Word: tang
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Last year Robert Diggs, a 31-year-old Staten Island, N.Y., native, made what he called a pilgrimage to China. After being forced from Tiananmen Square for displaying a self-promoting billboard, Diggs took to the hills. To be specific, he ascended Wu-Tang Mountain, where according to legend (his), he was received by kung fu masters at several monasteries. As Diggs exited a Shaolin temple, he says, a crowd of several hundred children awaited him. He proceeded to communicate the only way he knew--by rapping. "They didn't speak English, but I blew their minds and they...
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...
...ducked out of a drug-treatment facility moments before a scheduled trip to the Los Angeles Criminal Courthouse. Now this modern-day Dr. Richard Kimble is making his way across the country, ducking Johnny Law and helping old friends. Last Tuesday, Dirty, a.k.a. Russell Jones, assisted his Wu-Tang Clan mates during a concert at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. Much to the surprise of the audience and some of the group's nine members, Dirty, clutching a champagne bottle, performed two songs before addressing his faithful: "Y'all know they had the ODB locked down, right? Well...
...Tang return to their hallmark minimalist, sample-based sound, la Enter the 36 Chambers. Refreshingly, the synthesizer is used more discreetly on The W than Wu-Tang Forever. Instead, the clan's talented producer RZA injects '70s soul (including "I Can't Go To Sleep", which features Isaac Hayes), reggae and even spy-movie themes into the tracks. ("One Blood Under W," one of The W's gems, begins with a memorable sample of the James Bond theme...
...star of The W is the RZA. For most of the album, the producer's musical innovations overshadows the raps. It's true that the album lacks the oomph that the ODB's unpredictable delivery gave to their earlier albums. Still, The W shows that you can spell Wu-Tang Clan without ODB. A- -William...