By: KEVIN JOLLY
Staff Writer
Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was the first big release from the legendary hip-hop group, the Wu-Tang Clan. It first dropped in 1993 and since has been considered one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. The album solidified the Wu-Tang Clan’s position in the industry, and shaped hip-hop of the 90s on the East Coast and all over America to an extent. The album is still considered one of their best even today, and it was the launch pad for all the original Clan’s members and their solo work. Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is probably my favorite hip-hop album of all time, and it’s a must for anyone who’s a fan of the genre, or it could be a great introduction to the genre.
One of the best things about the album and the Wu-Tang Clan, in general, is the obvious influence of Chinese martial arts films. The group’s name, all their album’s names, and a lot of their lyrics are directly inspired by various Chinese martial arts films. Almost every track on this album features at least some kind of sample of a dubbed martial arts film, and some of the beats themselves are created from sound effects from the films. It’s a strange topic for a hip-hop group to be so invested in, but it makes for such a unique experience and the passion for it shines through.
Each member of the group brings their own distinct and interesting style to this album. RZA is considered the main mastermind behind the entire album, as he almost completely independently created every instrumental on the album and was the initial instigator of the group itself and the direction it went in. Method Man really stands out as one of the main players too, and in some ways, he feels like the mascot for Enter The Wu-Tang. He has a verse on nearly every song and even has his own song with vocal performances done entirely by himself and the song titled after him. ODB (Ol’ Dirty B—–d) also takes up a lot of space on this album, even though he doesn’t contribute as much as the other members. This is solely because of his eccentric vocal style of theatrical sing-songy rapping which makes him stand out, especially even if his verses are smaller.
My top three songs from this album would have to be: “Wu-Tang Clan ain’t Nuthing ta F’ Wit”, “Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber”, and “Method Man” which I think all stand out as particularly great. Make no mistake though, I would be hard-pressed to claim any of the songs are bad in any way, every song without fail is great in their own right, but these three are just my favorite. On these three songs, the instrumentals are super catchy and the lyrics are densely packed full of clever devices and interesting style.
As I said, I love every song on the album, but if there was something I had to critique, it’d be one song, “Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber Part 2” which basically is just the first song’s vocals mixed with a different beat. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this song, but just that the original songs which were Frankenstein’d together to create this are all better anyways so in the end it was just unnecessary.
