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For the full story behind the above drawing, which led to Rap Page's Cheo Coker getting handed a legendary beatdown by the Wu's Masta Killa, check out Poplicks
Is Wu-Tang making a comeback? That's what it seems like these days. The question needs to be asked: is it too late for a full fledged comeback? Rza seems to be focused strictly on the movie soundtrack game these days, Meth's legacy has taken a hit after a couple of failed attempts at acting with Redman, ODB passed away and its questionable how many of hip hop's newer fans have even listened to Enter the Wu-Tang - 36 Chambers. Are people even checking for the Wu these days?
Nevertheless, the first sign of an orchestrated comeback was the release of Ghostface's Fishscale album. Although it didn't put up amazing sales numbers, it was still well reviewed and proved that Ghost hadn't fallen off. Then MethTical dropped a couple of singles, including a track with Lauryn Hill. I have to admit, when I first heard about that one, I thought the concept of a Meth/L-Boogie duet was about 6 years too late. After listening to it, though, I wouldn't be surprised if it generates enough buzz to lead into a Method Man solo album. Is Lauryn Hill as relevant as, say, Beyonce these days though? That remains to be seen.
Cappadonna then announced that he was giving up the taxicab career and going back to the mic. Cap had some business-related problems with the rest of the Wu after his debut album was released, but has recently been talking about rejoining them on tour, so apparently that has been resolved.
Finally, there have been a couple of Raekwon tracks that have made it out onto the internet. I had been hearing that a Raekwon album was expected to be released this year, but Wu-Tang has a well-earned reputation for delayed releases so my expectations for a Chef album were pretty low for 2006. The chances of a release this year seem to have gotten a lot better, though, with the release of a few promo tracks from The Chef.
While Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is a certified hip hop classic, his followups aren't even worth discussing. I won't hold my breath for a sequel worthy of OB4CL (that's how the hip kids refer to Only Built 4), but I am confident it will be better than his other releases. Raekwon's never been quite as lyrically adept as some of the other Wu members, so its important that he doesn't skimp on the production for this album. From everything I've heard so far, the beats seem to be on point.
Now all I need is a decent album from Inspectah Deck, who in my opinion is the best lyricist out of the Wu. Deck is always a threat to turn a guest appearance on a track into a legendary 16 bars. He still hasn't managed to put it all together into a solid solo release, but I still have my hopes.
Here are the Raekwon promo tracks:
(tracks after the jump -->)
5/12/2006 9:58:47 AM posted by Fresh