Hi guys, I'm back here to do another album review! Today we will be reviewing the Wu-Tang Clan's The W because it celebrates its 18th birthday today! This should be another easy review because I've listened to this album plenty of times already, so let's dive right in!
INTRODUCTION
The W is the third studio album by east coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, released on November 21, 2000. While this album was not as successful as its predecessors Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and Wu-Tang Forever, it did produce the minor hit singles "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)", which is an interpolation of their debut single "Protect Ya Neck", and "Gravel Pit". The album received mostly positive reviews by critics, including a few who included it in their album of the year lists. Also, in this album you can find guest appearances from Isaac Hayes, Redman, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, and Junior Reid. Seems stacked right? Well, let's see if I think so.
REVIEW
I think this album is a perfect mix of the content from Wu-Tang's first two albums, Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and Wu-Tang Forever. What do I mean by this? Well, I think the material on 36 Chambers had hardcore lyrics but not hardcore beats. On the other hand, I think that on Wu-Tang Forever, the lyrics are a little less hardcore, but the beats are in more of a boom-bap style, rather than the less heavy kind on 36 Chambers. And I think that The W is a combination of the two. It has some songs that would fit better on 36 Chambers such as "I Can't Go To Sleep" and "Hollow Bones", and others that would fit better on Wu-Tang Forever, like "Gravel Pit", "Do You Really (Thang, Thang)", and "One Blood Under W". But the other songs I think fall into a separate category of songs that sound like a mix of the two; they possess qualities of both of Wu-Tang's previous album, but wouldn't really fit onto either because they might stand out at least a little bit from the album as a whole.
And that's what I like about this album. It has a few songs that are like 36 Chambers, a few that are like Wu-Tang Forever, and the few in between that not only have qualities from both albums, but work to create a new style as well. And remember how I said I love music works that take a lot of IQ to make? Well, here you go. I don't think I've seen any other artist do anything like this yet, so that's just cool how they did that.
As for the lyrical themes throughout the album, they aren't much different from some of the themes on 36 Chambers in my opinion. So it's good to see a revival of that. I also like the flows and the rapping style that is present here. And RZA, the group's main producer, did a great job on producing the album, along with the help from Mathematics. Other than all that, I don't really know what else to mention. So let's do the track-by-track reviews!
TRACK-BY-TRACK REVIEWS
1. "Intro (Shaolin Finger Jab) / Chamber Music"
Rating: 7/10
Comments: Cool intro, but when it comes to the whole album it's very forgettable.
2. "Careful (Click, Click)"
Rating: 9/10
Comments: This song has a very catchy hook, which I always love to hear in rap songs. And I like how a lot of the song's flow is based off of that.
3. "Hollow Bones"
Rating: 8.5/10
Comments: That gunshot right at the beginning though. But other than that, I feel like the song is somewhat empty and could have more to hold it up.
4. "Redbull" featuring Redman
Rating: 8/10
Comments: I like Redman's part and the instrumental. It isn't something that comes right to my mind when I think of great songs off of this album, but still pretty good.
5. "One Blood Under W" featuring Junior Reid
Rating: 9/10
Comments: Junior Reid's voice is a little weird here, but now that I've gotten used to it I think it's cool. Masta Killa also had a good effort on his verse and RZA also did a good job on the production.
6. "Conditioner" featuring Snoop Dogg
Rating: 8/10
Comments: Really chill track, and one of those that contributes to the new style that came out of this album. The hook is really sticky, too, which is good because that means it was written well.
7. "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)"
Rating: 8/10
Comments: It's obviously not better than the original "Protect Ya Neck", but still a nice alternate to it.
8. "Let My N***as Live" featuring Nas
Rating: 8.5/10
Comments: A really cool song about street life. I also think that intro skit is cool for some reason.
9. "I Can't Go To Sleep" featuring Isaac Hayes
Rating: 7/10
Comments: I know that the song is supposed to sound sad or negative, but I don't want to listen to depressing songs too much, so that kind of brings this down a bit. But I do like how that mood is used to help convey the message of the song.
10. "Do You Really (Thang, Thang)"
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: The catchiness in this song definitely caught my attention from the beginning. I also like that skit-thing towards the end that repeats, "Got to check out The W" or something like that.
11. "The Monument" featuring Busta Rhymes
Rating: 7.5/10
Comments: Pretty forgettable, but also pretty good. I like what Busta Rhymes has to add here.
12. "Gravel Pit"
Rating: 10/10
Comments: This might be one of the catchiest rap songs I've ever heard before, because everything about the production shines so much. Every verse adds to that. This song is so good I actually strongly considered putting it on my best songs of 2000 list, but didn't at the last minute. Still really good, though.
13. "Jah World" featuring Junior Reid
Rating: 5/10
Comments: Not a fan of this one to be honest. It's not bad, but nothing I see myself listening to anytime soon.
ALBUM RANKDOWN
1. "Gravel Pit"
2. "Do You Really (Thang, Thang)"
3. "One Blood Under W"
4. "Careful (Click, Click)"
5. "Let My N***as Live"
6. "Hollow Bones"
7. "Conditioner"
8. "Redbull"
9. "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)"
10. "The Monument"
11. "I Can't Go To Sleep"
12. "Intro (Shaolin Finger Jab) / Chamber Music"
13. "Jah World"
OVERALL SCORE
105/130 = 8.08/10 = 0.808 = 80.8%
FINAL WORDS
So, is this album better than 36 Chambers or Wu-Tang Forever? No. But is it still a good album? Definitely! It was an enjoyable listen that I would go to again if I had the chance. Just like a lot of albums I listen to and review, this is definitely not for everybody, but if you want to see what old school rap sounds like, you can check out this album on Spotify here or on YouTube here. So yeah, I don't really have anything else to say here. Thanks for reading and be sure to leave me suggestions if you have them!
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