Wu-Tang

8 Diagrams Drama All Over Again

Remember when 8 Diagrams came out and Rae & Ghost had beef with RZA about the artistic direction of the project? It seems that these guys have been hard at work on a time machine because Rae is back at it again. In response to RZA calling him out in an interview for not showing up and not putting in work, Rolling Stone picked up the phone and dialed 1-800-CHEF.

Raekwon perfectly lays out that he hates the new single Keep Watch. An opinion which I share with him for once. He’s on strike untill he gets a better contract. But still has the fans in his heart. And with that he also thinks RZA is not the producer he was twenty years ago. One could deduct that Rae is saying the RZA should step his producer game up.

Ego’s are clashing for sure. And the odds of a getting complete project looks slimmer than ever.

On a scale of 0-10, what are the odds that you end up on A Better Tomorrow?
We at a two right now. It’s like climbing up a fuckin’ mountain if you got on slippers.

8 Diagrams, The RZA 1 comment on RZA: Digi Snacks Is Finished

RZA: Digi Snacks Is Finished

RZA has only one eyeclaa7 got together a small recap from a RZA interview featured in the Swedish KingSize magazine. Here are a few things he pointed out that were said in the interview:

  • RZA announces that the whole ‘Digi Snacks‘ album is finished but put to the side for the release of 8 Diagrams (the goes same for OB4CL2). Bobby has matured allot on the album. This will be showcased by writing of the songs, which has gotten better according to RZA. There is a really beautiful song on Digi Snacks that’s called ‘Drama‘ which has an incredible chorus and Bobby tells people how to make their lives better. That one feels like a hit-record. But there is also tracks like ‘My Lovin’ Is Digi Pt.2‘ where he just talks shit; “my dick is hard” – that’s that Bobby Digital shit.
  • He says that his favourite Wu-Tang album is ‘Return To The 36 Chambers,’ there is no other album that provides so much joy. It’s a true piece of art.
  • In 1997 RZA found a book on music-theory which started his translation from hip-hop producer to musician. The first beats he made after reading this book were ‘It’s Yourz‘ and ‘Triumph.’
  • He says that Ghostface has a very good ear for music and that he is 100% sure that if he just learned how to use a sampler he would never have to work with a producer again. He also says that INS is the only one in the Clan that learned how to make beats and that ”He actually done a couple beats that are quite interesting.”
  • He gives a prediction that Young DB (ODB’s son) will have a hit-record on top of the charts in 2 years. And it will be a real song-song that people can sing along to. “That’s my first priority when 8 Diagrams is over; Young Dirty Bastard – he is wild, seventeen years old but just like his father. If he just can keep his health.”

Kudos to claa7 for translating the bits

Wu-Tang 8 comments on *Rubbabandz Disses Along – Pork Chops

*Rubbabandz Disses Along – Pork Chops

Update: It came to my attention that this track by Rubbabands is over a month old now. So he is not jumping on the latest Shy-Rae beef.

Escher Relativiteit

Can you follow it? Because I certainly can not. Does everybody want to speak out against them? It’s not like these guys produced anything relevant lately. What ever happened to the lessons? I guess they went out the window. Now if only the Clan formed together again and took the time to repsond once more. Because they are getting shitted on from North to South.

It won’t be long before we get the Soap Opera Weekly Wu-Tang edition.

Rubbabandz – Pork Chops on Zshare

Raekwon, Wu-Tang 4 comments on Raekwon: Stirring The Pot

Raekwon: Stirring The Pot

Raekwon Shaolin & Wu-Tang[Got a strong stomach feeling while reading this]

Raekwon: Stirring The Pot
December 12th, 2007 | Author: Francesca Djerejian/HipHopDX

A self-described ancestor in the rap game, Raekwon’s colossal Only Built for Cuban Linx… alone guaranteed that he would never have to worry about extinction. With an uncontested legacy that secures him a place in rap annals, some might think the Chef has nothing more to prove. But as his leadership in the controversy surrounding the Wu-Tang Clan’s 8 Diagrams demonstrates, the forerunner of criminology rap refuses to stray too far from the aesthetic origins of Hip Hop’s unmatched super group.

It seems appropriate that while most rap infighting is centered on money, Raekwon’s most ardent criticisms of RZA are concerned with art. After all, the Clan represents a now bygone era when creativity appeared to trump financial motives, and when the closest the Wu came to being political was with Rae’s slang rap democracy. Claiming to be a spokesperson for the group’s collective grievances, Raekwon is dismayed at what he sees as RZA’s self-motivated stylings, and is planning a counter-offensive to put the embattled leader in his place. Regardless of whether or not a new generation of listeners will grant this artistic debate the attention it deserves, Raekwon is faithful that true Wu fans will follow its evolution closely. And if the lukewarm reception to 8 Diagrams is any indication, many disappointed listeners will be turning to Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang and the perpetually delayed Only Built for Cuban Linx 2: The Return of the Purple Tape as potentially more desirable alternatives. In a conversation with HipHopDX shortly after his memorable performance at the Jam Master Jay Awards show in New York City, Raekwon reveals his motivation behind the new projects and reflects on his influence in Hip Hop.

HipHopDX: Is the Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang album still coming out?
Raekwon: Yeah, it’s going to be coming out.
Continue Reading “Raekwon: Stirring The Pot”

Ghostface Killah, Wu-Tang 1 comment on AHH: Ghostface Killah: Iron Manual

AHH: Ghostface Killah: Iron Manual

GhostfaceGhostface Killah: Iron Manual
Published Tuesday, December 04, 2007 10:00 AM
By Alvin “Aqua” Blanco

Ghostface aka Paisley Fontaine goes in on his style, vision and that other Wu-Tang Clan album.

Chances are a above average rapper will drop a solid album or two or three, some good, some not so good, and call it a career. When it comes to Ghostface Killah, the odds are a bit better. Dennis Coles, party member of that band of merry rappers calling themselves the Wu-Tang Clan, has dropped multiple classics (Ironman, Supreme Clientele, and don’t forget the guest starring role on Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…). Add to that exceptional albums like Fishscale and The Pretty Toney Album, and Tony Starks sports one of the strongest musical catalogs in Hip-Hop.

Whether his latest venture achieves the renowned status of his early masterpieces is a matter of time. Don’t bet against him, though. While the Clan’s once impregnable armor has been nicked by infighting, lack of focus and at times plain subpar material, Ghost Deini has remained consistent enough to at times single handedly keep the Clan’s iron flag waving. Dropping heater after heater, whether it be his own solo work, via scene stealinf guest spots or sharing the mic with his Theodore Unit squad, Ghost never fails to get busy. Now with a lucky seventh album added to the discography, The Big Doe Rehab, we take a look back at some of Ghostface’s winning plays.

AllHipHop.com: How did “Can It Be All So Simple” come together?
Continue Reading “AHH: Ghostface Killah: Iron Manual”

8 Diagrams, Ghostface Killah, The RZA, Wu-Tang 3 comments on Ghostface Blames Rza For His No-Show On ODB Tribute Song

Ghostface Blames Rza For His No-Show On ODB Tribute Song

In part two of Sucker Free’s exclusive interview with Ghostface Killah, he says the reason why he doesn’t appear on the Wu-Tang Clan’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard tribute song, “Life Changes,” is because Rza never gave him the beat. He says Bobby Digital purposely released the song without him. Ghost says:

“Rza playing games, tryna be funny, and let [the song] out. You let me rhyme over them other beats [for the Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams album], why you didn’t just give me that too to rhyme off of?… [I] definitely would have got on that, if you would have gave me the track, that track with everything else. He knew where I was at. All he had to do was send that track and get into whatever on some like, ‘Yo, here go that with the other beats that I sent you to rhyme off of.’ You think I’m just gonna just not do that but do those? And then you gonna put it out anyway on some funny sh*t? That was a sucker move like that.”

Source: Sucka Free

8 Diagrams, Ghostface Killah, Wu-Tang 4 comments on Ghost Does Not Want To Take ‘Blame’ for 8 Diagrams Mature Sound

Ghost Does Not Want To Take ‘Blame’ for 8 Diagrams Mature Sound

RAGU in their whipSOHH got down with Pretty Toney and he fueled the ongoing drama about 8 Diagrams more. Which seems to be making more headlines then his album. Just like with RZA’s promotour for 8 Diagrams.

Friday – November 30, 2007 by Anthony Roberts

Veteran rhyme slinger Ghostface Killah has once again re-emerged and is ready to drop more jewels with his latest effort, The Big Doe Rehab. In his usually colorful form, Tony Starks chopped it up with SOHH about how Wu-Tang Clan’s comeback disc almost came out the same day as his new album, the Clan’s beef with Rza and taking his family to rehab.

After dropping More Fish last December, Ghost went back to the lab and cooked up his 7th solo disc, The Big Doe Rehab, an album that he says took it’s own turn and detoured a bit from his original vision.

“It was supposed to be, more or less, it’s me again,” Ghost explained to SOHH. “I was gonna do the album by myself but as time went on, I started to hear Raekwon on a few of the tracks and ni**as wanted to get on. They wanted to be a part of it. Then I started to go back and see where I could fit everybody in. I started to think, like, where I could put Method Man, where I could put U-God. I already knew where I wanted Rae to be so, it just kinda worked like that.”
Continue Reading “Ghost Does Not Want To Take ‘Blame’ for 8 Diagrams Mature Sound”

Ghostface Killah, Wu-Tang 1 comment on “But, Yayo can suck a fat dick. Tell him I said that.”

“But, Yayo can suck a fat dick. Tell him I said that.”

RZA & Ghost are WuSorry, I did this one just before I went to work. So a Rhapsody finally popped the question regaring Yayo’s claim that Superb wrote Supreme Clientele, whereas Rae had previously mentioned it. His answer is pretty clear. Though I still keep the ghostwriting in mind. But he still has a funny anecdote on Superb. Especially since he was played Woodrow.

In bigger clashes, Ghost still thinks 8 Diagrams is shit. And plays in line with Rae. He also mentions that he won the courtcase against RZA for his money. Despite all that he and RZA still good. Now let’s get these fuckers in the studio together to do a fucking Ghost solo as it is supposed to sound!

A decade ago, the Wu-Tang Clan and Ghostface dropping new music within a week of each other would have been cause for a national hip-hop holiday. Unfortunately, in 2007, it only heightened tensions between Wu members already bickering about everything from compensation to the musical direction of the group’s upcoming album, 8 Diagrams. Rhapsody had a chance to sit down with Pretty Toney while he was promoting his seventh album, Big Doe Rehab. We got his thoughts on the inspiration for his ghetto stories, on G-Unit’s Tony Yayo’s claims that Ghost may not be the author of Supreme Clientele, and on where things currently stand with the RZA and the Wu.

RHAPSODY: When you’re telling stories like “Maxine” or “Alex (Stolen Scripts),” are they inspired by real-life experiences?

Ghostface: When I hear a certain type of music, it brings certain things out. I’m an artist. I’m a real poet. Whatever the beat makes me see, I’ll go write. It might sound like a murder. It might sound like a real snowy day, or kids having fun in the snow. It might sound like “The Sun.” “Maxine” was a true story. It was based upon what happened with fiends in the projects. Crackheads is funny. They be doin’ all types of dumb s**t. You gotta watch ‘em. They sneak things from you.
Continue Reading ““But, Yayo can suck a fat dick. Tell him I said that.””

Ghostface Killah, The RZA, Wu-Tang 4 comments on You don’t say…

You don’t say…

Cherchez La GhostOver at the hivey Chamber Musik Forums, the people are talking about the Wu-Ghost drama. A couple of little known things popped up by hand of G-Clef. Like in 1997 RZA broke the clan up as a working unit and most amazing.

FACT: Ghost has been involved in a heavy court case against Rza for at least 2 years now. Out of respect Ghost, and co. kept it out of the public eye,l despite the fact that it involved HEAVY monetary concerns that Ghost claimed are owed to him, including publishing monies. We kept it quiet out of respect for Ghost’s wishes, but now he was just pushed too far and he’s finally unleashing. Stay focused people, and welcome to Music Biz 101.

G

Visit the topic here.