Clan In Da Front

The saga continues… Wu-Week… Wu-Week. Building off of what I said the other day, I can count on one hand how many artists/groups/crews/labels had a run like the Clan did between ‘93 and ‘97. Even without selling the most records or doing most of what’s required of an artist to have today, they had a stronghold on hip-hop.

However… I feel like sometimes, their impact on the game has been somewhat underrated. Sure, they get all the praise and accolade in the world by their mega-devoted diehard fans. But Wu-Tang stans ain’t nuthin’ ta fuck wit’, and some of those dudes can even convince themselves to listen to Masta Killa for an hour straight, so that doesn’t count. By people outside of that contingent, it’s been swept under the rug just how many things Wu brought to the table during their peak. I don’t know if muh’fukkas conveniently forgot or have neglected to recognize it, but let’s talk about it…

Granted, Wu’s impact was more on the East Coast than anywhere else, but it was every bit as strong as Death Row’s was on the West around the same time. One thing that stood out about them is that they were bigger than just a great group- they were a group comprised of members that stood on their own and dropped their own solo projects. In addition to attacking with 36 Chambers, the solo albums that followed were all must-haves. From Method Man to Ol’ Dirty Bastard to Raekwon to GZA to Ghostface, anyone who was a fan of Wu-Tang made it a point to catch all of those albums when they dropped. Shit was like collecting action figures.

Wu-Tang established a level of brand loyalty with their fans that not many groups had before them. Even a group like Public Enemy at their height couldn’t get people to cop Terminator X or Sister Souljah’s shit. But the Clan was giving instant credibility to anything that came out with that “W” bird symbol attached to it. On top of the group and the individual projects, they even had a “B-team” that were able to gain their own listeners strictly by affiliation. Wu fans would at least give artists like Sunz of Man, Shyheim, and Killarmy a listen on the strength of being Wu.

Influence-wise, there’s a lot of artists who might not admit it today, but Wu had (in RZA’s words) “everybody changin’ their muh’fukkin’ name”. When Raekwon’s Cuban Linx dropped, and every member busted out with the “a.k.a.” shit, I can’t count how many people followed up for the next two years or so with some kinda alias. Nas was “Escobar”, 2Pac was “Makaveli”, Biggie was pushin’ the “Frank White” shit hard, AZ became “Sosa”, Fat Joe was “Don Cartagena”… it was a trend that everybody hopped on. Anytime an album features a skit that told rappers to stop bitin’ their shit, and rappers continued to bite their shit, that speaks for itself.

And it wasn’t just the artists in the biz. There were just as many aspiring artists who were damn near practicing copyright infringement. I know from my own encounters, B-More had more than a fair share of groups with 7-10 members that all had aliases. They’d always have these obviously Wu-inspired names like the “Disciple Assassins” or some shit, and hook-less songs with titles like “Left Ventricle” and whatnot. If it was like that here, I can only imagine how it must have been in New York and the surrounding areas. Just like all the other greats had their share of descendants, Wu-Tang definitely had theirs.

If it seems like I’m almost ready to credit these niggas with starting civilization, I ain’t goin’ that far. I just acknowledge that there’s a lot of things that weren’t goin’ on before Wu-Tang did it. RZA’s production at times stretched the guidelines of what could be sampled, while everyone else was either sticking to jazz or funk records. Then there’s the terms like “cream”, which may have been an everyday word around their way, but became an everyday word in hip-hop after “C.R.E.A.M.” dropped. All that “doin’ deals with Dominicans/eatin’ pasta with the Sicilians/coke connects in Bolivia” shit niggas were rappin’ about? Yeah, them. I could even talk about how Meth had dudes wearing gold fangs and wristbands and motorcycle gloves and shit, but y’all get the point.

With Wu-Tang, it was mostly all about the music. But inside of that music, and all the things that came with it, the whole game got affected in one way or another. There’s a lot of crews to this day who talk about having a “movement”, but theirs was shown and proven without the propaganda and slogans. That “Wu-Tang Killa Bees, we on a swarm” shit wasn’t just a slick-sounding catchphrase, it actually went down like that.

Method Man “Method Man (Remix)” (1993)

Ol’ Dirty Bastard feat. Method Man & Raekwon “Raw Hide” (1995)

GZA feat. D’Angelo & Inspectah Deck “Cold World (Remix)” (1995)

Raekwon feat. Ghostface Killah “Rainy Dayz (Remix)” (1996)

Ghostface Killah feat. Raekwon, U-God, Masta Killa, & Cappadonna “Winter Warz” (1996)

Cappadonna “‘97 Mentality” (1997)

The RZA “Tragedy” (1997)

Wu-Tang Clan “Triumph” (1997)

-D!