On December 2nd, 2014 the Wu-Tang Clan will be dropping their sixth and most likely, final, album. If this comes as news to you, you may want to catch up. Last week, a lucky group of around 50 industry folk and simply, fans, including Young Guru, gathered into NYC’s Quad Studios to hear A Better Tomorrow. Being that the time between this one and their last album has been the longest hiatus without a full album (seven years) and rumors of discordance within the group brewing, fans, old and new, have been holding on to mixed feelings. It’s been a long and bumpy road for the group hailing from Shaolin lands and A Better Tomorrow is the bow that ties it all together, pretty or not.
Before U-God and Masta Killa joined him in the studio, RZA opened with this statement:
“This new album is called A Better Tomorrow. I am the producer of it. The Wu-Tang Clan… every member is present on the record. I’m not gonna pre-empt that, but you’ll hear some maturity and our thinking process. It’s a very lyrical album. A lot of stories and vignettes of stories you’ll hear. And I think you’ll get a taste of New York flavor as well as some… travel down the road of history of music, yo. So, without further ado… Wu-Tang Clan: A Better Tomorrow. Press, welcome. And thanks for coming out.”
That said, here’s three takeaway’s from that we got from the Wu’ at the exclusive listening.
RZA Has Shown Growth As A Producer And Emcee
Everything RZA mentioned in his opening speech was correct. Every member made an appearance on the album, including a few appearances by ODB. There are several vignettes. And there is some apparent maturation. But what he left out is that he took it upon himself to deliver the most on what has been perceived to be a RZA driven project. On many of the tracks, he switches up the beat from verse to verse to highlight different parts of it, whether it’s the guitar or the rhythm or the vocals. Instead of repeating eight bars of the same melody and drum pattern, RZA dug deep to hold the listener’s attention and anticipate what might come next. From his days with the Gravediggaz to starting with the Wu-Tang, RZA has developed his production style to fill the whole room instead of creating an ominous feeling with the barebones of a beat.
Lyrically, RZA showed the most improvement in flow versatility and wordplay when compared to his earlier years. Unfortunately, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah were not featured as prominently as the other members, possibly making RZA’s growth that much more noticeable, but you can’t take away how perfectly he adapts to ride the beat on “40th Street Black/We Will Fight.” And during “Ron O’Neal,” he came out of his studio to energetically rap his verse in the room with all of the journalists.
A Better Tomorrow Is More Of A Compilation Than A Conceptual Project
It’s important to first note that they only played the album in its entirety once. But based off of that first listen, while there definitely tracks that center around a single concept, “Mistaken Identity” and “A Better Tomorrow,” most of the tracks felt as if they were strung together from various recording studios across the country. The one thing holding it all together is RZA’s energy and production. It’s understandable that each member of the Wu-Tang has a busy schedule, seriously limiting the amount of chemistry that would have enriched the album.
But when you compare A Better Tomorrow to their first album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), you can’t help but be a little disappointed. There are no skits like the intro to “Method Man” or “Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber.” Instead, there are short, thought provoking monologues from RZA sprinkled here and there. And there’s no sense of gamesmanship to outdo each other from verse to verse. This may all be attributed to the “maturity” that RZA spoke of. If so, a little immaturity could have gone a long way.
Wu-Tang Added New Elements To A Time Tested Formula
Some things haven’t changed for the Wu. There are plenty of Kung Fu movie samples for the nerds to research, most memorably on “Necklace.” Many of GZA’s rhymes focus on scientific terminology and concepts. And overall, many of the songs are lyrically brutal and threatening that evoke memories of “Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off).” None of that has changed. RZA took some experimental leeway with voice distortion but the biggest addition is the presence of singer, Nathaniel. He sings the hook on four of the tracks, which is a departure of sorts for the clan.
One has to wonder why they decided to wait for their potentially last album to bolster a young talent from NYC like Nathaniel. Aside from the R&B element, RZA takes another gambit on “Preacher’s Daughter.” He reinterprets “Son of a Preacher Man,” made famous by Dusty Springfield, with a Country guitar melody that outshines prior attempts in Hip-Hop to marry the two genres.
RELATED: Everything You Need To Know About Wu-Tang Clan’s “A Better Tomorrow” [Editorial]
Preacher’s Daughter must feature Killah Priest
I predict this will be another album that every single Wu Tang fan will buy or download, but will dissapoint most of us…
Most of the Wu Tang fans would love to see a Wu Tang album with production from Bronze Nazareth, Mathematics, Cilvaringz and other affiliated Wu Tang producers. I’m sure even Wu Tang members would prefer that… but sadly we will never see that.
Exactly, and even sadder is that, THAT album does exist in Once Upon A Time In Shaolin (entirely produced by Cilvaringz). But he and RZA are selling that to the highest bidder supposedly, if anybody even wants to buy it anymore.
disagree. A Wu album to me is produced by the RZA. The best solo’s and group albums….all done exclusively (or at least 90%) by RZA. I’ll stand by his resume.
Don’t take me wrong RZA is a good producer, but i dont know something tells me this album will disappoint because of RZA taking control over everything once again, if they wanted to make an impact with their last album they should of reached out for other producers.
The best solo albums from all Clan members are RZA-driven productions. His only hiccup is * Diagrams, and many fans such as myself, dig that album, particularly within the context of the overall Wu catalogue. Whenever Clan members have reached out to other producers, the result is marginal at best. (Not including TruMaster or Mathematics). Consider this – as dope as Method Man is, he’s only had one classic album (Tical, produced by RZA); Raekwon has never dropped an album as dope as OB4CL, produced by RZA; GZA, arguably the sharpest lyricist in the Clan, has never repeated his classic Liquid Swords, produced by RZA. ODB’s first album is classic, produced by RZA. Ghostface’s Iron Man, a classic, is arguably his best album, produced by RZA. Ghost’s other classic, Supreme Clientele, was produced in large part by RZA. In fact, Ghost, is the only solo artist among the Wu who has dropped solid albums not produced entirely by RZA. If there is one member that you remove from the Clan, and the group is no longer the same product, it’s the RZA.
*8 Diagrams
at least someone gets it. Look back at RZA’s production catalog then tell me it’s not a quality product when he does all the production.
I swear yo, one person gripes about the beats and it becomes suggestive thought
I ain’t heard a wack beat yet and think imma enjoy the hell outta this last wu album
if i want that old wu i’ll pull out said old album
as for this conry beats convo, rza ain’t do the whole wu massacre album now did he? look how that turned out
Wu-Massarce was dope
I was contacted in April about submitting beats for the album…none made it but I understand why…I used a lot of rugged samples and that wasn’t the sound RZA was going for on this one.
Whats your facebook/soundcloud? I am interested to hear what you do!
This doesn’t sound promising, could be potentially wack lol
Whatever Wu try to do they will never come close to their 93-96 era, that’s reality..
nathaneal on 4 songs???????? oh god.
That nathaniel is wack!
This whole new A Better Tomorrow concept is RZA f@*kin with Authentic Bros…just coz Authentic Bros has a member called REZA….hence the whole AB….Authentic Bros…A Better Tomorrow. I’m a Wu fan….always been….but I can comfortably say with ease….F@*K RZA….in fact he look and act like an A@ Hole for real!
So how exactly is A Better Tomorrow fucking with Authetic Bros? “hence the whole AB” – A Better Tomorrow is the name of a Wu song from their 2nd album (Forever), so it’s not like the title was pulled out of thin air.
Seems like you’re grasping at straws to stir up some shit that isn’t even there.
The listening session snippets did sound pretty dope though. This album at least has the potential of being their best since ‘Forever’.
hopefully rza can pull this one together. 8 diagrams started off nice but after like the 3rd song just started to go downhill and imo is their only bad album as a group.
until I looked at the check of $8170 , I did not believe that my father in law had been actualey taking home money parttime from their laptop. . there moms best frend has done this 4 less than 9 months and just paid the mortgage on there house and purchased McLaren F1 . original site……..
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Allow me to paraphrase this shit for yall with some real insight
“RZA has developed his production style to fill the whole room instead of creating an ominous feeling with the barebones of a beat” – Instead of listening to the cries of thousands, even millions of his core fans, RZA continues to go against the grain, compromising the tried and true Wu-Tang sound that we all love.
“Unfortunately, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah were not featured as prominently as the other members” – The two best lyricists of the Clan are largely absent, just like the countless live performances of the past decade, where we paid full ticket price just to be disappointed when we arrived at the concert.
“most of the tracks felt as if they were strung together from various recording studios across the country…each member of the Wu-Tang has a busy schedule, seriously limiting the amount of chemistry that would have enriched the album” – This album wasn’t crafted organically or in unison. It was forced. This coercion will destroy the albums cohesiveness.
“There are no skits like the intro to Method Man or Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber. Instead, there are short, thought provoking monologues from RZA sprinkled here and there” – Self Righteous RZA has officially lost the plot.
“the biggest addition is the presence of singer, Nathaniel. He sings the hook on four of the tracks, which is a departure of sorts for the clan” – Seriously? WHAT THE FUCK
Ayo Bryan Hahn, I get it you’re a fan and trying to keep this article positive but stop bullshitting us. This album is gonna be garbage and we all know it. The very person that brought us the greatest hip-hop collective of all time is the same one who has poisoned it with his greed and ego. Little hope left here, coming from a life-long fan.
Praying that “Once Upon A Time In Shaolin” has something special in store, as this “A Better Tomorrow” will be a tragically disappointing end to this beloved dynasty.
no matter how long you’ve listened to the wu, everyone’s personal tastes are different. there may still be some tracks on here that are great that stand alone. but together, the project may be weak. you can’t blame rza for trying to recapture something as great as their earlier work. it just depends on how much it was meant to be. that will always be the mystery.