Wu-Tang Clan are regarded as one of the most influential artists of all time. What Ramones did to punk rock, what Metallica did to heavy metal, Wu-Tang Clan did to Hip Hop, made it even bigger and better.
Wu-Tang Clan broke down barriers in Hip Hop and Rap. In 1993 when their first album ‘Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers’ was released it broke new grounds. With the album showing their take on hardcore hip hop mixed with samples from comic books quotes, kung-fu movies gave the music world a ear popping double take.
Their lyrics consisting of the harsh realities of living in the slums of New York and slick beats their songs became almost instant hits.
The story of how Wu-Tang Clan formed and rose to fame, is an interesting story that there is a drama biography series Wu-Tang: An American Saga and a documentary series Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men currently showing on Stan.
Lots of the original members were certainly not close mates as both the drama and
documentary series reveals. The real story shows they were more like rivals and enemies fighting to make as much money as they can.
Co-creator of Wu-Tang: An American Saga Alex Tsu said “I always thought they were friends and were like, ‘hey, let’s do a rap group together,’”
“It couldn’t have been anything further from the truth (and) that was really shocking to me.”
Tse tells Los Angeles times “The starting point and destination are truthful. We’re not changing the end results. But in making the drive more interesting we had to make some lefts and rights.”
In other news related to Wu-Tang Clan two men were arrested for scamming hotels out of thousands of dollars by impersonating high-profile musicians and industry figures including members of Wu-Tang Clan.
The two men, Walker Washington and Aaron Barnes-Burpo allegedly moved their crew in a Roll Royce (that was stolen), assumed the identities of various Wu-Tang Clan identities, gave hotel employees with false credentials and stolen credit cards, and the pair received more than $100,000 worth of services from luxury hotels.
Members of Wu-Tang Clan are yet to comment on this situation.
In a surprising collaboration the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will be performing with Wu-Tang Clan combining hip-hop, orchestra, and film. On Saturday, March 21, Wu-Tang and the DSO will score a screening of the 1978 Hong Kong kung fu film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin by performing Wu-Tang’s debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in its entirety.
“This collaboration with the DSO is a great example of the bandwidth that hip-hop has and how its community stretches across the landscape of music,” Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA said in a statement. “Wu-Tang Clan has always made our music cinematic, and operatic in context of production and lyricism. The opportunity to elevate our sound with the sonic backdrop of an orchestra like the DSO is historic and monumental. We are grateful that the team at Quicken Loans Community Fund has invested in this unique artistic expression of the cross-genre production.”
“This unique partnership demonstrates what’s possible when an organization’s vision, world-class artists, and community support align,” Chris Harrington, the DSO’s managing director and curator, said in a statement. “The DSO strives to create spaces and performances where all people can experience their world through music.”
