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Artist: Wu-Tang Clan

Album: The 18th Letter

Genre: Post-Gangsta, Semi-Socially Conscious, New York Skills-Based Rap with some new-sounding techno-y beats and just a hint of Pop.

Producers: The RZA, 4th Disciple, Inspectah Deck, True Master.

Tracks: 27 tracks at 112:20 over 2 discs.

Label: Loud/RCA

For fans of: Any of the Clan's various off-shoots.

Year of Release: 1997

Date of Review: February 24, 1998

LYRICS: 7

FLOW: 7

MESSAGE: 5

BEATS: 8

ORIGINALITY: 6

HYPE: 7

CONSISTENCY: 6

SCORE: 68%

Information on my ratings system.

Now, to Wu-Tang Forever. This one was certainly one of the most highly anticipated rap albums in recent years. Anyway, I've always liked the Wu-Tang. Among the seven albums released by the Clan and its members, the only one that could really be considered WACK would have to be Method Man's Tical. The RZA is an all around excellent producer. A few of the emcees in the crew, particularly Genius and Inspectah Deck, are just plain NICE. And they've always been ones to set trends instead of following them. They were talking their "Gambino" fantasies long before any other East Coast emcees, had the fashion thing down before everyone was talking about Versace, and were preaching 5% Nation philosophies before it was fashionable to do so (it probably still isn't), along with gaining a following on both Coasts and everywhere in between. I own all of their albums, a Wu-Tang poster, and, yes. . . even a Wu-Wear T-shirt. I saw them live last summer while they were on tour with Rage Against The Machine, and, while only about 6 of them showed up, they still put on a very entertaining show. Was I a Wu-jocker? Well. . . maybe.

Whatever the case was, I wasn't down with the Wu because of albums like this.

A little history for those that were living in a cave for the past five years: the Wu-Tang Clan, formed in Staten Island, N.Y. (a.k.a. "Shaolin"), first hit the scene with the single "Protect Ya Neck." The song was just crazy. . . a bunch of young, hungry, SKILLED rappers just bouncing off of each other with line after line after line. . . to this day, that has to be on a list of my Top 20 or so Hip-Hop songs of all time. It was a part of their first album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which, with its Kung-Fu theme, hard-core lyrics, and phat-as-phat-can-be beats, was also a classic. After that ground-breaking release, the members did the solo thing for a while, but never strayed far from the group. The RZA always produced all of their albums, and cameos from other Wu-members filled many of their songs. Since their first album, a few things have changed; Method Man has become one of Rap's largest stars, Genius dropped one of the best Hip-Hop albums of 1995, RZA has taken the role of one of Hip-Hop's most respected producers, Ol Dirty Bastard did guest-appearances for just about everyone (Busta Rhymes, Mariah Carey, Blackstreet, Tha Alkaholiks, etc.), Raekwon and Ghost were on the Gambino tip, the rest of the members sorta just sat around, looking cool and appearing on the occasional song on whatever Wu-solo-album was coming out, and, the Clan as a whole blew up and became extremely popular, among true Hip-Hop heads, typical suburban rap fans, and music critics. You know how rare that is. The Wu-Tang Clan were also really consistent. Some of their albums were better than others, but all of them were superior to the typical cRAP that was everywhere you looked.

And the guys were just exciting. Listening to a beat RZA hooked up was like watching a film by John Woo (did someone say "Woo-Tang"?). Hearing the raw, often cryptic, flows of the nine members just made me glad that some rappers were still pumping out this sort of music.

With the release of Wu-Tang Forever, this has, to a degree, changed.

Quite frankly, the guys are a little boring now. "Mature" would be a good word to describe this effort, as they spend less time talking about "f*cking you up" and concentrate more on social issues. Well, it's fine and dandy with me to be responsible. However, the Wu don't quite fit into this role as well as they probably wanted to. . . there's still the misogynistic lyrics on here (check out "Maria" or "Dog Sh*t"), which seem extremely out of place right next to The RZA proclaiming, "Yo, shorty, you don't even have to go to summer school. Pick up the Wu-Tang double-CD, and you'll get all the education you need this year" (on "Bells of War"). I guess that what RZA believes in may be different than what Ghostface or ODB believe in, but that could be the main problem in trying to produce an album full of ideas when the ideas end up contradicting each other. The message is extremely inconisistent, as the Wu are really all over the place. They go from just bragging about how they're the best thing since sliced bread and claiming to be the saviors of Hip-Hop, to acting like teachers of the children and preaching 5%-Nation philosophies, to dissing females and speaking Mafioso garbage.

To RZA's credit, his production on this album, in particular on the second disc (which outshines the first disc, in my opinion), is nothing short of genius. Since 36 Chambers, RZA's skills have increased greatly from raw, almost basement-tape sounding beats to dense, multi-layered, eery melodies. On Forever, the RZArector melds old-school rap rawness, trip-hop weirdness, and pop accessibility. He's truly a master behind the boards, in the same league as virtuosos such as DJ Premier or DJ Shadow.

But, while we're on the subject of the RZA, at times, Ruler Zig-Zag seems to forget he has a beat behind him. . . while his lyrics are excellent ("Grow like a fetus, with no hands and feet to complete us, and we return like Jesus, when the whole world needs us" stuck out in my mind), the cat just can't flow too well. I don't remember him sounding this sloppy on 36 Chambers, but, then again, he didn't rap this much on there, either. I'll say this, though: I'd rather hear someone drop knowledge like this that doesn't have such a great flow than someone with a great flow recite wack rhymes (like, say, Snoop Dogg, who can flow like butter but doesn't really say much). I'd rather hear a rapper that can do both, though.

Another of Forever's flaws is its lack of consistency. As I stated above, the second disc outshines the first. It's also about 20 minutes longer, probably due to the fact that the first disc is an "Enhanced CD" (which, somehow, has never seemed to work for me). The album starts off good for about two tracks, but quickly slumps for the majority of the disc one until the last two tracks, "A Better Tomorrow" and "It's Yourz." Disc two, surprisingly, is quite a bit stronger, but has its fair share of filler, as well. In reality, this album would have been one of the Wu's best if they would've shaved about a third of these tracks off. I might as well point out some of the highlights of Wu-Tang Forever, so, if nothing else, you know what tracks not to program around. On Disc 1, there's "Reunited," "Visionz," "A Better Tomorrow," and "It's Yourz," while on Disc 2 there's "Triumph," "Impossible," "Bells of War," "Hellz Wind Staff" (say, wasn't there a track on Genius's album with that same title?), "The City," and "Heaterz." There are definitely a few more tracks worth listening to on here, but, for the most part, it's filler. Tracks like "For Heaven's Sake" and "Second Coming" just bore the hell out of me, or, even worse, annoyed the hell out of me.

I'd also like to point out that the rapping wasn't very spread out among the Clan's nine members. . . it seemed that most of the time, it was just about always Ghostface, Raekwon, RZA, and Method Man rapping. . . As I said, RZA is a bit choppier than he once was. Meth is still the same ol' Meth (not as crazy this time around, and less rough around the edges). And Ghostface Killah and Raekwon simply don't make make much sense on Forever. That makes the four rappers that do the most rapping far from the four best rappers in a group filled with dope emcees. NOT a good move. Genius, my favorite emcee in the Clan, was probably on there less than Cappadonna, who isn't even a real member of the Wu. The rapping is strong, for the most part, and U-God shows up quite a bit with some strong rhymes, but it could be easy to listen to the album and only think there's about five rappers in the group, since many of the members don't do much on here.

All-around, the Wu dropped another dope album. I really, really wanted to like it. . . in fact, I did like it quite a bit. But, after the first month or two that I owned it, it pretty much spent a lot of time gathering dust. . . that's not what I'd like to spend over $25.00 on, usually. If you're a hard-core Wu-fan, by all means buy this (like you haven't already). I really couldn't recommend it to casual fans, though. . . Don't get me wrong; this is still the Wu. I don't know if they're capable of releasing a bad album. The lyrics are some of the best you can find in Hip-Hop, and the Clan has, as I said, matured. Now that they're all rich, it would sound sorta silly for them to come out talking about starving in the ghetto and all that, right? And, just for the record, the Wu didn't sell out. In comparing this to 36 Chambers, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. But it's not a situation like Nas's Illmatic vs. It Was Written, where one album was absolutely amazing and the next just painfully commercial. This one was a disappointment, but could have been an even larger one. The main thing that Forever lacks that 36 Chambers had in spades is ENERGY. That first album was an hour and some odd minutes of pure aggression. This one is way more laid back. That's not always a bad thing, but when you're the Wu, you'd better give the fans what they want.

Like albums released in 1997 by KRS-One, Rakim, and Organized Konfusion, here was a highly respected artist that released an album which wasn't bad and was actually quite dope, but just couldn't live up to the hype (I'm just hoping that the new ones by Gang Starr and A Tribe Called Quest will live up to my expectations). There are occasionally flashes of brilliance on Wu-Tang Forever that make it worthy, as some of these tracks are true gems and among Wu-Tang's best. Unfortunately, they're only found beneath loads and loads of filler. This is a formidable album, and I liked it a lot. The lyrics, for the most part, are dope, and there are some good messages in some of these songs. But I couldn't help being disappointed, as I know these guys can do better. If only the Wu-Tang Clan had taken their own advice when, on "As High As Wu-Tang Get," GZA said:

 
   "Too many songs 
    Weak rhymes is mad long 
    Keep it brief, son
    Half short and twice strong"

Hopefully, the Wu will come more correct next time around and release an album that doesn't last "forever."

---Steve Clark