point...
...TANG CLAN's multi-platinum 1997 venture stayed on Billboard's radar for 41 weeks...
With numerous Wu-Tang Clan members popping up on various tracks and all those guest stars, The W becomes a terrifically varied album, full of differing vocal textures and provocative rhythmic and lyrical ideas. Guest-star-heavy albums sometimes burst apart like overstuffed grocery bags. RZA's solid guidance keeps everything together. The street-corner scientists of Wu-Tang have come up with another winning formula...