Wu Tang Clan - where do you even start? The story of Wu Tang Clan is a continual story
of flipping the norm, doing it your own way, and thinking long term. Wu Tang is Voltron. Wu Tang is genius branding. Wu Tang is metal sharpening metal. And Wu Tang’s debut album, Enter the Wu
Tang (36 Chambers) is like STARTING at the end and working backwards. Actually, starting at the end makes the most
sense for this video. Wu Tang started at the end and moved backwards
from there, so I’m gonna do the same thing. To start, here’s the ending quote for this
video: That’s the end, and that’s where we’re
starting. Here’s the rest of the video: We’re gonna talk about the formation of
the mighty Wu Tang Clan, specifically their debut album, “Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers),
break down the production and recreate a couple songs from this classic album, see the power
of the group, the branding of Wu Tang, and how the plan from the very beginning was to
do everything backwards. You ready? Let’s start with the mastermind behind the
plan: the RZA. In 1991, under the name “Prince Rakeem”
he signed a single deal with Tommy Boy Records, with an option for an album, but Tommy Boy
never picked it up. Around this time, RZA started producing much
more of his own music, as he recalled, Meanwhile, another MC, RZA’s cousin GZA
released a full length album, titled “Words from The Genius”, but after being dissatisfied
with the label, he left. RZA and GZA having bad experiences with music
labels would eventually lead to the unique arrangement of the Wu Tang Clan, but we’ll
get there in a moment. During the late 80s and early 90s, RZA had
many MC’s come through his home studio, many of which ended up being members of the
Wu Tang Clan. He was also in a few other groups, like “All
In Together Now” with GZA and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, but there was one night in particular
that would forever change the future of these MCs, and eventually hip hop in general. Inspectah Deck recalled this night, This “elaborate vision”, RZA’s master
plan, took a backward approach to how many record contracts worked, but would prove to
be a crucial part of the success of the Wu Tang Clan. More on their record deal in a minute. First, let’s talk about the members of the
Wu Tang Clan. While there had been hip hop groups with multiple
MC’s before, Wu Tang’s approach was different: get as many hard hitting MC’s together as
possible - blow the roof off the thing from the start, and keep going. Wu Tang Clan, comprised of RZA, GZA, Ol’
Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa
brought together 9 MC’s who could all hold their own without the group. Even if you had just 2 or 3 of them together,
it would be great, so bringing 9 MC’s together like this - it’s insane. And then you match THAT with RZA’s production. For one, it’s gritty, dirty, and sounds
very underground. RZA uses a lot of soul samples, but reworks
them to sound much grittier and harder, matching the energy of the MC’s rapping on top. 36 chambers opens with “Bring Da Ruckus”
- which has samples from Melvin Bliss as well as The Dramatics, but it’s layered with
a snare that was made by putting a mic inside a paint bucket and smacking the top. The Song “Wu Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin to
F Wit” - which, if you know nothing about Wu Tang, you at LEAST know that - samples
the theme from Underdog Or, on the simpler side, take the song C.R.E.A.M. - this song samples “As Long As I’ve Got
You” by the Charmels from 1967, pitching it up a bit, chopping a few sections, and
adding an additional kick drum. The production here is simple, yet very effective. Other songs on the album feature much more
involved sampling, with lots of small samples, added hits, and SO many layers, that that’s
gonna have to be in future videos. And then there’s the Kung Fu. There are samples from Kung Fu movies throughout
the album, lyrical quotes, and that’s where the name Wu-Tang Clan comes from. RZA is a huge fan of Kung Fu movies - so much
so that he made this a central part of the Wu Tang mythology. The name “Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)”
comes from the movies “Enter the Dragon” and “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin”. Wu-Tang members Masta Killa, Ghostface Killah
get their names from Kung Fu Movies, and the name “Wu Tang Clan” comes from another
movie, as RZA explains, The interview that quote is pulled from is
incredible. RZA breaks down a bunch of different Kung
Fu movies he’s sampled, and his passion for kung fu movies is obvious. The fact that he managed to roll his love
for Kung Fu movies into a hip hop group is amazing. This is another thing that’s so unique about
Wu Tang Clan. The branding. Through the name of the group, the name of
some of the MCs, the Kung Fu samples throughout 36 Chambers, and later albums as well - it
creates this whole mystique around the group. A larger than life quality. This branding would prove to be an important
part of Wu Tang. It’s not just the gritty production or the
9 incredible MC’s - there’s also the Kung Fu in the mix. It’s SO in your face, so unapologetically
hard, and there’s this whole mysterious “what the hell is this?” quality to it, in a way that draws you in. Just look at the album cover! Who is this group?!? As Inspectah Deck elaborates, Speaking of “Protect Ya Neck” - that was
the first step in the master plan. This was the first single by the Wu Tang Clan. It featured EVERYONE except Masta Killa - so
8 MCs on one song. It’s unapologetically in your face, and
it makes a statement - it’s announcing the Wu Tang Clan to the world - a large group
of heavy hitting MCs, all teamed up from the beginning. Each MC brings something different to the
track, and the verses just KEEP coming. At this point, there was no label, everything
was done in house. The cassette just had RZA’s phone number
on the back, and for promo it was just a bunch of dudes driving around in a van selling them
for a couple bucks or handing them out for free. Soon, they started to get the attention of
major labels, but they eventually landed on Loud Records, because they allowed Wu Tang
their unique label arrangement. But before we talk about those specifics,
here’s an incredible story from Loud’s founder and President, Steve Rifkind. A copy of “Protect Ya Neck” was sent to
Steve by someone on his street-team, and I want to know the story of that mailroom
guy. Did he quit his job after this? Was he actually a plant, sent there by Wu
Tang to hype up the meeting? I HAVE TO KNOW Anyway, the unique thing about Wu Tang’s
label arrangement is this. Every other label they had met with wanted
to sign Wu Tang AS WELL as every individual member. But RZA’s master plan was bigger than that. He was insistent that each individual member
be able to sign with whoever they want, and finally, Loud Records would be the label to
not only agree, but understand the larger vision. Steve Rifkind says that he’d meet with RZA
regularly, and agreed to just about everything, because RZA came in like a businessman and
made it as easy as possible. This would lead to the debut album “Enter
the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)”, and a string of solo albums from individual members of
the Wu Tang Clan. This is all part of RZA’s backwards master
plan. I say it’s backwards because Wu Tang is
really a musical supergroup, and the way that’s often done is to start out first with solo
careers, and then team up to make an album later. But RZA’s vision for Wu Tang was exactly
backwards from that. START with the supergroup album. START with this big mysterious group - 9 incredible
MC’s, gritty, paint bucket drums, in your face sound and lyrics - I mean, one of their
songs is literally called “Wu Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin to F Wit” - mix that with
some martial arts - and you’re not only going wide, but you’re going deep. This album 36 Chambers hit number 8 on the
hip hop charts, and sales wise has gone Triple Platinum - that’s wide - a lot of people
have listened to this album - but there’s so MUCH to Wu Tang - 9 Individual MC’s,
each with a unique style, the production, the Kung Fu, the mystique - that’s the deep
part - Wu Tang Clan has created their own little universe where you can go visit. RZA knew the power of branding in this way,
and the power of the group. While Protect Ya Neck features 8 of the 9
members of Wu Tang, the rest of the 36 Chambers album features just a few MC’s per track. They get to stretch their legs a little more,
you get to know each MC and their style better throughout the rest of the album. And because there are only SO many verses
on SO many songs, there’s a little bit of healthy competition in the group, which just
makes each MC work harder, and be the best they can be. RZA has described this process like monks
training with each other, or like sharpening metal against metal. The healthy competition among the 9 MCs on
this album made each individual MC better. And THEN there’s the fact that 36 Chambers
has a bunch of unreleased verses. Inspectah Deck described this process, noting
that on the song CREAM, originally he and Raekwon recorded 4 verses each to a DIFFERENT
beat. RZA then took their best two verses each,
with Method Man on the chorus and as he describes it “sat down with all the puzzle pieces”. This happened often on many songs with each
MC. So, it’s not only that you’ve got 9 incredible
MCs. It’s not only that there’s healthy competition
between them, making them work harder and level up their lyrics. But on TOP of all that, RZA is selecting only
the BEST verses from each MC, changing his own beat underneath until it feels right. And speaking of these individual MC’s - here’s
where it all comes together. RZA specifically wouldn’t sign Wu Tang to
a label unless they agreed to let the individual members sign their own deals with whatever
labels they wanted. Loud Records was happy to make that deal,
and as a result, put out “Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)” in 1993, but then in the
4 years that followed, Method Man, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Raekwon, GZA, and Ghostface Killah,
ALL put out solo albums. These were all on different record labels,
with individual deal, but it was almost all produced by RZA. Then in 1997 Wu Tang released “Wu Tang Forever”
- bringing them all back together for another group album. Other Wu Tang Members understood this vision
early on: This was the plan that RZA laid out to Inspectah
Deck early on, to Loud Records, and the rest of the Wu Tang Clan. RZA’s master plan for Wu Tang was backwards
from the normal supergroup. START with just an insane amount of talent,
9 MC’s - and make an incredible album full of gritty production, incredible verses, and
kung fu influence and mystique - give people a LOT to latch on to. But then follow THAT up with a string of solo
releases that continues on the Wu Tang mythology. This is like if Marvel STARTED with Avengers
Endgame, and then did the individual Iron Man or Captain America Movies after that. It’s completely backwards, completely brilliant,
and it worked. Now let’s circle back to the quote we started
with at the beginning. Wu Tang is like Voltron. Individual incredible MC’s coming together
to form a super group from the beginning. They flipped the normal way of doing things
in their label deal, the group structure, the production, and this established Wu Tang
Clan as a force to be reckoned with, or I guess, rather, nothin’ to f- with, and a
big part of the east coast hip hop renaissance of the 90s. Another MC who began in this era and had a
huge influence was Nas, who released his debut album, Illmatic in 1994. This album features the song “New York State
of Mind”, produced by DJ Premier, which completely redefined the term - but for that
story, you’ll have to watch this video.
