This summer, the Wu-Tang will final reveal the album, six years in the making. Scheduled for release on July 7th, 2007, 8 Diagrams will showcase the remaining 8 members of the Wu-Tang alongside their old friend, Steve Rifkind. The album name comes from the Kung Fu film, Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter. The album will be released through SRC Records, Rifkinds‘ music company which has already seen great success this year with Akon. The group’s four previous albums were all released on Rifkind‘s now-defunct Loud Records.
RZA released a comment in regards to the album:
This is the perfect time for us to come back, the stars are aligned. It’s like when we first started with Steve. We put out real hip hop at a time when it was turning into pop or R&B. We brought the focus back to the music in its rawest form, without studio polish or radio hooks… People want something that gives them an adrenaline rush. We’re here to supply that fix. How could hip hop be dead if Wu-Tang is forever? We’re here to revive the spirit and the economics and bring in a wave of energy that has lately dissipated.
The group will be touring in the Europe until they hit the states for the Rock The Bells tour. The dates are as follows:
06/28/2007 05:00 PM – ITALY at STADIO FRIULI, Udine
06/29/2007 05:00 PM – FRANCE at EUROCKEENES, Belfort
06/30/2007 05:00 PM – SPAIN at ZARAGOZA CIUDAD, Zaragoza
07/01/2007 05:00 PM – ROMANIA at BESTIVAL, Bucharest
07/03/2007 05:00 PM – GERMANY at STADTHALLE, Offenbach
07/04/2007 05:00 PM – FRANCE at ZENITH, Paris
07/05/2007 05:00 PM – UK at HAMMERSMITH APOLLO, London
07/06/2007 05:00 PM – UK at APOLLO, Manchester
07/07/2007 05:00 PM – IRELAND at OXEGEN FEST, Punchestown
07/08/2007 05:00 PM – UK/SCOTLAND at T IN THE PARK, Kinross
07/10/2007 05:00 PM – GERMANY at COLUMBIAHALLE, Berlin
07/11/2007 05:00 PM – GERMANY at PALLADIUM, Cologne
07/12/2007 05:00 PM – BELGIUM at FESTIVAL, Dour
07/13/2007 05:00 PM – NETHERLANDS at PARADISO, Amsterdam
07/15/2007 05:00 PM – SERBIA at EXIT FEST, Novi Sad
07/17/2007 05:00 PM – CZECH REPUBLIC at T-MOBILE ARENA, Prague
07/18/2007 05:00 PM – SWITZERLAND at FESTIVAL, Montreux
07/19/2007 05:00 PM – POLAND at STODOLA, Warsaw
07/20/2007 05:00 PM – SLOVAKIA at TRENCIN AIRPORT, Trencin
07/21/2007 05:00 PM – GERMANY at MTV HIP HOP OPEN, Stuttgart
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Rock the Bells Festival Rage Against the Machine & Wu-Tang Clan
07/28/2007 05:00 PM – RANDALLS ISLAND, New York, NY
08/11/2007 05:00 PM – NOS EVENT CENTER, San Bernardino, CA
08/18/2007 05:00 PM – MC COVEY PARKING LOT, San Francisco, CA