Ten Reasons Why The Wu Tang Clan Are The Greatest Rap Group Of All Time

0 comments, 31/03/2011, by IAmNotARapperiSpit.com, in Lists (The Infamous)

By Phillip

10. Grown-Man Rap
Hip-hop thrives on the energy of youth. All media eyes are on L.A.’s expansive Odd Future collective these days, but beyond the group’s surface schtick about raping and pillaging small villages, its movement is propelled by the same fresh-faced-and-rebellious attitude that, say, a 16-year-old LL Cool J was bringing to rap back in the days before even Tyler’s parents were pubescent. The flip side of this is that rap artists rarely grow old gracefully — even the high priest of the industry himself, Jay-Z, sought to knock nigh on a decade off his birth certificate during his thirtysomething-rap phase. In hip-hop, experience is rarely a selling point, let alone something to be proud of. But of late, the Wu’s grown-man rappers look like they’ve managed to find a way to come to terms with their mature years. GZA is reportedly filming a sitcom about a rapper going through a mid-life existential crisis, while Ghostface has settled into being a balding, grumpy middle-aged man who likes to interrupt shows with monologues about the virtues of the olden days; his last album’s highlight, “In Tha Park,” was based around him and the Roots’ Black Thought reminiscing about previous hip-hop eras. The Wu may be the first group to comfortably embrace the idea of being the finicky old men of rap.

9. Wu-Tang Is (Also) For The Ladies
Let us for a moment gloss over moments like Ghostface’s “Wildflower,” with its bitter venom about “remember when I long-dicked you and broke your ovary” and the time he “fucked you while you was bleeding,” and that song where RZA boasts about how he “used to fuck her when she menstruate/But it made her hyperventilate.” In hip-hop’s grand discography, there are approximately seven sincerely tender songs about women. The Wu, somehow, can lay claim to two of those, namely Ghost’s emotionally wrought tribute to his mom, “All That I Got Is You,” and Method Man’s ode to his soul mate, “You’re All I Need.”

8. All In Together Now
As soon as the Wu dropped their debut, rumors arose suggesting their impending breakup. They’ve never stopped since. Appropriately for a group that coined the C.R.E.A.M. mentality, these rumors usually center on a disgruntled member — often cited as Raekwon or Ghostface or Method Man — allegedly complaining about a less-than-fair apportionment of funds filtering their way down from head honcho RZA’s pockets. (Damn that troublesome Wu-Tang Productions contract!) But to date, the Wu’s only official reduction in numbers has been Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s tragic death. It’s a feat of solidarity that few other rap group greats have managed to sustain: Public Enemy kicked Professor Griff out rather publicly after he was accused of making anti-Semitic comments, E.P.M.D. had to break up to make up, N.W.A. unraveled in a brilliantly entertaining mess of diss records, and Tribe sensibly called it a day after realizing the magic between its members had long disappeared around the time J Dilla showed up on Q-Tip’s doorstep. Maybe it’s testament to their familial core — RZA, GZA and ODB are cousins — but in 2011, it’s still Wu-Tang forever.

7. Better Antics Than Diddy, Even
On the basis of his infamous Grammy shenanigans alone, Ol’ Dirty Bastard will forever hold the title of rap’s greatest ever character.

6. Underground Kings
Blowing up and actually going pop may be the new keeping it real in terms of current rap mantras, but there remains something stubbornly underground about the Wu Tang Clan’s aura. Even at the peak of the Wu’s commercial appeal, their second (and best-selling) album was promoted by a decidedly un-chart-friendly single, “Triumph,” composed of nine densely worded verses and no chorus, kicking off with the couplet “I bomb atomically/Socrates’ philosophies and hypothesis can’t define how I be dropping these mockeries.” At the height of rap’s Courvoisier-quaffing, money-ain’t-a-thang phase, the Wu came back with “Gravel Pit,” a song that featured Method Man uninviting himself from Diddy’s latest fondue party by declaring, “Can’t stand Bentleys — they cost too much.” Even when the Wu’s MCs are subjected to the token record-label-prompted crossover attempt (see: pretty much any of Ghost’s lead singles featuring an r&b singer), there’s a sense that the whole thing’s a ruse: It’s Dirt Dog and Mariah! It’s Meth and Scottish rockers Texas! Just call them the spiritual lords of the underground.

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