Album: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Release Date: Nov. 9, 1993
Producer: RZA ("Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" co-produced by Ol' Dirty Bastard; "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit" co-produced by Method Man)
Review: Over 20 years on, Wu-Tang Clan's debut Enter the Wu-Tang has been studied and explored so much it's hard to find anything new to say about it. They recorded their debut single "Protect Ya Neck" at Firehouse Studios for $300 - and they paid in quarters. "Protect Ya Neck" features seven full verses - one from each member of the Wu-Tang Clan except U-God (who only tags the end of Method Man's verse with a couple quick lines) and Masta Killa. "Protect Ya Neck" was backed with "After Laughter Comes Tears," which was renamed "Tearz" for Enter the Wu-Tang, in its first pressing - then backed with the song "Method Man" for its second pressing.
This first single may serve as a perfect microcosm of the Clan's discography. On its A-side, RZA's trademark grimy sound of kung-fu samples, deep bass drums and chunky snares with soul- and funk-inspired samples that groove under boastful but brilliantly-written verses by several members of the group. On the first B-side, this same production changes roles to sound somber and earnest instead of tough, while on top of it, hard-hitting rhymes about the deadly side of life in poverty in America remind us of the "eight million stories" in New York City. On the second B-side, "Method Man" is a solo track showcasing one specific group member, like an artful commercial to be on the lookout for his own record to come out soon - and it did; Method Man's Tical dropped a year later as the first Wu-family release following Enter the Wu-Tang. The production is consistently unique and enjoyable, the verses offer stories alternating between lives of ego and desperation and the solo track - which hypes Method Man's solo debut - is a reminder of the Clan's storied record contract that reads like a cross between a pyramid scheme and a self-contained sovereign nation's economic system.
So goes the album and so goes Enter the Wu-Tang. The blistering opener, "Bring Da Ruckus," is as rugged on the outside as its rhymes are beautiful on the inside. Ghostface Killah leads off with a legendary first verse that cites a metaphor of rhyming being likened to gunfire, the damage that the Nixon administration did to an entire generation of Americans and news items like the Palestine Liberation Organization and the ATF raiding the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. GZA's first line, "I'm more rugged than slaveman boots," recalls the African-American struggle in the United States since before the Revolutionary War - and all the seriousness of the first song is followed by the often goofy "Shame on a Nigga," which includes Ol' Dirty Bastard talking about getting an STD. The flow from tough to silly is breakneck, but somehow it all works.
Serious stories of street life permeate "Can it Be All so Simple," "C.R.E.A.M." and "Tearz" - Raekwon's first verse for the band is his opener on "C.R.E.A.M.," which starts "I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side, stayin' alive was no jive." He means that he was born and raised in the places you only hear about in articles about drug busts and murder cases in newspapers and news shows. The next line is "Had second-hands, moms bounced on old man, then we moved to Shaolin land," explaining that he had hand-me-down clothes, and he and his single mother moved alone to Staten Island when she left his father. Tight lines like these, with their rhyme schemes, slang and narrative, have always been a staple of Wu-Tang.
And the entire album is peppered with samples from martial arts films like Shaolin and Wu-Tang and Ten Tigers of Kwangtung. Kung-fu is as much a part of RZA's signature style here as the soul samples and lo-fi drum machines. From a distance, the album is 12 songs, nine emcees, one legendary album.
Legacy: How legendary? Enter the Wu-Tang is credited alongside Nas' Illmatic as one of the defining albums in the East Coast hip-hop scene. It helped revolutionize rap in the early '90s and RZA's influence has been felt throughout the genre ever since. The revival of soul sampling is often credited to RZA, as is evidenced by acts like Kanye West. This is also the first step on the Map of Shaolin, meaning that Enter the Wu-Tang was explosive and genre-defining to the rap industry that it has since led to over 60 albums related directly to it in one way or another, whether future Wu-Tang Clan releases or solo albums by any of its nine original members.
Recommended Tracks: Enter the Wu-Tang is damn near perfect, so it pains me to pick a favorite few songs, but new Wu fans should check every song from this album that had a video: "Protect Ya Neck," "C.R.E.A.M.," "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' ta F' Wit," "Method Man" and "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'." They represent the grimy, the brag-filled, the dramatic, the funny and the most lyrical sides of the Wu.
Coming Next Wu Wednesday: Method Man's 1994 debut Tical.
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