#39 Wu-Tang Clan – Protect Ya Neck

I’ve referred to the Wu-Tang Clan’s 1993 album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) many times in this countdown, usually when discussing the best Hip Hop albums of all time. I haven’t actually gotten to write about any of its tracks until now, though. Over these 62 countdown entries, I’ve had plenty of time to think about how best to describe it in scholarly terms, but I keep returning to my personal relationship with the album. Enter the Wu-Tang was the perfect Hip Hop album for the 13-year-old suburban white boy I was when I first heard it in 1995, which isn’t to say it’s in any way soft; when Method Man said he’ll “bang your nuts with a spiked f***in’ bat,” he meant it. The album is such a departure from Public Enemy’s black militancy, A Tribe called Quest’s jazzy grooves, or N.W.A.’s gangsta raps that it truly belongs among those rare records for which the descriptor “paradigm shift” is apt. I’ve always been a tourist when listening to the aforementioned, but in the Wu-Tang Clan’s world of Kung Fu flicks, comic books, and obscure pop culture references, I’m right at home. The Clan tossed aside what blueprints existed in 1992 for commercially viable Hip Hop and still managed to drop a platinum album, prompting Pitchfork to describe it as “the sound of accidental fame.”

Known for its bizarre song structures, unorthodox free associative lyrics, and random Kung Fu flick excerpts, Enter the Wu-Tang‘s unifying quality is its bleak sound scape. RZA avoided the James Brown loops that were so prevalent in mainstream Hip Hop in lieu of more obscure soul samples and straight up raw studio sounds. Allmusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the album’s vibe as “lean, menacing beats that evoked (the Clan’s) gritty, urban surroundings more effectively than their words.” RZA’s genius aside, the minimalist production is also the result of little budget. “Because (RZA) didn’t have the best mixing or recording equipment, the album is wrought with a ‘dirty’ quality—the drums have more bass and are more hard-hitting than they are crisp and clean; the samples have an eerie, almost haunting type of echo; and the vocals, because each member’s voice is already aggressive and gritty, perfectly match the production,” wrote music critic Ben Yew.

Enter the Wu-tang has been credited with single-handedly snatching Hip Hop fans’ attention back to New York after it seemed like L.A.’s gangsta rap would never release its grip. Its 13 tracks are universal in their simultaneous street and suburban appeal, landing the record on numerous best-of lists, most notably Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The Clan’s nine larger than life personalities and its “9 Diagram Phoenix” emblem were ready made to market, yet nearly 20 years later, they’ve managed to keep the respect of Hip Hop’s underground through numerous solo albums and other projects.

It’s appropriate that “Protect Ya Neck” is the first 36 chambers track to make my countdown. In addition to being the album’s first single, it was also the perfect introduction to the Clan as eight of its nine members vie for time on the mic. The song is pure attitude as each member attempts to outdo the others with nonstop bragging and threats. “Turn the other cheek, and I’ll break your f***in’ chin,” shouts the RZA in “Protect Ya Neck’s” seventh verse. Similar to their 1997 tracks “Diesel” and “Triumph,” the track has no hook or chorus, giving the track a relentless vibe. Method Man repeatedly warns “watch your step, kid” during the hook, a precursor to the track “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F*** Wit,” which you should’ve known if you made it through this one.

#51 Raekwon – Criminology

“Criminology” is the second number from Raekwon’s iconic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx to grace my countdown. While Rae and sidekick Ghostface Killah drop solid verses, RZA’s instrumental is the real star here. The story goes that Ghostface originally wrote his verse while touring and asked RZA for a beat. He should’ve asked his producer to tone it down, as RZA freaks Black Ivory’s “I Keep Asking You Questions” and The Sweet Inspirations’ “Why Marry” for his Rumble-in-Hong-Kong styled track, totally jacking the spotlight. Raekwon would re-use the beat on his 2009 sequel to Only Built. Consistent with the prevalent drug dealing theme on Cuban Linx, “Criminology” begins with an excerpt from the movie Scarface.

#52 Big Daddy Kane – Nuff Respect

Big Daddy Kane was easily one of the best lyricists of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Legendary emcee Rakim is even rumored to have backed down from a freestyle battle with him. He consistently ranks in the top 10 rappers of all time, garnering praise from journalists and fellow rappers. According to Ice-T, “Big Daddy Kane is still today one of the best rappers. I would put Big Daddy Kane against any rapper in a battle. Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem, any of them. I could take his ‘Raw’ “swagger” from 88 and put it up against any record [from today]. Kane is one of the most incredible lyricists… and he will devour you on the mic. I don’t want to try to out-rap Big Daddy Kane. Big Daddy Kane can rap circles around cats,” while the RZA sums him up saying “in the old days you always used to argue who was better Big Daddy Kane, Rakim or Kool G Rap. But the reason why Big Daddy Kane I think you know was even in that category and some people would say was because his swagger was an MCs swagger. This dude had the Brooklyn aggressiveness, and yet he still has all the girls on him and he still had hardcore styles.”

That Brooklyn aggressiveness and ability to rap circles around cats is very evident on “Nuff Respect.” Kane slows down and accelerates his flow to breakneck speeds at will, matching the recklessness of Hank Shocklee (Who I’ve actually met, by the way. Nice guy.) of the Bomb Squad’s instrumental. Very few emcees could successfully spit the line “as I start, to braggin’ and taggin’ and sayin’ I’m baggin’ all the rappers on the bandwagon” as quickly and smooth as Kane does, and if they pulled it off, might save it for their final verse as a grand finale of sorts, but he blows by that line mere seconds into the track.  One would expect a diss track like “Nuff Respect” to be profanity laden, but Kane keeps it clean, opting instead for clever references like “heavens to Murgatroyd” (60’s cartoon cat Snagglepuss‘s catchphrase.) and playground digs like “I won’t say what you are, but I’ll hint you, you’re found on a woman and a penis goes in you.” At 2:58, “Nuff Respect” shows Kane is all business, cramming two and a half stellar verses into such a so little time. The result is a track so dope that it plays in its entirety during the first scenes of the classic movie Juice, as well as in its trailer. 

#53 Wu-Tang Clan – Diesel

“Diesel” joins Camp Lo’s “Luchini” as the only tracks from 1997 to make this list. The “Golden Age” had all but ended by then, with very few of its elements remaining as Bad Boy and No Limit Records continued to gain popularity. Even Wu-Tang Clan’s second album Wu-Tang Forever underwhelmed, and in retrospect signaled the beginning of a downturn for most of the Wu-Tang members, Ghostface Killah being the exception. The Clan failed to take GZA’s advice when he rapped “make it brief son, half short twice strong” on “As High as Wu-Tang Get.” 14 of Forever’s 27 tracks could have been left on the cutting room floor for a more respectable album. I can only conclude “Diesel” was recorded in those same sessions and its exclusion is baffling. It was released seven weeks later  on the Soul in the Hole soundtrack and remains relatively obscure to this day.

Like “Luchini,” “Diesel” didn’t seem at home with the watered down, commercialized rap pushed by MTV and top 40 radio in the summer of ’97. All those Golden Era elements are present on “Diesel,” from the original flows to the stripped down, less-is-more minimalist beat more raw than anything produced by RZA since Enter the Wu-Tang. ODB, Raekwon, Method Man, RZA and U-God continue to pour on their lyrics skipping out on any sort of hook or bridge. Not only do their verses keep coming like an ass whipping you’d catch stealing from someone’s mama, but each is hip hop brilliance. I would go as far as saying that Raekwon’s rivals Inspectah Deck’s iconic first verse from “Triumph.” Ironically, Ol’ Dirty Bastard spits some of his tightest, most coherent and thought out lines while at his most paranoid and schizophrenic. RZA gives the listener a chance to catch his breath as he wraps things up, letting the track ride for nearly two whole minutes after U-God asks “now is it worth your career?”

#55 GZA – Liquid Swords

“We form like Voltron and GZA happens to be the head,” Method Man says during the interlude of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). The GZA, short for The Genius, is the chosen handle of Gary Grice, one of the three founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan. At least 3 years older than the other members of the Clan, GZA served as a mentor to the group leading up to the release of their legendary first album. In 1991, he signed with Cold Chillin’ Records and released Words From the Genius. The album didn’t sell and the ensuing tour was a flop, leading him to quit the label soon after due to what he saw as under promotion. The experience left him slightly jaded, as evidenced by his track “Labels” and lines like “first of all, who’s your A&R, a mountain climber that plays an electric guitar?” but was likely instrumental in preparing him to advise the group en route to super-stardom.

Thematically, GZA’s verses are filled with allusions to kung fu, chess, sword fighting, and 5 Percenter Islam. His lyrics have been described as “the most potent distillation of the Wu aesthetic as laid out on Enter the Wu-Tang.” While Raekwon and Ghostface have prevailing “mafioso” themes in their solo projects, Method Man his blunted out weed raps with fellow class clown Redman, and whatever the fuck Ol’ Dirty Bastard was rapping about, GZA seems to be the quintessential Wu-Tang Clansman. There are few references to materialism, women, or sexuality at all on Liquid Swords. Throughout, it’s clear that the Genius is only on the mic to be the best emcee.  He ranks among the Source’s Top 50 MC’s of all time, and even higher among his peers, being compared to Rakim among members of the Wu-Tang.

Nas’s Illmatic consistently tops Golden Age best album lists, with A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End theory, N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton, Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die, and the aforementioned Enter the Wu-Tang usually rounding out the top 5 in varying order. Those 6-15 or so spots are a little murkier, though. Liquid Swords absolutely belongs there. Wu-Tang fans seem split on whether Swords or Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is the best of the Clan’s solo albums, and I myself can’t say. The fact that there’s such disagreement is a testament to just how incredible Liquid Swords is.

“Gritty” is the word that appears in every review from Allmusic and Pitchfork‘s to my buddy Mike’s after I’d introduced Swords to him eight years ago. RZA’s production on tracks like “I Gotcha Back,” and “4th Chamber” certainly warrants this appraisal, while the instrumentals on “Swordsman” and “Cold World” run the gamut all the way to creepy. GZA’s Rakim-meets-Bruce-Lee-meets-Avon-Barksdale lyrics combine with RZA’s beats to make Liquid Swords a pillar of hardcore hip hop. Tracks like “Camay” or “Ice Cream,” in which Clan members reveal softer, more lighthearted sides are no where to be found. Swords never overwhelms or devolves into inaccessibility, though. Such sonic abrasiveness might lose listeners in the hands of other tandems of daring producers like El-P and hardcore rappers like Cannibal Ox, but RZA and GZA find a perfect balance.

Appropriately, the track that is most up to the challenge to open such an iconic album also bears its name. “Liquid Swords” begins with dialogue from the 1980 film Shogun Assassin. At 79 seconds, it’s one of the longest kung fu skits from any of the Wu-Tang albums, and also the creepiest, but it’s extremely effective. In it, a child describes a war between his assassin father and a shogun whose “brain was infected by devils” that also involves ninja spies and decapitations. By the time RZA and GZA fall in, the hair on the back of your neck is either standing or you need to check your pulse. RZA absolutely murders the production, combining the 1960’s tracks “Groovin‘” and “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” both by Willie Mitchell, to achieve the hypnotic, pulsating beat to which GZA lays waste. “This track is just braggadocios. It isn’t meant to stand for anything. I’m talking about my skills and how I’m better than the rest,” he told The Source in 2003. “Usually I take a beat home and write to it for a few days, but it wasn’t like that with this track. I think RZA played the beat for me and I just spit to it right there.” If indeed GZA’s verses were written on the spot, he certainly proves his intelligence with lines like “lyrics are weak, like clock radio speakers/don’t even stop in my station and attack/while your plan failed, got derailed like Amtrak.” Get it? Radio and train stations… Also fitting is the chorus, rapped by RZA and GZA. On an album on which the entire Wu-Tang Clan appeared, it was a throwback to GZA’s first collaborations with his group mates. “The hook was actually a routine from around ‘84 that me RZA and Ol’ Dirty would do,” GZA said. ‘When the emcees came, to live out the name.’ Just like that.”

#68 Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Shimmy Shimmy Ya

Brooklyn’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard was one of the three founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan. Originally known as Force of the Imperial Master, the RZA, GZA, and ODB would add six more emcees to become one of rap’s most famous collectives with their 1993 release of the classic Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). ODB released his first solo album, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version in 1995 and it sold a million copies. That year he also costarred on Mariah Carey’s remix of “Fantasy,” which could go down with Bing Crosby and David Bowie or Eminem and Elton John as one of the more out of left field collaborations in the history of music.

The Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s delivery was one of the most unique in hip hop. Method Man commented “there ain’t no father to his style” on one of Enter the Wu-Tang’s interludes. In its obituary of ODB, The Economist wrote, “his real signatures were his voice, which wobbled like a top losing spin, and his weird sense of rhythm.” It wasn’t rare for him to break from mumbled rap into even more mumbled song and back on a given track. “I feel like Al Green,” he slurred when asked about this on MTV. “ODB rapped about humiliations shamelessly—his ugliness and recurrent bouts with venereal disease were themes,” The Economist continued.

It was that shamelessness that kept ODB in the spotlight between hit records. In 1995 after Enter the Wu-Tang had already sold a million copies and as his own record was charting, he took an MTV camera crew along with him in a Limousine to pick up food stamps. In 1997, he was arrested for failure to pay child support for three of his 13 children. In 1998, he pled guilty to attempted assault on his wife, and later that year, he was arrested for attempting to shoplift a $50.00 pair of shoes when he had nearly $500.00 in his wallet. More than 10 years before Kanye West would make headlines for interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards, Dirty interrupted the Grammy Awards to voice his disapproval of the Wu-Tang Clan’s being passed over for best song. Numerous weapons and drug charges would follow until his death from a cocaine and tramadol overdose in 2004. Music writer Steve Huey wrote that “it was difficult for observers to tell whether Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s wildly erratic behavior was the result of serious drug problems or genuine mental instability.” ODB also made positive headlines in 1998 when he rescued a 4-year-old girl from a burning car. Using a fake name, he visited her until she was released from the hospital’s burn unit.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard was one of the true characters in hip hop, and that character is instantly evident on “Shimmy Shimmy Ya.” A recording of Richard Pryor saying “you have to sing or somethin’ to get some pussy” starts the track with ODB immediately falling in,  singing about how he likes it raw before furiously exploding into his stream of consciousness rap. Searching for literal meaning in any of ODB’s lyrics is an exercise in futility. This is especially applicable to “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” but lyrics aren’t the point of the song. ODB’s voice and drunken style carry the track perfectly, as the RZA screws up the bass line from “Hip-Hug-Her” by Booker T. & the MG’s and sprinkles in a hint of the opening piano notes of Stevie Wonder’s “Knocks Me Off My Feet.” “His rhymes undersell his talent when written down,” according to The Economist, and I have to agree. ODB was all attitude in his raps. As he states in the middle of the song, “see my name is the ODB. And I’ll beat your ass.”

#74 Ghostface Killah featuring Raekwon and Cappadonna – Iron Maiden

“Iron Maiden” is the first track on Ghostface Killah’s 1996 album Ironman. The opening dialogue, of considerable length at nearly a minute, sets the tone for the album perfectly. The clip is from the 1974 blaxploitation film “The Education of Sonny Carson,” and plays into the mafioso themes that Ghost, Raekwon, and Cappadonna – themselves a formidable mini group within the Wu-Tang Clan – began incorporating into their music with Rae’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. The movie clip features an outnumbered kid confidently challenging the leader of a New York street gang to fight. Undoubtedly Ghostface saw himself in that position as he became the 5th member of the Wu-Tang Clan to release a solo effort.

Lyrically, the three emcees lay down aggressive, stream of conscious lines about everything from defending drug territory, to fashion, to cliched hip hop materialism. It works well though, because of the wit employed. Cappadonna raps “every evenin’, I have a by myself meetin’, thinkin’ who’s gonna be the next to catch a beatin’, from my mental slangin” with a machine gun like cadence. Ghost makes a “General Hospital” reference when he says “me and my girl run like Luke and Laura.” Meanwhile the RZA blasts another in a long line of dope beats, sampling this time from Al Green’s “Gotta Find a New World.” In his review of Ironman, The A.V. Club’s Stephen Thompson would say “Just as Terminator X was Public Enemy’s secret weapon, The RZA is The Wu-Tang Clan’s. Producer RZA, quietly working behind the scenes, has been the force behind Wu-Tang’s raw, all over the map, Bruce Lee-meets-Gladys Knight sound.” “Iron Maiden” showcases the Clan’s superior lyricism and the RZA’s production mastery, proving that spreading their talents thin was nothing the Wu had to sweat.

#99 Raekwon feat. Nas & Ghostface Killah – Verbal Intercourse

Raekwon’s 1995 album, “Only Built 4 Cuban Cuban Linx,” is widely regarded as the strongest solo album from any of the members of the Wu-Tang Clan. I myself include it in my top 5 albums of any genre. The album boasts some of the RZA’s best beats, and prominently features Ghostface Killah on most tracks to perfectly compliment Raekwon. Abandoned are the Clan’s usual what-the-fuck-are-you-even-talking-about kung-fu and chess themed lyrics in lieu of more coherent crack dealing and murder raps. The album marked the beginning of the prevalent “mafioso” themes that would be a staple of lesser groups like the Boot Camp Clique, Mobb Deep, and Capone-N-Noreaga.

Only Built‘s best verses appear on the aptly named Verbal Intercourse. The track is notable in that it is the first of any Wu-Tang related album to feature a rapper not officially in the clan. Nas more than rises to the challenge by dropping what I consider to be his best verse ever and blowing Rae and Ghost out even after they’ve put superior verses together. The instrumental itself doesn’t hold its own with other “Only Built…” standouts like Incarcerated Scarfaces and Icecream, but the RZA manages to give the slowed down Emotions sample a hypnotic quality with its repeated “I wanna love him, but what if he…” Any discussions of the Wu’s skills as pure lyricists must include this one.