#1 favorite wu-tang member

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RZA razah RZA razah sharp. The mastermind and a seemingly contemplative fellow.

― matt2, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:11 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah but have you seen Derailed?

Shiiiit.

― Drooone, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:12 (nineteen years ago)

but Raekwon always cooking up some marvelous isht in the Wu-Kitchen

― Wrinklepaws, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:24 (nineteen years ago)

Um yeah except for his 2nd and 3rd albums.

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:37 (nineteen years ago)

i'll give ugod the pity vote.

― chaki, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

haha, chaki. i knew thats what i was going to do before i even opened the thread.

― g®▲Ðұ, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:04 (nineteen years ago)

surely masta killa is more deserving of our pity

― jabba hands, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:16 (nineteen years ago)

which one was aka golden arms? i forgot.

― g®▲Ðұ, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:24 (nineteen years ago)

I gave it to the ODB.

― Tape Store, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:26 (nineteen years ago)

i'll give ugod the pity vote.

-- chaki, Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:47 PM (41 minutes ago)

If we all make solemn vows to derail all the polls like this, they might go away.

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:29 (nineteen years ago)

gza, secret weapon

― Edward III, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

which one was aka golden arms? i forgot.

U-God. Who really isn't all that bad! I'm unconvinced by any of the solo stuff I've heard (haven't heard much though) but on the posse cuts he actually can take credit for a number of classic Wu moments.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:48 (nineteen years ago)

I remember this about him.

― g®▲Ðұ, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:49 (nineteen years ago)

which one was aka golden arms? i forgot.

U-GOD!

"im pushin force, my force your doubtin
im makin devils cower to the caucus mountains"

― max, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:51 (nineteen years ago)

*youre

― max, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:52 (nineteen years ago)

Voted GZA, though. The Genius is just the Genius - the backbone of the whole thing.

Have a feeling the pity votes are misplaced - it's the cred-deprived Method Man who's probably going to end up underrated here, but I could be wrong.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:52 (nineteen years ago)

but i obv voted for method man almost entirely cause of "i got... myself a forty i got... myself a shorty and im about to go and stick it"

― max, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

xpost meth deserves love

― max, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

― jabba hands, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:03 (nineteen years ago)

i was jk about ugod. i agree he kills it on alot of the classic tracks.

― chaki, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:04 (nineteen years ago)

haha, if i was gonna give a "sympathy vote" it would be for inspectah deck -- not out of pity at all, but because he actually IS an excellent MC with lots of great moments scattered across the wu canon who nonetheless gets overshadowed by every other wu-man. he's the wu's mc ren, or george harrison.

my real vote went to RZA -- because he's the sharpest motherfucker in the whole clan, he's always on point. Razor sharp—with the beats, with the rhymes, whatever ...

― Eisbaer, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:12 (nineteen years ago)

for lyrics Deck might be my number 1 too actually, but perhaps he isn't quite charismatic enough to win this. i'll prob go with Meth or RZA on a 'who is the most entertaining' basis.

― jabba hands, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:16 (nineteen years ago)

i've always kinda thought GZA was the most overrated. obv Liquid Swords rules but a lot of the best moments are down to RZA & the guests, and he just seems like the most humourless of the bunch? i mean fine he's 'the genius' but does that have to mean he can't crack a joke from time to time?

um, how about "labels" from [i]liquid swords{/i]? his verse on "protect ya neck"? or "I came down with phat tracks that combine and interlock / Like getting smashed by a cinder block / Blaow! Now it's all over /Niggaz seeing pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars and green clovers"?

― Eisbaer, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:16 (nineteen years ago)

that's all great of course, he just strikes me as a bit of a boring dude!

― jabba hands, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:26 (nineteen years ago)

but he is trying to be humorous on those tracks ... ah well, i didn't vote for him either (though i did vote for liquid swords on the wu-tang poll thread).

― Eisbaer, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:34 (nineteen years ago)

Meth is class president.

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:36 (nineteen years ago)

deck's verse on "triumph" really makes the song

― max, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:50 (nineteen years ago)

^^^^favorite verse on favorite wu-tang song

― g®▲Ðұ, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 04:00 (nineteen years ago)

ghostface

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 06:00 (nineteen years ago)

Juh-jukka-genius

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 08:19 (nineteen years ago)

POLL closes: May 05

2008?

― StanM, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 08:22 (nineteen years ago)

No Cappadonna?

I think there's a difference between Wu-Tangers as group members and as solo artists. Some of them, like Deck or Ghost, fit really well into the group dynamic and have great verses on the Clan albums, but are kinda hard to take for the duration of a whole solo album.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 12:38 (nineteen years ago)

RONG

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

I know many will disagree, but I find Ghost's voice, flow, and lyrics to get kinda tiresome if I have to listen to him for 60+ minutes.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

i've always kinda thought GZA was the most overrated. obv Liquid Swords rules but a lot of the best moments are down to RZA & the guests, and he just seems like the most humourless of the bunch? i mean fine he's 'the genius' but does that have to mean he can't crack a joke from time to time?

gza's deadpan but he doesn't lack humor (maybe you're confusing him with killah priest ZING). in retrospect liquid swords got a lot of props, so gza's not as underrated as he used to be. deck and u-god are lifetime holders of that title. overrated? when he effortlessly drops hall-of-fame rhymes like this it's not possible:

doin' artists in like cain did abel
now they money's gettin' stuck to the gum under the table

he's not as wild as the others but the depth and craft in his lyrics is something else.

― Edward III, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

U-God for sheer weirdness alone

― braveclub, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:04 (nineteen years ago)

I'm still deciding, but I think it'll come down to either GZA or Ghost.

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

unsurprisingly ODB for me. (this is favorite, not most talented, right?)

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

RZA, for accent, will, soundscape. deck is most underrated. GZA is corniest.

― gabbneb, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

and randomness without clowning

― gabbneb, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

GZA and Ghost have those great narratives, though. I'm not denying GZA's occassional wordplay overdose eyeroller of a track, but occassionally listening to those guys is like reading a Parker novel or something.

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:32 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i don't like narrative tho

― gabbneb, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

ghost in a pinch.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

1 for meth.

― bell_labs, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

unlike U-God who seems so grateful on the rare occasion that he's in the spotlight that he gets all excited and goes hell-for-leather.

I don't agree that GZA takes it for granted/is too chill, but I'd agree with this statement wholeheartedly. The "raw like cocaine straight from Bolivia" verse is one of the best by anybody on 36 Chambers, and he rocks all over "Gravel Pit" and "Pinky Ring."

Deck has elsewhere on ILM been tagged "the greatest one-verse MC ever" which I find sadly true from the solo tracks I've checked out - I like them, but as Tuomas says about Ghostface, I can't really imagine 60 minutes of him front and center. GZA, Meth, no problem. But he makes "Triumph" and "Protect Ya Neck" as we all know, and, of course "7th Chamber" which gives us probably my favorite Wu snippet this side of "4th Chamber":

Yo, I leave the mic in body bags, my rap style has
the force to leave you lost like the tribe of Shabazz
Murderous material made by a madman
it's the mic wrecker, Inspectah, bad man

RZA's at a disadvantage here because half his contribution is in the production, which is pretty much fantastic across the board. When he's compared as an MC, he isn't quite in the top league - he has a bunch of great verses but also a number of kind of impenetrable wack things.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

impenetrable wack is what makes him good!

― gabbneb, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

7th chamber is the realest song on enter the wu

― and what, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

i like the remix

― deej, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

or 'part ii' or whatever its called

― deej, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 50 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Johnny blaze or the chef

― brimstead, Tuesday, 31 December 2019 23:13 (six years ago)

GZA next

― brimstead, Tuesday, 31 December 2019 23:14 (six years ago)

I chose Dirty because Return to the 36 Chambers is still one of the most idiosyncratic and exciting albums of any genre.

― irerisered, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 01:38 (six years ago)

four months pass...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Monday, 4 May 2020 00:01 (six years ago)

lol the time has arrived!!

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 4 May 2020 00:03 (six years ago)

GZA, Raekwon, then Method

― genital giant (Neanderthal), Monday, 4 May 2020 00:04 (six years ago)

been waiting for this one

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 4 May 2020 00:05 (six years ago)

Ghost is my favorite rapper, so, him

― sleight return (voodoo chili), Monday, 4 May 2020 00:46 (six years ago)

A momentous day is nearly upon us!

I voted Raekwon because his raps were always so damn solid, but GZA's track on the Rhapsody album was an incredible reminder of the ability he possesses when he brings his A game.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Monday, 4 May 2020 00:59 (six years ago)

method man for sentimental value (limp bizkit collab, how high)

― flappy bird, Monday, 4 May 2020 02:54 (six years ago)

has to be ghostface

― devvvine, Monday, 4 May 2020 09:12 (six years ago)

Is it alright if we extend the deadline for another 13 years? I need more time to think.

― cajunsunday, Monday, 4 May 2020 09:41 (six years ago)

Is Dirt McGurt supposed to be ODB ?

― Nabozo, Monday, 4 May 2020 09:47 (six years ago)

voting gza because liquid swords had an absolutely seismic effect on me at age 15 but virtually all of them are extraordinary in one way or another, just an incredible concentration of talent

― Millennials are using this app to speak in just 3 weeks. (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 May 2020 11:57 (six years ago)

glad i had the time to think this through properly, thanks chromeski a.k. gattlington

― Millennials are using this app to speak in just 3 weeks. (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 4 May 2020 11:58 (six years ago)

i'm stunned to realize we're here. hits harder than any aging sci-fi movie "can't believe that far off future date has arrived" type thing.

― Doctor Casino, Monday, 4 May 2020 12:13 (six years ago)

Showdown between GZA and Ghost, nigh impossible, but ultimately the latter ran away with it.

― Hey, let me drunkenly animate yr boats in about 25 to 60 days! (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 4 May 2020 12:13 (six years ago)

Nearly finished my 2007 Things To Check Out list

- Chinese Democracy
- New Duke Nukem
- ILM's favourite wu-tang member

― Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Monday, 4 May 2020 14:28 (six years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― System, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:01 (six years ago)

RZA and U-God the only ones I don't own solo albums by

― genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:06 (six years ago)

Only 285 votes in all? Man, this place is tinier than I thought.

― pomenitul, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:06 (six years ago)

Confession: there were a number of years there where votes weren't being saved properly between server reboots and we've moved server about five times since this poll began so maybe better you just talk it out who is actually best

― stet, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:20 (six years ago)

Poll rerun needed, finishing in 2033

― all things must pasteurize (Matt #2), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:24 (six years ago)

Don't tempt me…

― pomenitul, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:25 (six years ago)

#1 favorite wu-tang member RERUN DUE TO SERVER ISSUES THIS IS CRUCIAL

nobody vote

― genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:27 (six years ago)

"Right speech means abstention ... from ... talk that may bring about hatred, enmity, disunity, and disharmony among individuals or groups of people"

― lukas, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:47 (six years ago)

anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IiY38pUOBo

― lukas, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:48 (six years ago)

pretty sure most of the votes i cast over the years were rza, gza and deck, so obviously these results are fatally tainted by the server resets and lose all legitimacy

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 02:23 (six years ago)

Nice distribution of points, although pretty impressed at how much Ghostface crushed it. His stock has gone way up over the past 15 or so years.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 03:51 (six years ago)

partially because of how prolific he's been, and how consistently listenable-to-good most of his releases were, even if he's treaded water for a while. not that this is why people voted for him, but he has never really stopped chugging along. Raekwon probably the closest in terms of releases and quality control.

― genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 04:00 (six years ago)

how did U-God beat Masta Killa

― genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 04:00 (six years ago)

on the basis of "raw, I'ma give it to ya, with no trivia..." verse?

― genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 04:01 (six years ago)

Ghostface is the only one where I accrued lots and lots of solo/collab records, almost all being decent investments. Have no idea whether I voted though!

― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 04:17 (six years ago)

Love some u-god verses like on the completely bonkers Chercez LaGhost + Uzi, It’s Yourz, Chessboxin, Pinky Ring, Black Jesus, Click Click. Has way more classics than masta but masta gets credit for releasing a couple solid post wu prime solo albums.

― Spottie, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 06:04 (six years ago)

three months pass...

so this is a nerd question but my wife was listening to a rza interview about his ice cream jingle and apropos of nothing he started raving about how much he fucking loves the mellotron

does anybody know any releases where rza uses the mellotron

planet mellotron is no use because the guy who runs that site is gatekeepy and doesn't count sampled mellotron, you know how gear nerds get

― Kate (rushomancy), Saturday, 15 August 2020 15:21 (five years ago)

after all these years i think i miss the humble
and amiable u god the most

― the late great, Saturday, 15 August 2020 17:40 (five years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ed_n6r66v8

+ iirc, You Can't Stop Me Now? or some other late aughts Bobby Digital joints, i know there's more

― gaudio, Saturday, 15 August 2020 18:53 (five years ago)

thanks! cool jam, i'm not 100% sure that's _actually_ a tron, feel like it could be some willie mitchell strings? but it's a great song and it does _sound_ a lot like tron.

― Kate (rushomancy), Saturday, 15 August 2020 20:32 (five years ago)

five years pass...

lol opened this thread and was like "wow look at those numbers, ILM truly used to get a lot more lurkers," and then read through and remembered we all voted like fourteen times each

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 12:16 (three weeks ago)

Meth is class president.
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, May 15, 2007 11:36 PM (nineteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

if there was any act where i'd love to see a high school superlatives applied to, it's the wu-tang

― My homies buttthole surfers' record sounds like a f (Western® with Bacon Flavor), Wednesday, 20 May 2026 13:27 (three weeks ago)

Ghost.

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 May 2026 13:47 (three weeks ago)

cappadonna

― ok (D-40), Wednesday, 20 May 2026 15:49 (three weeks ago)

Never catering to none iirc

― Wildfowler (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 20 May 2026 15:50 (three weeks ago)

I love most of U-God's bits and Masta Killa's leisurely disqusitions.

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 May 2026 15:50 (three weeks ago)

is there a thread where we can talk about underrated Wu albums

― ok (D-40), Wednesday, 20 May 2026 15:57 (three weeks ago)

i was just listening to Ghost's Lost Tapes release, i like it

― omar little, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 16:03 (three weeks ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVY5Aylav48

killarmy hive

― ok (D-40), Wednesday, 20 May 2026 17:48 (three weeks ago)

obligatory spring water post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcnorT6sQg4

― brimstead, Thursday, 21 May 2026 01:58 (three weeks ago)

inspectah deck was robbed tbh

― ava (aiva), Thursday, 21 May 2026 09:16 (three weeks ago)

His intro in "Protect Ya Neck" is classic.

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 May 2026 09:20 (three weeks ago)

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