| Product Summary | | Label: Sony/columbia | | UPC: 00074646219324 | | Release Date: 11/21/2000 | | Buy.com Sku: 60448696 | | Item#: MNQDKJ | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Intro (Shaolin Finger Jab) ~ Wu-Tang Clan |  | | 2. Chamber Music ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 3. Careful (Click, Click) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 4. Hollow Bones ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 5. Redbull - (featuring Redman) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 5. Redbull - (featuring Redman) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 5. Redbull - (featuring Redman) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 6. One Blood Under W - (featuring Junior Reid) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 7. Conditioner - (featuring Snoop Dogg) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 8. Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 9. Let My Niggas Live - (featuring Nas) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 10. I Can't Go to Sleep - (featuring Isaac Hayes) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 11. Do You Really (Thang Thang) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 12. Monument, The - (featuring Busta Rhymes) ~ Wu-Tang Clan | | | 13. Gravel Pit ~ Wu-Tang Clan | |
| The Wu-Tang Clan, one of the most influential and prolific groups in the history of hip-hop, has reunited to release the most anticipated album of the year. With an all-star line up of Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Reakwon, Inspectah Deck, Rza, Ol'Dirty Bastard, Masta Killa, U-God, Cappadonna, and Gza it's no wonder that Wu-Tang has collectively been a worldwide attraction. The first single, "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)" is going to be followed by another hot crossover single, "Gravel Pit".
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Wu-Tang Clan: Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Rza, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Masta Killa, U-God, Cappadonna, Gza. | | Additional personnel includes: Issac Hayes, Junior Reid, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Paulissa Moorman. | | Recorded at 36 Chambers, New York, New York & Track Record, Inc, Los Angeles, California. | | After a host of disappointing solo albums and quickly diminishing celebrity (most of the latter devoted to the continuing extra-legal saga of Ol' Dirty Bastard), Wu-Tang Clan returned, very quietly, with 2000's The W. The lack of hype was fitting, for this is a very spartan work, especially compared to its predecessor, the sprawling and overblown Wu-Tang Forever. While the trademark sound is still much in force, group mastermind RZA jettisoned the elaborate beat symphonies and carefully placed strings of Forever in favor of tight productions with little more than scarred soul samples and tight, tough beats. The back-to-basics approach works well, not only because it rightly puts the focus back on the best cadre of rappers in the world of hip-hop, but also because RZA's immense trackmaster talents can't help but shine through anyway. Paranoid kung fu samples and bizarre found sounds drive the fantastic streets-is-watching nightmare "Careful (Click, Click)." Unfortunately, though, The W isn't quite the masterpiece it sounds like after the first few tracks. It falls prey to the same inconsistency as Forever, resulting in half-formed tracks like "Conditioner," with Snoop Dogg barely saving Ol' Dirty Bastard's lone appearance on the LP, a phoned-in vocal (in terms of sound and quality). When they're hitting on all cylinders though, Wu-Tang Clan are nearly invincible; "Let My Niggas Live," a feature with Nas, isn't just claustrophobic and dense but positively strangling, and singles material like "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)" and "Do You Really (Thang, Thang)" are punishing tracks. Paring down Wu-Tang Forever -- nearly a two-hour set -- to the 60-minute work found here was a good start, but the Wu could probably create another masterpiece worthy of their debut if they spent even more time in the editing room. ~ John Bush | | Seven years after the nine-member Wu-Tang Clan debuted with what is arguably one of the best hip-hop albums ever recorded, they released their third album, THE W. This album attempts to recapture the classic feel that put the group on the map, which must be the reason they titled one of its tracks "Protect Ya Neck 2000." Though much has changed since ENTER THE WU-TANG (36 CHAMBERS), the Wu still sound as new as their first album. | | The somber sounds of the album's most heartfelt tracks, "One Blood" and the bonus cut "Jah World," use an interpolation of popular reggae songs to highlight the struggle the Clan rap about. With only two guest MCs appearing on THE W (Redman on "Red Bull" and Snoop on "Conditioner"), the members of the Wu have plenty of verses to spread their knowledge. While not a re-creation of ENTER THE WU-TANG, THE W still goes for the jugular in the same way that this crew has always done. |
Producer: RZA; Allah Mathematics |
Engineer: Jose "Choco" Reynoso |
Musical Guests | | Junior Reid | | Redman | | Snoop Dogg | | Isaac Hayes | | Busta Rhymes | | Nas |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 11/21/2000 | | Original Release Date : 2000 | | Catalog ID : 62193 | | Label : Loud (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00074646219324 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (1/4/01, p.118)
- Included in Rolling Stone's "Top 50 Albums of 2000".Rolling Stone (12/21/00, pp.169-70)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "...A sonic gestalt that exists somewhere between the Queensbridge projects and OutKast's STANKONIA....reaffirming Wu-world order...as the best rap group ever..." Spin (2/01, pp.105-6)
- 8 out of 10 - "...Call this music what it is: Blue Urban Dread Improvised Boo Hoo Limp. Nobody Wu's it better." Entertainment Weekly (11/24/00, p.82)
- "...Utterly mellow...forgoeing innovation and simply revels in [the group's] stregths....Shifting easily from stark struts...to loose R&B...they're old pros, and they know it..." - Rating: B Q (1/01, p.113)
- 3 out of 5 stars - "...Largely a return to murky idiosyncratic form....it plays to the group's main strengths: brutal hooks and scary ambience..." The Wire (1/01, p.34)
- Included in Wire's "50 Records Of The Year" [2000]. The Wire (12/00, p.65)
- "...THE W feels like some unbathed, 'grit the blade in your teeth, grim and bare arms' type s***..." CMJ (11/27/00, p.4)
- "...Revisits the loose grimy methods that first propelled them to stardom..." Vibe (1/01, pp.137-8)
- 4.5 discs out of 5 - "...A dense, demented, 15-song opus....going against the grain of everything that's going on in rap right now. If originality, innovation, and a mastery of the fundamentals of beats and rhymes still mean something to people, then THE W stands for 'winner'." The Source (1/01, pp.193-4)
- 3.5 mics out of 5 - "...A sharp effort....it will make you dust off your copy of ENTER THE WU-TANG..." Melody Maker (11/28/00, p.50)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...They still rock....if you're genuinely interested in the myriad, spiralling noises that hip-hop can make...then get down to the record shop iommediately..." NME (Magazine)
(12/30/00, p.78)
- Ranked #21 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year". NME (Magazine)
(11/18/00, p.41)
- 8 out of 10 - "...With RZA in blinding form as Maestro Of Tension, THE W wades out impressively into a Fear Zone of guns, slums, cops and the kind of paranoid anxiety you get from smoking vast quantities of hydro and walking down Crackhead St. on your own at 4am..." |
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