Saturday, December 24, 2011

If the crew did karaoke...

RZA would sing "New Year's Day" by U2, Meth would sing Fleetwood Mac in jest, and GZA would take notes in a journal in a quiet corner somewhere inside the bar.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

As the holidays approach...

Think Steve Rifkind sends Christmas cards to any Wu members?

I don't know enough about the history of the Loud imprint -- or why it folded -- to hazard a guess.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Up in smoke...

Hearing "Fire," ODB's posthumous hit online, makes it clear that a new chapter was in the cards for Dirty at the time of his death, at least creatively.

He had something coherent and doubly inspired in the offing. You know RZA will eventually give the new stuff the treatment that it deserves.

He always does.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Wager

Willing to bet most hip-hop fans over 30 can recite Cappadonna's two-minute verse on "Daytona 500" verbatim.

Strange to think that one of the least-consistent members of the group delivered one of the top five verses in the entire canon, by any reputable measure.

They kept you guessing then and they still do.

Friday, December 16, 2011

By George...

Not sure why George Harrison's kid's work on 8 Diagrams was such a point of contention between RZA and Rae.

The Chef seemed to object more on cultural grounds than aesthetic ones. Saying repeatedly that RZA was on "some hippy shit" did not suggest a wariness of guitar-oriented samples (they've gone there countless times before).

Instead it suggested a fear that the group would be embracing a more effeminate identity, which of course is suicidal within the confines of the genre (and, for that matter, within the confines of most popular music loved by hipsters...a brooding male vocalist with a soft touch is one thing; a dude rockin' a fedora and hoping to be taken seriously by the twenty-something couple gentrifying Brooklyn is quite another).

The whole episode was an interesting fissure in the group, but thankfully all concerned parties appear to have moved on.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Publicity

Has the RZA ever turned down an interview request? Guy pops up everywhere, and he's moved far beyond the hip-hop rags.

You hear him on NPR, you see him on British celebrity news channels; pretty soon he'll appear on CNBC or Bloomberg, offering up a clear way forward on anti-piracy measures.

We should all listen when it happens.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Cap it off

Still waiting for the investigative report delving into Cappadonna's apparent exile to Baltimore a few years ago.

What the hell happened? We have a right to know.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My God...

Somehow U-God learned to MC. Listen to "Dopium" if you don't believe me. Guy still lacks the emotive force of RZA or Ghost, the wit of Method Man, and the menace of Raekwon.

But he now takes his place alongside GZA and Masta Killa as a quiet chronicler of The Life. Granted, those two focus on spiritual questions, and Baby U still hasn't left the club.

But after hearing "Dopium" I think he'll get there.