Top 10 Wu-Tang Albums

Killa Beez all over your planet

It's hard to believe it's been nearly fifteen years since the members of the Wu-Tang Clan announced their ascendance from the thirty-six chambers and then proceeded to revolutionize the climate of hip-hop. And in that time the Wu has become the empire RZA intended it to be, using rap as an excuse to march into movies, clothing, record labels and, of course, more rap -- this is, by design, one of the most far-reaching family trees in music. From group albums to solo albums from the Original Nine -- RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard -- to side projects from Wu affiliates, there’s a lot out there worth checking out. But the following ten are the best Wu-related releases.

5. Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Forever
Loud, 1997
After a string of successful solo outings, the stakes were high when it was time for Wu-Tang to deliver a new group album. As if the sophomore jinx wasn't perilous enough, they made matters riskier by deciding to make it a double album. In a sense, it was almost asking to fail. And yet the first single, "Triumph," was a five-and-a-half-minute onslaught featuring the entire Clan that rivaled their classic debut, "Protect Ya Neck."

The two-hour Wu-Tang Forever allowed the group to stretch out and explore every angle that made each individual so compelling. And yet it was a true group effort, with almost every track bursting with various members. The RZA handled most of the production, built around the string-arrangement style he had perfected on previous Wu solo joints and complemented by the work his protégés 4th Disciple and True Master. It's an epic record, but one bursting with trademark cuts like "Reunited," "It's Yourz" and "Visionz" that begs repeated listening.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Loud, 1994
There has probably never been a better opening-track thesis than "Striving for Perfection," and in 1994 Raekwon achieved just that. If there's one word that perfectly describes Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, it's “cinematic.” The album is a movie without a video track. Each member of the Clan was an actor, assuming new names so that they may play the characters that Raekwon drafted into his script. And from track to track, we follow the exploits of Rae and Ghost -- Lex Diamonds and Tony Starks, respectively -- through the sort of plot-point pacing and character development found within a tight-knit screenplay.

The RZA produced the record in its entirety, and it shows his pension for scoring. Mournful string sections mingle with incidental piano motifs as Raekwon's story unfolds before us. Upon its initial release, it was seen as a masterpiece of gangsta storytelling. When studied closer, it's an even deeper allegory. What is first perceived as glorification through tracks like "Knuckleheadz," "Criminology" and "Ice Cream" actually has a counterpoint elsewhere. Indeed the drawn-out lament of "Rainy Dayz," the yearning for a simpler past in "Can It Be So Simple (Remix)" and the primal-scream therapy of "Heaven & Hell" prove Cuban Linx to be a drama rather than an action movie. It’s a film of bittersweet realism that should be revisited often.

3. Genius/GZA
Liquid Swords
Geffen, 1995
Though Liquid Swords wasn't the first solo Wu-Tang effort to be released, it was the one that seemed to sound most like the Clan's group debut. The RZA supplied a seemingly endless supply of grimy beats that were drenched in ninja-flick synths and soulful guitar riffs. The record was, in fact, so full of Wu-Tang mythology that a nation of young listeners memorized entire monologues from the film Shogun Assassin without even realizing it.

Under the moniker of the Genius, GZA had actually released his first solo album, 1991's Words from the Genius, before the Clan even had deal. His experience gave him the ability to shine lyrically, even when surrounded by so many talented emcees. But on Liquid Swords he let loose with a combination of realism ("Cold World," "I Gotcha Back"), imagery ("4th Chamber," "Liquid Swords") and complex wordplay ("Labels," "Shadowboxin'"). 

2. Ghostface Killah 

Supreme Clientele
Razor Sharp, 2000
Although Ghostface Killah's 1996 debut, Ironman, was a solid disc of deep-soul samples and intriguing storytelling, it was on his sophomore effort, Supreme Clientele, that the "game got real." It was here that Pretty Toney allowed himself the freedom to explore a new, looser rhyme style that revealed him to be somewhat of a weirdo and a perhaps a lyrical genius. "Ghost Deini" found him crooning his ass off, regardless of how bad his singing voice may be. "Stroke of Death" contained a line about being chased by sharks, ripped over a skipping record. And almost every track exhibited a Ghostface who was now uninhibited by any notion of what a rap track should be, allowing the stream-of-conscious lyrics to dictate the form -- it was as if he’d studied Jack Kerouac. It's an album that is so multidimensional that even now, nearly a decade later, each listen can reveal something new.

1. Wu-Tang Clan
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Loud, 1993
It may be difficult to put into scope just how important Enter the Wu-Tang really is. Upon its release in fall 1993, it wasn’t as highly regarded as it is now, but it immediately sounded classic. The levity of that statement is only amplified when you remember that the album arrived at a time when hip-hop was saturated with West Coast rap -- a sound that relied heavily on Parliament samples. The RZA created a backdrop of dusty soul samples, kung-fu-movie dialogue and eerily off-key guitars and pianos that helped bring attention back to the East.

And nearly fifteen years later, it is still amazing. Each track is solid enough to be a single. And yet perhaps one of the biggest achievements is the Clan's ability to allow so much individual personality to be spread among such a large group of hungry emcees. Suddenly hardcore hip-hop heads were discussing their favorite Killa Bee the way a teeny bopper might dissect a boy band. Certainly, Enter the Wu-Tang laid out the blueprint for how to present a crew on wax. But more important, it successfully built an empire that is still thriving and worshipped to this day.