WU TANG CLAN - WU TANG FOREVER

[Siberian_Wolf]

Wu Tang Forever is a tremendous release from the biggest NYC rap crew. This release has a special meaning in Wu Tang evolution, because it was another step ahead in RZA’s production skills and it’s also a huge reservation of unique lyricism, empowered with philosophical, religious, military and battling content. Alotta heads still cant get the whole WuTang Forever thing, most of the people are sure that 36 Chambers was the only decent  of all 3 crew albums. I totally disagree with all those people. 36 Chambers didn’t have enough room for each of 9 MCs to shine, it didn’t contain any philosophy or preaching, it was a gathering of young men who were hungry for rhyming. Only on WuTang Forever you can quench yo thirst on any of MCs,  dig deep into each  chamber, find alotta answers. Plus this CD set was a whole new level for RZA & The Elements, I compare it to 36 Chambers the same way as we compare DrDre2001 to The Chronic. First album is more ruggid, second one is just more perfection. Isnt it right?

All tracks produced by RZA except where indicated

DISC 1

1.      WU-REVOLUTION (vocals by Poppa Wu and Uncle Pete) – A huge intro with Poppa Wu preaching and Uncle Pete singing in the background. The melody is actually nice, so I always listen to it all thru. The talk subject is basically about how tremendous WuTang is and about the 5% philosophy. – 3,5
2.      REUNITED (vocals by GZA, ODB, RZA, Meth)  – This track is the best track in the world if speaking about self-bravado. No one ever did a more self-praising track. Synthetic violins provided by RZA give a stronger effect, there’s even a violin solo after all the verses. First verse belongs to the wise man of the Clan – the GZA. He puts it classic: “Reunited, double LP, we're all excited/ Struck a match to the underground, industry ignited” and ends it with “Just consider the unparallel advantage/ Of a natural disaster that's impossible to manage”. True. True. Next up comes ODB the Osiris all cursing and snobbish too: “I don’t walk, I get carried”. After a short female vocal break comes RZA with unbelievable wordplay, cutting headz like swordz, and then enters Method Man to put a spice on the cake. “On behalf of my crew, SUUUUUUUUUUU, Enter the Wu/ Thirty-Six more deadly Chambers, to take you through” are the words that close the verse. After the violin solo There’s a female sung outro with some drunken help by ODB. This is the first time in the whole song that you can breathe again – 5,0
3.      FOR HEAVENS SAKE (vocals by Inspecta Deck, Masta Killa, Cappadonna) – This is the time for the back row of the clan to shine, plus RZA provides a super heavy bass. All MCs come decent (actually, there’s not a single place on the whole CD where they suck). This track is one of the first examples of RZA putting a vocal sample (which he does widely nowadays). – 5,0
4.      CASH STILL RULES prod by 4th Disciple (vocals by Rae, Meth, Ghost) – Here is the time for Rae & Ghost the fabulous duo to shine. The subject is the same as in the original song (CREAM), but the beat is much wacker ( not enough percussion) – 4,0
5.      VISIONZ prod by Inspectah Deck (vocals by Meth, Rae, Masta, Deck, Ghost) – Deck provides a decent cool beat while the Clansmen dwell upon the Mathematics and 5% philosophy. 4,5
6.      AS HIGH AS WU-TANG GET (vocals by Meth, GZA, ODB) – Track starts with gunblast like POW with no warning. The beat can be described as metal screeching, a pretty fast one. GZA comes first with a verse that’s full of quotable rhymes: “Too many songs, weak rhymes that's mad long/ Make it brief Son, half short and twice strong”. ODB offers a nice chorus ending with “DON’T FUCK WIT IT!!!” in the same mood as his fabulous “I’LL FUCK YO ASS UP!”. Meth is good as always too. – 5,0
7.      SEVERE PUNISHMENT  (vocals by U-God, GZA, Rae, RZA, Masta) – This ninja style song begins with a movie sample saying “You should be punished. I’m gonna chop off your arm. So you’re ready?”. The beat wont take you from the first listen, but it will grow on you like DAMN later on, cuz it’s a nail to the head, and this goes also to the movie sample that just loops over and over til you say it simultaneously. U-God comes especially hard here. Its his first appearance on the LP, plus he’s always militant. – 5.0
8.      OLDER GODS prod by 4th Disciple (vocals by Ghost, Rae, GZA) – Just a very good song. The melody will stick into your head. GZA is brilliant. – 4,5
9.      MARIA (vocals by ODB, Cappa, RZA) – This is one of the hardest bitch-diss songs ever. To kill a bitch in two minutes – leave this to ODB. “Niggarette gave me gonorrhea/ Pussy dick to the tippy toe like ballerina…. Bitch who a tease, titties small, I got used to the squeaks/ Fuck that shit, I'm through with this bitch” . RZA kills them hoes in a cooler way: “She wasn't choosy fucked for movie and a loose leaf cigarette, pussy stay wet and juicy like lemons”- shit, just visit ohhla.com to read the whole shit. – 4,5
10.      A BETTER TOMORROW prod by 4th Disciple (vocals by Deck, Masta, U-God, RZA, Meth) – This piano-blessed song is a message to the younger generation. The subject is put out completely, the whole picture of todays youth is painted. Most MCs come preaching, while RZA turns out ruff: “Y'all bitches love dances, and pulling down your pants/ while your man's on tour, your spending up his advances/ Your friends ain't shit, all they do is drink, smoke, and suck dick…”. The chorus is a phrase that could be put in every school classroom if not for the explicit content: ‘You can't party your life away/ Drink your life away/ Smoke your life away/ Fuck your life away/ Dream your life away/ Scheme your life away/ Cause your seeds grow up the same way’ – 5,0
11.      IT’S YOURZ (vocals by Rae, U-God, RZA, Deck, Ghostface) – This song is more radio friendly than any other on this CD, though the production is minimalistic. Lyrix are just self-praising. – 4,0

Well, the first CD is short due to the CD-ROM track, so it contains ABSOLUTELY NO FLAWS. Now lets get to the 2nd one.

[Siberian_Wolf]

DISC 2

1.      INTRO – Aint nuthin but RZA preaching here. “Yo, this is true hip-hop you listenin to right here, In the purest form, this ain't no R&B with a wack nigga takin the loop” – now that’s true. – 3,0
2.      TRIUMPH – Yall seen the video, yall know the song, everybody including Cappadonna is here. GZAs verse is the shortest and the purest, just… just triumph. Damn I miss 1997. – 5,0
3.      IMPOSSIBLE prod by 4th Disciple (vocals by RZA, U-God, Ghost, chorus by Tekitha) – I love Tekitha for her vocals that are 180 dgr opposite to the usual R&B shit, always humble, always rainy. Plus 4th Disciple crafted a wonderful fast beat. You can never defeat the Gods, it’s truly Impossible. Rae on the outro: “The murder race is increasing, and we decreasing” – 5,0
4.      LITTLE GHETTO BOYS (vocals by Raekwon & Cappadonna) – Same interpolation as Dre’s classic song, but with a rainy NYC feel and extremely hard drums. – 4,5
5.      DEADLY MELODY (vocals by Masta, Ugod, RZA, Meth, Ghostface, Streetlife) – This track is str8 hardcore, a battle where you cant survive. Masta Killa  and Meth’s protégé Streetlife are the ones that shine mostly. “Yall niggaz cant FUCK WIT US, F U C K  W I T  U S !!!!!!!!!1” – 4,5
6.      THE CITY prod by 4th Disciple (vocals by Inspectah Deck) – This track is pretty boring, Inspectah Deck could choose a better one for his solo. – 3,5
7.      THE PROJECTS (vocals by Rae, Meth, Ghost) – This track is a stop-and-start beat, just like Dre’s LA Niggaz. All MCs rep for their side here. – 4,0
8.      BELLS OF WAR (vocals by UGod, Meth, RZA, Masta, Ghost, Rae) – This track can do with any West Coast fan, becuz the beat is smooth and the melody is a nice stringplay. Lyrics are basically warnings about how militant WuTang is, but there are also some mentioning about the future world war. In the outro there’s a talk between RZA and some man: “Niggaz can't fuck with these lyrics God YouknowhatI'msayin?  Knahmean? (Oh hell no, none of this shit) C'mon man -- beats, lyrics man, y'all niggaz (Niggaz can't even understand half this shit) Nah (man, no) I think niggaz ain't gonna figure it out til the year Two-G” and that’s exactly how it is right now. The 3rd album came in 2000 and people STILL don’t get half of the whole shit. RZA is a prophet. – 5,0
9.      THE MGM prod by True Master (vocals by Rae & Ghost) – A short song where Rae & GFK trade lines. – 3,5
10.      DOG SHIT (vocals by ODB) – All I can say is that one ODB song is nastier than the whole Em & D12 shit put together. The song could be classic if RZA wouldn’t try to fit it into the main production concept of the album and would just make it for ODB only. – 4,0
11.      DUCK SEAZON (vocals by Rae, RZA, Meth) – This song is sooooooo damn sleepy……hrrrrrr…..hrrrrrr….. 3,0
12.      HELLZ WIND STAFF (vocals by Streetlife, Ghost, Deck, Method Man, RZA, Rae) – Cant get more ninja than this. Track starts with a kung fu movie sample depicting a beef between two ninjas, It sounds pretty funny and interesting. Old motherfuckers scream at each other like May you rot in hell! The beat is very fast with a oriental song sample and sword swing sounds. Lyrics…… man, you simply cant fuck wit it. Battle! - 5,0
13.      HEATERZ prod by True Master (vocals by Rae, Deck, ODB, Ugod, Cappadonna) – True Master found a wonderful monumental sample to represent The Clan. Basically, the song is about the same subject as Reunited, its just other MCs (ODB got only 4 lines, half of which are cursing). Overall its just another wonderful song. My personal favorite – 4,5
14.      BLACK SHAMPOO (vocals by U-God) – U-God aka Golden Arms aka Lucky hands had to get his chance to shine. Surprisingly, here he switches from his usual gangbanging to a Bobby-Digital-like flow. But don’t expect some simple talk about women. U-God’s trademark is to paint a picture by throwing in some word combinations like pieces of paint. I think it’s called impressionism. – 4,0
15.      SECOND COMING (vocals by Tekitha) – This song is Tekitha singing over a sloooooooooooow  beat. Could’ve been better if faster plus a duo with Blue Raspberry. – 3,0
16.      THE CLOSING – just Raekwon preaching. – 3,0
17.      SUNSHOWER (RZA solo) – The bonus tracks are not available for American customers, but I’m a lucky Asian citizen, so I own this 7-minute long masterpiece from RZA. This is nothing but pure lyrical flow non’stop, RZA at his best. This one song is more worthy than some people’s whole albums. – 5,0
18.      PROJECTS INT’L REMIX (vocals by Rae, Meth, Ghost) – This song is no use. Lyrix are the same as the original, beat is the same as RZA’s solo song Project Talk. Only for the ill beat I give it a 3,0.

SHIIIIIIIT, WHAT A HARD TASK IT WAS.

Anyway, I give it a 9.5/10 and it’s FINAL. This album is CLASSIC, don’t even try to disagree. It’s 5 times plat, so you gotta pay homage, folks. The only flaws are sleepy songs I mentioned above and absence of Killah Priest and Blue Raspberry. Anyway, they’re both no longer WuTang affiliates.

p.s. This really was a hard work to review such a longass album. I ask you guys to post something. If you don’t care much of the album, just post your thoughts on my review.

p.p.s. I know that The Shiznit guy always replies to my reviews, so big props to him in advance.

*looooooooooooooooooooong siiiiiiiiiiigh*

[Siberian_Wolf]

SHIT, IM SO DAMN TIRED THAT I PUT THUMB DOWN INSTEAD OF THUMB UP.

DONT GET ME WRONG , IT SHOULD BE UP!!!!!!! DAMN!!!!!!!!!

SOMEBODY CHANGE THE FUCKIN HANDSIGN!!!!!!!!!  :-/

[Doggystylin]

i gotta give it up to this guy man (Siberian) hes always bringin the reviews, keep it up man, Dope review


and u can change the thumb sign by modifying your message

[Don Jacob]

wow  

thanks for reviewin' this, i didn't think anyone sustain a long ass review like this, so complex, big props to you for this




but i have to disagree with the 4.5/5 rating you gave it, IMO i think that this album a little TOO polished up and some tracks seemed kind've rushed and there was a just alot of filler tracks to go with the current trend of rap double albums, i think if they would've edited this album down to about 16 tracks or so this would've been a deffinate 4.5/5 album, i don't think it would be a 5, but definately if it went under the editing knife it'd deserve that title, but for me, and IMO, there was just too many filler and uninspired tracks

[TheShiznit227]

p.p.s. I know that The Shiznit guy always replies to my reviews, so big props to him in advance.

Yo' thanx for the props dogg...sorry it took so long for the response...Dope In-depth review,tells everything about every song that whoever wanted the review done (I think Duece?) would need to know...Keep up the Dope-ass reviews...

[TheShiznit227]

p.p.s. I know that The Shiznit guy always replies to my reviews, so big props to him in advance.

Yo' thanx for the props dogg...sorry it took so long for the response...Dope In-depth review,tells everything about every song that whoever wanted the review done (I think Duece?) would need to know...Keep up the Dope-ass reviews...

[RivieraIII]

Dope review as usual... Keep it up, son... PEACE!

[Siberian_Wolf]

Thanx for the warm words people.......

I gotta agree with Big JAke that the album was kinda too polished in some places and some tracks should be left off the album. Also it looks somewhat rushed. But you know, it's hard to gather 10 people together for such a big session, so RZA just HAD to rush this.

peace

[Tanjential]

i counted it up,this album has 11 good songs....cash still rules is shit,meth is FUCKING LAZY,dog shit is the best song on the whole album,deck's solo is great. Deck and ODB are the best on the whole thing...the ending to this album BLOWS. I mean you get an average u god solo...some opera bitch singing over a slow beat with no wu tang...and then raekwon talkin bullshit with a helicopter in the background...i love wu tang to death but this album is shitty...they could have made a tight 11 track album but they had to drag this bullshit out...i listed to it for 2 week straight to see of i could dig it...couldn't...gza and meth have seriouly declined here,gza is dope as ever lyrically but his rapping is sloppy...and meth is just weak...raekwon is boring....ghostface is decent,deck and odb are great,all the producers outshine Rza,he got weak too....i wouldn;'t waste my money on this given the chance again unless i really wanted those videos and such...a hardcore wu tang fan might get away with calling this a tight album...and that's a big maybe...but noone can call this classic in my opinion and i'm a wu fan.....no offense siberian...just sayin...peace-Tanjint

[HNIC]

classic - even better than 36. people who disagree either:

1 don't like the sound
2 the album is too complex for them
3 hate on wu

[HNIC]

classic - even better than 36. people who disagree :

1 don't like the sound
2 the album is too complex for them
3 hate on wu

[Siberian_Wolf]

Basically its too complex 4 them, peace.

[ImmortalOne]

classic - even better than 36. people who disagree :

1 don't like the sound
2 the album is too complex for them
3 hate on wu

1. I like the sound of Wu Forever

2. I like complex/sophisticated shit

3. Wu is one of my fav groups ever

BUT, 36 Chambers is STILL the better album. Wu Forever is great, a near classic, but it does have filler, and wasnt quite as influential as 36 Chambers was, which is one of the greatest albums ever made.

[Siberian_Wolf]

^^^Nuff said then.