WU TANG CLAN - The W

Loud

It was certainly the thing to look forward to most, if only out of curiosity to see what happens when the clan's monumental W reappears with something new. Wu Tang's third album comes three years after the previous one and following a significant decline in the group's popularity. So the clan attempts to reshaker the formula, getting heralded by a single that takes us straight back to 1993: “Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)”... Boom, it's back into the 36 rooms and it's not just the title, the song is a heavy posse cut, with no chorus, and verses as rough and well-defined as concrete blocks. Nice really, so when you have the whole of “The W” in your hand you inevitably expect to hear ‘that stuff’. In fact the elements are kind of all there, it picks up with skits cut out of kung fu movies, Rza packs his unusual and out-of-tune rhythmic runs, the sounds are dark and minimalist, the rhymes are all there except those of ODB who is always replaced by Cappadonna, and when in the intro Method Man slurs ’We're Back“ you really think you can trust him. Actually, the album unravels right away, already with the hostile ”Careful“ and depresses for good on the third track, which is ”Conditioner“ in which, to get ODB involved, Rza uses one of his old, poorly recorded verses and pairs him with an unlikely Snoop Dogg. All completely out of place for a very sad result. Things pick up with ”The Monument“ in which Raekwon and a very good Masta Killa really make Busta Rhymes feel comfortable while Rza cuts the sample three different ways during the same track to accompany the three mc's. Worth hearing over and over again. Also great is the second single ”Gravel Pit“ and not bad really is the cameo by a very dirty Redman in ”Redbull.“ But ”The W“ does not convince. The elements are there but lack substance. Doubts arise in particular when I realize that the thing that strikes me most about the album is Nas” verse in “Let My Niggas Live” (goosebumps, as in the days of “Illmatic”). But how? Where is that unique flavor with which the Clan had delighted and spoiled us in ‘93? It is missing. When “Enter The 36 Chambers” came out, the impact was a punch in the stomach. The nine from Shaolin were one, their album had an incredible compactness, as only nine people living, sleeping and eating together can produce. It had the rage of poverty, it was as crooked as a diseased limb, delirious, complex, raw and muddied with a wisdom that had matured in the underworld of the ghetto, between Muslim rigor and martial arts mysticism. A series of elements that can hardly be repeated with the same intensity after seven years. The Wu Tang, fortunately for them, have moved on to a far more affluent life, and considering their respective solo engagements, it is already incredible to think that they managed to make an album together again. But the difference is abysmal. “The W” is a good Hip Hop album, be it understood, even if it slips on a few tracks, but perhaps the Clan should have tried another route instead of chasing the formula that crowned them sovereigns on their debut. This is merely a reflection of that.