Ninjas on some next shit...

Heard that Raekwon track, "Ninja Chop Chop" or some shit, for the first time today. Pretty loopy aesthetic, not the kind of thing he usually goes in for (remember the "hippy shit" drama with RZA?).

Still though, this track is fuckin' great. And who the fuck is that Estelle chick? She murders the hook.

Tekitha in 3

I think Lana Del Rey would put up a decent fight against Tekitha for two and a half rounds, then she'd cave.

RZA may not be an internationalist...or I could just be a moron

"Now you're bein' persecuted by that universal court court court..."

RZA, you'll remember, spat that shit on "Sunshower," one of those 9-minute tracks that remind you why he's the best hip hop artist on the planet.

Funny though, the line got me thinking. You can see it as an indictment of the Hague, if you're a fuckin' literal minded numbskull like me.

Granted, I know RZA had a rough time with county prosecutors in Babylon as a younger man, and that's probably what he's getting at with the line. But once he throws "universal" in there you start thinking bigger. That is, you start to pigeon hole the man into whatever absurd political context is confronting us in the moment.

And this must never be done with Bobby Digital. Fucketh not with inspired content. Not ever.

Weapons!

That "KFF 2000" joint from the GZA has an amazing beat -- sounds like he snatched it off the "Ghost Dog" cutting room floor.

And in the upload on YouTube, some guy added a picture of Gary pointing two handguns at the lens -- bet they were replicas.

And speaking of Deck....

'Member that line on "Forever" where he says, "I sold bottles of sorrow/ then chose poems and novels."

I can see a guy like Deck getting into the novelist Richard Price. They both write crime narratives that are pretty non-judgmental and pretty layered. And obviously they both have an encyclopedic knowledge of Babylon.

Memory Play

I first heard "Uncontrolled Substance" at a kitchen table in the UK. Deck reminded me of home that night. Not a great record, but "Word on the Street" is an obvious classic. A direct rebuke to pseudo-intellectual, head heavy abstractions grounded in absolutely nothing -- i.e. the stuff from the Anticon crowd.

Tell a story like Deck did on that track and then come talk to me. Otherwise shut the fuck up.

Supreme

The tracks on Supreme Clientele feel like the mid-90s -- operatic, scary at times, the product of smarts and excess.

Ghost could play around on that album because the whole fuckin' country played around back then. Now we all stay sober and connected. Internet shit. Fuck every waking minute of it.

Chef cookin' up some marvelous

Raekown always murdered the cuts when he collaborated with Mobb Deep in the mid-90s. Those guys understood each other.

Parlor game

Anyone think they can guess Popa Wu's age? I'd say mid-50s at least, since his protégées are all pushin' 40.

Fuck. Life's too short. Or too fast. Both, I guess.

Across the fuckin' pond

Remember reading several years ago about a pub crawl the RZA took with Bono in Dublin. Bobby said they drank ice cold vodka all night and met up with Naomi Campbell at one point.

I can see RZA drinking vodka, but I always pegged Bono for a wine and porter man. And I doubt Naomi Campbell drinks at all.

If anyone has evidence to the contrary then I'll stand corrected.

If they played Park Hill

How many guys from the Staten Island precincts would they put on that night? Probably not a ton. Sadly a lot of the younger guys who might cause problems at an outooor show don't even listen to Wu Tang.

Just the other day a 20-year-old kid told me the Godz were "a little before my time."

Tried tellin' him he wouldn't have a fuckin' time if not for these guys, but he wasn't hearing me.

Easy Street

Streetlife issues a lot of threats in his verses, but he always sounds good-natured. Something about those dulcet tones just always has you thinking, it's okay, man, no worries.

Meth Missed

Caught a stage dive from Johnny Blaze in the YouTube archives that made me laugh. Guy leapt from an amp and ended up on the floor. Those fuckers dropped him.

John John was a good sport about the whole thing. Came up smiling once they lifted him above the masses.

Guess at the end of the day he doesn't have much to be miserable about. And it's good to see some energetic hijinx from an old man.

Junior

Junior Reid was a solid collaborator on The W. The right vocals for the right tracks on the right album.

During the right time, no less. See, this is the kinda fuckin' serendipity that makes the Wu clique the Wu clique.

Some mystical shit, for real.