Over these surrealistic backing tracks, the MCs rapped hard, updating the old-school attack with vicious violence, martial arts imagery, and a welcome warped humor. By , the sound was one of the most instantly recognizable in hip-hop. It wasn't always that way. Like most rappers, they began their careers trying to get ahead whatever way they could.
On the advice of his label and producers, he cut the humorous, lover-man single that went absolutely nowhere. Neither did the follow-up single, My Deadly Venoms. The experience strengthened his resolve to subvert and attack record-industry conventions.
He found partners in Genius and Ol' Dirty Bastard. Both records were unsuccessful. After the failure of his album, Genius teamed with an old friend, Ol' Dirty Bastard , to form the crew that would evolve into the Wu-Tang Clan within a year. The nine rappers made a pact to a form an artistic and financial community - the Wu-Tang Clan wouldn't merely be a group, it would be its own industry. In order to do this, they decided to establish themselves through a group effort and then begin to spread the word through solo projects, picking up additional collaborators along the way and, in the process, becoming stronger and more influential.
The first Wu-Tang Clan single, the hard-hitting Protect Ya Neck, appeared on their own independent label and became an underground hit. Soon, the record labels were offering them lucrative contracts. The group held out until they landed a deal that would allow each member to record solo albums for whatever label they chose - in essence, each rapper was a free agent. Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful; although its financial success wasn't immediate, it was the result of a slow build.
The group wasted no time in pursuing other projects, as a total of five of the members - Genius , RZA, Raekwon , Method Man, and Ol' Dirty Bastard - landed solo contracts as a result of the success of C. The Gravediggaz's album 6 Feet Deep appeared in August ; it eventually would go gold.
The series is a dramatisation of the events surrounding the formation of the group, who came together to become one of the most important acts in hip-hop history. The group has released nine studio albums and a staggering 91 solo albums between the 10 members.
Ghostface Killa has the most solo albums with 19 and RZA is not far behind with Wu-Tang Clan released their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers , in and quickly cemented themselves as a force of nature on the hip-hop scene.
As a collective, Wu-Tang Clan has sold around 6. When it comes to the Billboard charts, the group has perhaps surprisingly only ever reached the Top 10 twice, and the number one spot once with their second studio album Wu-Tang Forever which was released in Despite a lot of activity for the various solo projects, Wu-Tang released only a live album, 's Disciples of the 36 Chambers , during the subsequent five years. That document was one of the last places to hear Ol' Dirty Bastard , who died of a heart attack in November In early , in anticipation for the Clan 's upcoming album, 8 Diagrams , Nature Sounds issued the Mathematics -compiled Unreleased , a collection of new remixes and hard-to-find, previously unreleased songs from the group and some of its friends.
It wasn't until the end of the year, however -- after a couple of delays and some criticism from Raekwon and Ghostface directed at RZA regarding the overall sound of the record -- that 8 Diagrams came out. Solo albums from most members would follow, but the Clan itself would remain dormant until , when the Wu -related compilation Legendary Weapons landed with some new tracks from the full group.
That year, it was also announced that the Clan were working on a new studio album that would be released in to celebrate their 20th anniversary. However, the album failed to materialize as came and went, with production stymied by a further public beef between Raekwon and RZA over the new album's stylistic direction.
Eventually they reconciled, and in the album was finally finished. That year the Clan also made history with the announcement that they had recorded a secret album called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, of which only one copy would be pressed and sold as a unique artwork, in a custom-made hand-carved nickel and silver box, to the highest bidder. AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript.
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Jazz Latin New Age. Aggressive Bittersweet Druggy. Energetic Happy Hypnotic. Romantic Sad Sentimental. Sexy Trippy All Moods. Drinking Hanging Out In Love. Introspection Late Night Partying. They embarked on a short European tour before coming together as a complete group for the first time in several years to headline the Rock the Bells festival in California.
He was arrested several times for offenses including assault, shoplifting, and possession of cocaine, and missed multiple court dates.
In late , Ol' Dirty Bastard unexpectedly escaped near the end of his rehab sentence, spending one month on the run as a fugitive before showing up on stage at the release party for The W. He was eventually caught and served a prison sentence. The official cause of death was a drug overdose; an autopsy found a lethal mixture of cocaine and the prescription drug tramadol.
The overdose was ruled accidental. His funeral drew a crowd of thousands. Hip Hop Wiki Explore. Popular pages. G Busta Rhymes Jeru the Damaja. Recent blog posts Forum. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Wu-Tang Clan. Edit source History Talk 0. Cancel Save.
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