Album: The Man with the Iron Fists Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Producers: RZA, Frank Dukes, Badbadnotgood etc.
Release Date: October 22, 2012
Review: Much like Ghostface Killah's Ghostdini, you'll have to take this review with a grain of salt, since two or three of the tracks really aren't my kind of music. Anyway, this is the soundtrack to RZA's directorial debut The Man with the Iron Fists, for which he also co-wrote the screenplay with Eli Roth. Of course it's a big deal that RZA developed a film's story and co-wrote its screenplay, then directed and starred in it, but I'm going to focus on the soundtrack primarily here since the movie and the CD are separate purchases. Also, some of the insider knowledge on this comes from an article at complex.com where RZA breaks down the soundtrack song-by-song.
Things kick off with RZA's character's theme song of sorts, "The Baddest Man Alive," with The Black Keys providing the music. It's not a bad track - and the video is hilarious if you're in the mood - but there are better on here. By the time RZA's verse kicks in, it feels pretty similar to his theme for the first season of Afro Samurai: charging beat, even vocal rhythm, lots of lines about being a bad motherfucker, etc. Having said that, there are some fun lines - "I'll tell a great white shark to go and brush his teeth" is funny enough that RZA laughs on the track himself, and "Take a gasoline bath then I walk through fire" is a good throwback to Method Man's old line "I put my gasoline boots on then I walk through Hell." The Black Keys previously worked with RZA on the BlakRoc project, where they collaborated with 11 artists (also including Wu alumni Raekwon and Ol' Dirty Bastard as well as Yasiin Bey) to produce a side-project album a la Unkle's Psyence Fiction.
Next up is "Black Out" by Ghostface, M.O.P. and Pharoahe Monch/Pharaoh Monk. Fizzy Womack provides the music, which is a good representation of the film setting - kung-fu flutes meet big funk brass, all over a slow and plodding beat. It's a good East-meets-West, old-meets-new vibe. The rhythm and energy on Ghost's verse carry better than the actual lyrics, which are occasionally problematic and goofy: "Guacamole, my shit is fat, I call it Roly Poly / Niggaz is screamin' like 'Damn Ghost! Holy moley!'" Pharoahe Monch ends it on a high note though, with some very Wu-like lines including "Pull out the ratchet, this is not rappity-rap shit / It's liver than Superfly saliva when the mack spit" and "Tumultuous tragedy, infamous infamy / These egregious statistics will increase exponentially."
Time to be honest: I don't like Kanye West, so I have a hard time with "White Dress" - which RZA not only said was written for the movie, but he thinks is a great rap. There's just something going on with Ye that rubs me the wrong way entirely; apologies to him and his fans but I never find myself feelin' his music (with the exception of "Jesus Walks"). The hook is autotuned beyond all possible belief and the lyrics include the lines "Quote unquote: ''Cuz her girlfriends got girlfriends' / On the phone hollerin' that 'niggaz is whatever'" and "We had problems but it's all in the past / Everybody got problems baby, algebra class."
The Revelations and Tre Williams cover the classic "I Forgot to Be Your Lover." I respect the Hell out of it, but it's not all my kind of music so I'm not as excited about it as I honestly should be. I honestly think the only problem with the track here is me; find it and listen and appreciate the talent that goes into revitalizing an old favorite. The Revelations, of course, did the music for the Wu compilations Chamber Music and Legendary Weapons and returned in 2014 for Ghostface's 36 Seasons. Great music, great singing, not my forte.
Talib Kweli and Res bring us "Get Your Way (Sex is a Weapon)" as Idle Warship, and it's a terrific groove by Frank Dukes and Badbadnotgood. Res's singing is a great break between verses; Talib Kweli is mad talented too (see also Black Star). His lyrics occasionally get really dirty ("The moisture that you're deploying is taking us on a voyage") but his flow is undeniable. This is also a good place to spot how Badbadnotgood hooked up with the Wu (this February they released a short album with Ghostface).
Frank Dukes and Badbadnotgood return for the music on "Rivers of Blood," the first officially-labeled Wu-Tang Clan song (featuring Kool G Rap, who has appeared on most soundtracks RZA has done up to this point). It mixes the score with original live music, and a voiceover intro in-character by RZA's blacksmith. The guitar on the track grinds angrily as the bass guitar and drums drop a reliable four-on-the-floor charge while building up to an urgent and bleating trombone-and-sax line that has to be heard. Raekwon opens with a solid verse, U-God's hook fits perfectly with the movie and Wu-Tang ("Bones - crushin' - smooth - kicks / Blades - choppin' - through - bricks / The master of the weaponry sells to both cliques / ...The blacksmith with the iron fists"). Ghost also brings some classic violent/one-two combo lines like "Black magic, leave your fuckin' skull in a soup pot / Machiavelli vamoose like 2pac" and "Ox 'em, duff 'em, stuff 'em in trash bags / Without gettin' no blood on my fresh rags." Kool G Rap also slays, although Rae and U-God are the stars here.
Method Man, his cohort Streetlife and Freddie Gibbs bring "Built for This," which is a good track but not as noteworthy as some others. According to RZA, they brought Killa Sin on board to do his track "The Archer" because of how well "Drunk Tongue" came out on Legendary Weapons (although RZA mistakenly refers to it as being on Chamber Music). Sin annihilates this one long verse, but the music is distractingly odd. It almost sounds like an improv session, which is weird because it's produced by Frank Dukes (who did great his last couple tracks).
RZA returns to hip-hop for his first time since the opening track on "Just Blowin' in the Wind" with Flatbush Zombies. RZA's music is great, with a lumbering drum beat and quick pulsating synths. I'm not as excited by the first two verses' lyrics, so in a way this track is the opposite of "The Archer," but Meechy Darko of Flatbush Zombies brings some life into it at the end.
Corinne Bailey Rae wrote "Chains" for the movie and recorded her vocals on a two-inch tape "to give it that old, soul sound," says RZA. It's a really great vocal performance with a nightclub jazz feel so slow it almost stops - and it works brilliantly. Meanwhile, Pusha T, Raekwon, Joell Ortiz and Danny Brown bring "Tick, Tock," which I find to be a little lukewarm. Nothing wrong with anyone, but it doesn't stand out to me as much as most of the other tracks on the record.
Frances Yip performs a lovely and updated version of "Green is the Mountain," which perhaps best personifies RZA's (and, by proxy, Wu-Tang's) vision for music. Traditional Chinese lyrics and vocals backed by blaxploitation funk. Brilliant and endlessly fun. Next up comes "Six Directions of Boxing," the other bona fide Wu-Tang joint on The Man with the Iron Fists. The music reminds me of their darker Iron Flag or The W material, and features much more of a full Wu-Tang appearance than "Rivers of Blood." I think I prefer the feel on "Rivers" overall but its only Wu verses are Ghost and Rae - U-God just does the hook, as badass as it is. Here, we get verses from U-God, Ghostface, GZA, Masta Killa, Cappadonna and Inspectah Deck. All are at least good, with GZA and U-God stealing the show. As much of a Masta Killa fan as I am, this isn't quite his best verse. It's not bad at all, just not as memorable as he's been before and since.
We get more old soul with "Your Good Thing (Is about to End)" by Mable John. It's a great old song from Stax Records, and would be just at home in a Scorsese film as here. The soundtrack ends with "I Go Hard," performed by Ghostface, ODB's son Boy Jones and Wiz Khalifa. It's catchy, but the pacing and overall tone end the album on a strange note.
The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack is, overall, better than I can make it sound. My personal favorite sounds for each Wu member aren't as present on here as I'd like, but none of them are bad or even notably weak when they appear. Each Wu-related track is at least good, but more likely to find a home as background music for me - with the exceptions of "Rivers of Blood," "Six Directions of Boxing" and "The Archer." In terms of the rest of the album, the soul tracks are good ("Your Good Thing" outshining the cover of "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" although The Revelations blew me away two years later with "Thin Line between Love and Hate"), the hip-hop tracks are alright and Kanye throws me off.
Legacy: It was received well, with most critics granting it between a 6 and an 8 on a scale maxing out at 10. Not every track is a winner, but there are some standout cuts here that got a lot of attention at their release. It doesn't always feel as cohesive or unified as Ghost Dog or the Afro Samurai soundtracks, but that's pretty understandable since RZA was busy directing and starring in the film while working on the soundtrack. He spread himself pretty thin, although the album's continual flow seems to be the closest one can come to saying anything "suffered" for it. All in all, my favorite tracks are worth the price of admission for the whole album, and the others are a good treat to have otherwise.
Recommended Tracks: Rivers of Blood, The Archer, Green is the Mountain, Six Directions of Boxing.
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