THE POLL IS COMIN THROUGH, THE OUTCOME IS CRITICAL — WU-TANG CLAN — Artist Poll — Results

huh never knew that was rated so highly. always viewed it mainly as setting the stage for rest of the album.

same, really figured 4th Chamber would be the runaway winner of Liquid Swords

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#4 Wu-Tang Clan - Bring Da Ruckus Points: 379 Votes: 13

lol @ knuckle sandwich

the song "liquid swords" can't help but fail to live up to the spoken-word intro

i was gonna say the case for liquid swords is made 100% on the stone classicness of the Lone Wolf and Cub bit

which is A) cool on its own and B) cool bc oh shit they stepped over from kung fu to samurai movies *mind blown* and C) cool bc it's Lone Wolf and Cub god bless these nerrrrds

i didn't vote it high, but i couldn't argue with that

Liquid Swords was my highest ranked track from the album, what can I say

Ruckus is perfect representative of what I love about RZA productions. Always liked his quote (which I can never find online) about how before there was jazz rap or soul rap or funk rap (meaning the backing track) but with Wu "you couldn't say it was nothin other than hip hop".

xpost nothing you got to say it is prime GZA on a mission...

I am bummed that more tracks from Pretty Toney and OBFCL2 didn't make it, but I guess we had to make room for all the canonical stuff

more xposts i get that completely but tbh one of the things i love about wu tang is how well their best ensemble tracks illuminate hip-hop's jazz dna -- differently-gifted soloists improvising over the same changes in, uh, witty and unpredictable ways

http://i66.tinypic.com/11jch9i.jpg #3 Raekwon - Runaway Love (f. J Biebz & Ye) Points: 423 Votes: 17

oh you

damn, you missed my #1 vote for runaway love?

will have to do a recount

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#3 Wu-Tang Clan - Shame on a Nigga Points: 383 Votes: 13

amazing song, glad it placed so high

the combat grunts really set the tone for the chaotic aggressiveness of Dirty's hook/verses

yeah song's got bounce

my first favorite wu tang song

mine too

was meth the first rapper to do the whoops i miss-pronounced it thing in a rap song?

the head from the shoulders, I'm better
than my compeda, you mean competitor, whadeva!
Let's get together

idk but if he was, wayne owes him at least a dollar

final two:

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#2 Ol' Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya Points: 426 Votes: 14 Firsts: 1

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#1 Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M. Points: 496 Votes: 16 Firsts: 3

My number 2 at number 1

what I've learned here is that RZA was right about cocker spaniel dogs

shimmy shimmy ya and shame on a n** are of a piece in my mind, crazy to see them place right next to each other and so high.

C.R.E.A.M. is undeniably great, though it's rarely the wu banga I return to the most, prob cause i memorized both verses when i was 15

same

aww i guess wu revolution won't place after all

Good job, everyone, great poll!

I didn't vote because I felt insufficiently familiar with post-90s Wu-tang, but now kind of wish I had. Would've been really tough for me to rank all my favorite Cuban Linx tracks.

There's almost no post-90s tracks on this list!

things I ranked (in some cases in my top 10) that didn't place at all:
For Heaven's Sake (really surprised at this one)
Hollow Bones
Saturday Nite
10 Bricks
What the Blood Clot
The Sun
Save Me Dear
Motherless Child
Guest House
It's Over
Be This Way
Fire
Tical

those are all good

xxp

True. For some reason, I thought ILM was way more into some of the more recent albums.

Ghost's peak is arguably post-90s. but you can't really say the same for any of the other acts.

def not. OBFCL2 was good but there's not many (if any) songs I'd rank higher than the highlights of the first one.

not to harp on the point, but was I the only voter for For Heaven's Sake? That sped-up vocal sample - which actually changes key! - blew my mind when I first heard it, and seems like a really influential production (at the very least just on Kanye). I know he wasn't the first to do it (there's a similar sped-up vocal loop on one of UMCs' tracks, which were a tangential precursor to Wu) but that always really stood out to me as pretty outside-the-box production. Plus the low end distorted bass, the whole thing is banging.

Just have to say I saw ODB at a V*ce Party right after he got out of jail and he was like 2 hours late and Brooklyn Zoo was opening for him and mugging and being really panicky at the same time and then Dirty shows up after multiple rumors of him not showing up and he goes

“Sorry y’all I know you know I ain’t been around for a minute so let’s do this...

ONE

TWO

THREE

OHHHH BABY I LIKE IT RAAAAAAAAAAAW”

And the place went as insane as I’ve ever seen a crowd go

Also remember someone on ILM saying that the beginning of CREAM sounds like an old steam engine getting up to speed, which is a lovely image imo

oh man "for heaven's sake" didn't place? shakey otm

the calm bomb keep your arms distant

afaik this is the first song to use the sped up vocal sample trick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTSFsxRLiZM

This isn't a coincidence, since UMCs producer loaned RZA a bunch of gear (including his Ensoniq sampler) when they were recording 36 Chambers. There's also a couple wu-tang references in UMCs' lyrics (incl in the above link), which is interesting cuz they predate any proper Wu releases by a few years. Staten Island reprazent, I guess.

not to harp on the point, but was I the only voter for For Heaven's Sake? That sped-up vocal sample - which actually changes key! - blew my mind when I first heard it, and seems like a really influential production (at the very least just on Kanye).

The T.A. for some "intro to American music" or some such course played this in class as an example of call-and-response (iirc) shortly after Forever came out. Thought that was so cool, mainly cause I did not expect that coming from her at all. She was German! And seemingly sorta preppy.

not to harp on the point, but was I the only voter for For Heaven's Sake?

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, December 5, 2017

I can confirm that you were not

OBFCL2 was good but there's not many (if any) songs I'd rank higher than the highlights of the first one.

idk, some days this is my favorite Ghost verse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhnzXGLIRRU

Would have voted for "For Heaven's Sake" if I'd participated. I didn't vote because outside of the main group albums I mostly just knew Ghost's oeuvre (though I guess that was the case for several of the small number who did vote!). I also had no idea what order to put my favorites in. I really only got into Wu in the early 2000s so other than "C.R.E.A.M." I have no sentimental attachment to the debut or the first run of solo albums. I like OB4CL2 as much as any of those records, except maybe Ironman. Other songs I would've voted for that didn't place:

Malcolm
One Blood Under W
Babies (still think this is a classic track and nobody fucking ever mentions it)
Iron Flag
House of Flying Daggers
Hollow Bones
Rushing Elephants
The Heart Gently Weeps
Sonny's Missing
Gihad

Results in the tracks poll mostly OTM though. Pleasantly surprised by how much love The W ended up getting. Thanks for the countdown, Spottie!