There’s really no doubting that the thoroughly ad hoc and improvised collective the world has come to know as the Wu-Tang Clan fed its army of rappers on a diet of thinking differently right from the very start. A loose assembly of some nine MCs springing out of the Staten Island district of New York, it was always going to be a broad, vital and eclectic affair, propelled naturally by a fine balance of interests and individual stars. Named after a mythical kung fu sword wielded by an invincible warrior clan, characters like RZA (formerly Prince Rakeem), Genius/GZA (aka Justice and Maxi Million), Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Raekwon the Chef carved a warped, eerie and dark soundscape of hard beats, ultra-violence and surreal humour wrapped in a sarong of martial arts imagery and stoney mysticism. Producing, in effect, an order out of chaos.
‘Wu Tang Meets Indie Cultre’ is a compilation album put together by Dreddy Kruger, an associate of the Wu Tang Clan and sometime rapper (appearing on ‘Graveyard Chamber’ from the Gravediggaz’ debut album) and is a welcome, if not entirely perfect, addition to the Wu chronicles. The reasoning behind it was to bring a mash of Clan associates together with some of the most forward thinking indie/underground MCs. Hence, he have GZA & Ras Kass scratching it out on the seriously smooth ‘Verses’, Del The Funky Homosapien as directed by Bronze Nazareth on ‘Fragments’ and RZA and MF Doom squaring up on ‘Biochemical Equation’. Elsewhere there’s appearances from Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox, Vordul Mega, Aesop Rock, and J-Live just to name a few. The rugged soul-samples and surreal production credits are still there and there’s some vintage production touches from Mathematics, designer of the famed W logo, and Wu tenderfoot Bronze Nazareth. Those looking for cultural impact craters are likely to be disappointed though. This is not essential Wu but if nothing else, it’s still passionate and inventive.