Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group that consists of: RZA, GZA/Genius, Ghostfac… Read Full Bio ↴Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group that consists of: RZA, GZA/Genius, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group. They were formed in (and are associated with) the New York City borough of Staten Island (referred to by members as "Shaolin"), though Masta Killa and GZA are from Brooklyn and Inspectah Deck is from the Bronx. They have gone on to become multi-platinum record producers, Grammy winners, TV and film stars, screenwriters, product spokespersons, business owners and, most recently, major motion picture composers. The Clan featured nine MCs until the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard in 2004. One of the most critically and commercially successful hip hop groups of all time, Wu-Tang Clan shot to fame through their uncompromising brand of hardcore rap music. Since their debut, they have introduced or launched the careers of numerous other artists and groups, and already in 1994 there were credited to be over 300 Wu-Tang Clan affiliates, known as the Wu-Tang Killa Bees, consisting of rappers, producers, and record label CEOs.
The founders of the Wu-Tang Clan were RZA, GZA, and Ol' Dirty Bastard, who had previously formed the group Force of the Imperial Master (later known as All In Together Now after the release of a popular single by that name). The group attracted the attention of some notable figures in the industry, including Biz Markie, but did not manage to secure a record deal. After the crew dissolved, GZA and RZA (then known as Prince Rakeem) embarked on their solo careers with Cold Chillin' Records and Tommy Boy Records respectively, but to little success. Their frustration with the workings of the hip hop music industry would provide the main inspiration to Wu-Tang Clan's revolutionary business plan. According to The Wu-Tang Manual, at the group's inception, RZA promised the members that if he had total control of the Wu-Tang empire, it would conquer the hip hop world within a dynastic cycle, after which he would relinquish his total control.
Wu-Tang Clan was gradually assembled in late 1992 from friends and accomplices from around Staten Island, New York, with RZA as the de-facto leader and the group's main producer. Two of the cousins, GZA (pronounced Jizza) and RZA (pronounced Rizza), created their new Wu-Tang aliases by mimicking the sound that the words "genius" and "razor" would make when scratched on a turntable.
"Wu-Tang" comes from the name of the Taoist holy mountain Wu Dang in northwest Hubei Province in central China; it was also the site of the Ming Dynasty Purple Imperial City built during the reign of the Yongle Emperor in the early 15th century. RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard adopted the name for the group after seeing the kung fu film Shaolin and Wu Tang, which features a school of warriors trained in Wu-Tang style. The group's debut album loosely adopted a Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang theme, dividing the album into Shaolin and Wu-Tang sections and using dialogue excerpts as skits.
The group have also developed various backronyms for the name (as hip hop pioneers like KRS-One and Big Daddy Kane did with their names), including "We Usually Take All the Niggas' Garments," "Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game" and "Wisdom, Universe, Truth, Allah, Nation, and God".
Method Man has also mentioned that the "Wu" is the sound a sword makes when cutting through the air, and "Tang" is the sound it makes against a shield.
The Clan first became known to hip hop fans, and to major record labels, in 1993 (see 1993 in music) following the release of the independent single "Protect Ya Neck", which immediately gave the group a sizeable underground following. Though there was some difficulty in finding a record label that would sign Wu-Tang Clan while still allowing each member to record solo albums with other labels, Loud/RCA finally agreed, releasing their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), in late 1993. This album was popular and critically-acclaimed, though it took some time to gain momentum. Though hip hop had long had a gritty texture, the surreal aggression and minimalist production of 36 Chambers nevertheless had a huge impact on the genre, and was to prove massively influential over the next decade. By the beginning of the 21st century, the album had become a regular fixture on "Best Albums of the 90s" lists as well as a frequent choice for "Best Albums of All Time" lists. The success of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) established the group as a creative and influential force in early 1990s hip hop, allowing GZA, RZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa to negotiate solo contracts.
www.wutang-corp.com
The founders of the Wu-Tang Clan were RZA, GZA, and Ol' Dirty Bastard, who had previously formed the group Force of the Imperial Master (later known as All In Together Now after the release of a popular single by that name). The group attracted the attention of some notable figures in the industry, including Biz Markie, but did not manage to secure a record deal. After the crew dissolved, GZA and RZA (then known as Prince Rakeem) embarked on their solo careers with Cold Chillin' Records and Tommy Boy Records respectively, but to little success. Their frustration with the workings of the hip hop music industry would provide the main inspiration to Wu-Tang Clan's revolutionary business plan. According to The Wu-Tang Manual, at the group's inception, RZA promised the members that if he had total control of the Wu-Tang empire, it would conquer the hip hop world within a dynastic cycle, after which he would relinquish his total control.
Wu-Tang Clan was gradually assembled in late 1992 from friends and accomplices from around Staten Island, New York, with RZA as the de-facto leader and the group's main producer. Two of the cousins, GZA (pronounced Jizza) and RZA (pronounced Rizza), created their new Wu-Tang aliases by mimicking the sound that the words "genius" and "razor" would make when scratched on a turntable.
"Wu-Tang" comes from the name of the Taoist holy mountain Wu Dang in northwest Hubei Province in central China; it was also the site of the Ming Dynasty Purple Imperial City built during the reign of the Yongle Emperor in the early 15th century. RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard adopted the name for the group after seeing the kung fu film Shaolin and Wu Tang, which features a school of warriors trained in Wu-Tang style. The group's debut album loosely adopted a Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang theme, dividing the album into Shaolin and Wu-Tang sections and using dialogue excerpts as skits.
The group have also developed various backronyms for the name (as hip hop pioneers like KRS-One and Big Daddy Kane did with their names), including "We Usually Take All the Niggas' Garments," "Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game" and "Wisdom, Universe, Truth, Allah, Nation, and God".
Method Man has also mentioned that the "Wu" is the sound a sword makes when cutting through the air, and "Tang" is the sound it makes against a shield.
The Clan first became known to hip hop fans, and to major record labels, in 1993 (see 1993 in music) following the release of the independent single "Protect Ya Neck", which immediately gave the group a sizeable underground following. Though there was some difficulty in finding a record label that would sign Wu-Tang Clan while still allowing each member to record solo albums with other labels, Loud/RCA finally agreed, releasing their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), in late 1993. This album was popular and critically-acclaimed, though it took some time to gain momentum. Though hip hop had long had a gritty texture, the surreal aggression and minimalist production of 36 Chambers nevertheless had a huge impact on the genre, and was to prove massively influential over the next decade. By the beginning of the 21st century, the album had become a regular fixture on "Best Albums of the 90s" lists as well as a frequent choice for "Best Albums of All Time" lists. The success of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) established the group as a creative and influential force in early 1990s hip hop, allowing GZA, RZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa to negotiate solo contracts.
www.wutang-corp.com
Slow Blues
Wu-Tang Clan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Yeah, get my voice, get the clarity
Sunzini the flame
Let me drop a little something hot, what?
Yeah (we here)
(Yo, turn my vocals up, son)
Turn my voice up (yeah, yo, yeah)
Yo, Brooklyn, Bo King, yeah
All my Russians come on (uh, yo)
Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh
I'm Vast Aire
I got to pull, I got to pull out the guitar on this one
Yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I'm like Ali, better yet, Joe Louis
I will push my hands through you, I don't need bullets
Show me the signal, let's flow
I'll be outside with thirty niggas ready to go
We shine when we rhyme, so I'm, ready to glow
I liked to hem shows, I'm ready to sew
Pass me the needle, you get the cloth
Kunta'll get the thread and we'll all break bread
This is the true birth of a prince
When I die, this song'll be a footprint
I'll be back with the essence in an instant
I heard about Ason, and burnt an incense
Life's ill, don't get it pretzled
I can't show you, but I'll leave a stencil
I'm talking 'bout what matters, not figures
I'm pointing at the moon and you looking at my finger
Come correctly and I don't really give a fuck
Who won't accept me, you see?
I gotta do this for the underground, broke it down
Coney Isle, BK to Uptown, yeah, they gonna know me now
I'm up in the kitchen cooking up some hot shit
Just ask your boy Raekwon, he gon' tell you how I spit, yeah
Byata live it, it's a hustle every day
I'm on the grind tryna see this million pay day
But I stay shining, catch me when I'm up in the scene
Rocking the surplus ััััะบะฐั ะดะตะฒะบะฐ silk screens, yeah
Gorilla style, don't make me have to wild out
With the surrealer for realer, caveat, come tell 'bout
Making moves, paying dues on the evening news
The Russian lifestyle, bitches, we never lose
Now give me another blast of that green
'Til I get open and I'm nasty with the sixteen, yeah
They don't even know what's coming
'Til them got them rubbing off the rooster
Chick from C.I. To Brighton Beach, yeah, we Russian sick (sick)
Woo, yeah, yeah, we Russian sick (sick)
Uh-huh, yeah, yeah, the chick is sick (yo, come on, yo)
I'm Young Abraham in front of the projects puffing
If I honor myself then my honor is nothing
Even a spirit of evil in the veins of a junkie
Pay peanuts and you get monkeys
Honkey see, honkey do, yeah, Yacub the foul serpent
Amongst crack dealers, street merchants, Bo King
Yeah, flows from out of my mouth
Up North, Down South, yeah, I'm never without
Extra heat on some black burner, semi assault
Buccaneer, yeah, I'm bucking near holes in your port
'Cause you ain't bustin' nothing, that's studio edits
Who doing the shooting? Your engineer gettin' all the credit
So while you busting shots in a four hour session
I'll be aiming at cops in the name of oppression
Mac-1 to the second power, clap off end
I can hit anything up close or far away
Spray lead at the governor's head 'cause he don't wanna
Break bread with the slaves that never been fed
One for my son's money, two for the show
Three, I gets busy, four, I'm out the door, bro
Five, the click get live, the Sunn'll jive
Blaze that haze in the East, that purple kush on the Westside
Tech vests with the metal slides, from rebel Bedstuy
I do or die, high on the ride
This revolution will be televised, through mics, I'm mesmerized
Sight spies, small fries, living lies
Testing the flame, will get you blowned out the fucking frame
I don't bang, but I will let that Eagle reign
Never catch me tucking the chain, I'm gutter grain
That's word to mther main, sustained in this fucking game
Yeah, he shines like aluminum foil, make the mic boil
Ladies and gentleman, introducing, I'm loyal
Bloodlines royal, hood raised never spoiled
I'm quick to bury a snake, Jake, beneath the soil
Twist that backwood berry croyal
Taste the green as it broil and watch it burn like oil
That independent who stays major, rule one, about my paper
It all started on the block with small cash capers
A force of nature, my mom and pops ain't no glass makers
And if I see you on some shit, I'm a fair shaker
I let it out like Sharon Vegas, serving traitors
Y'all niggas now I shine across the equator
Sunzini the flame
Let me drop a little something hot, what?
Yeah (we here)
(Yo, turn my vocals up, son)
Turn my voice up (yeah, yo, yeah)
Yo, Brooklyn, Bo King, yeah
All my Russians come on (uh, yo)
I'm Vast Aire
I got to pull, I got to pull out the guitar on this one
Yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I'm like Ali, better yet, Joe Louis
I will push my hands through you, I don't need bullets
Show me the signal, let's flow
I'll be outside with thirty niggas ready to go
We shine when we rhyme, so I'm, ready to glow
I liked to hem shows, I'm ready to sew
Pass me the needle, you get the cloth
Kunta'll get the thread and we'll all break bread
This is the true birth of a prince
When I die, this song'll be a footprint
I'll be back with the essence in an instant
I heard about Ason, and burnt an incense
Life's ill, don't get it pretzled
I can't show you, but I'll leave a stencil
I'm talking 'bout what matters, not figures
I'm pointing at the moon and you looking at my finger
Come correctly and I don't really give a fuck
Who won't accept me, you see?
I gotta do this for the underground, broke it down
Coney Isle, BK to Uptown, yeah, they gonna know me now
I'm up in the kitchen cooking up some hot shit
Just ask your boy Raekwon, he gon' tell you how I spit, yeah
Byata live it, it's a hustle every day
I'm on the grind tryna see this million pay day
But I stay shining, catch me when I'm up in the scene
Rocking the surplus ััััะบะฐั ะดะตะฒะบะฐ silk screens, yeah
Gorilla style, don't make me have to wild out
With the surrealer for realer, caveat, come tell 'bout
Making moves, paying dues on the evening news
The Russian lifestyle, bitches, we never lose
Now give me another blast of that green
'Til I get open and I'm nasty with the sixteen, yeah
They don't even know what's coming
'Til them got them rubbing off the rooster
Chick from C.I. To Brighton Beach, yeah, we Russian sick (sick)
Woo, yeah, yeah, we Russian sick (sick)
Uh-huh, yeah, yeah, the chick is sick (yo, come on, yo)
I'm Young Abraham in front of the projects puffing
If I honor myself then my honor is nothing
Even a spirit of evil in the veins of a junkie
Pay peanuts and you get monkeys
Honkey see, honkey do, yeah, Yacub the foul serpent
Amongst crack dealers, street merchants, Bo King
Yeah, flows from out of my mouth
Up North, Down South, yeah, I'm never without
Extra heat on some black burner, semi assault
Buccaneer, yeah, I'm bucking near holes in your port
'Cause you ain't bustin' nothing, that's studio edits
Who doing the shooting? Your engineer gettin' all the credit
So while you busting shots in a four hour session
I'll be aiming at cops in the name of oppression
Mac-1 to the second power, clap off end
I can hit anything up close or far away
Spray lead at the governor's head 'cause he don't wanna
Break bread with the slaves that never been fed
One for my son's money, two for the show
Three, I gets busy, four, I'm out the door, bro
Five, the click get live, the Sunn'll jive
Blaze that haze in the East, that purple kush on the Westside
Tech vests with the metal slides, from rebel Bedstuy
I do or die, high on the ride
This revolution will be televised, through mics, I'm mesmerized
Sight spies, small fries, living lies
Testing the flame, will get you blowned out the fucking frame
I don't bang, but I will let that Eagle reign
Never catch me tucking the chain, I'm gutter grain
That's word to mther main, sustained in this fucking game
Yeah, he shines like aluminum foil, make the mic boil
Ladies and gentleman, introducing, I'm loyal
Bloodlines royal, hood raised never spoiled
I'm quick to bury a snake, Jake, beneath the soil
Twist that backwood berry croyal
Taste the green as it broil and watch it burn like oil
That independent who stays major, rule one, about my paper
It all started on the block with small cash capers
A force of nature, my mom and pops ain't no glass makers
And if I see you on some shit, I'm a fair shaker
I let it out like Sharon Vegas, serving traitors
Y'all niggas now I shine across the equator
The lyrics to Wu-Tang Clan's song "Slow Blues" feature various members of the group showcasing their lyrical skills and expressing their experiences and perspectives. The song begins with Vast Aire introducing himself and comparing his prowess to that of boxers Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis. He emphasizes his ability to fight without weapons and expresses his readiness to confront any challenges that come his way.
The lyrics also touch on themes of loyalty, perseverance, and the importance of staying true to oneself. The artists assert their dedication to the underground rap scene and their determination to make a name for themselves. They mention specific locations like Brooklyn, Coney Island, and Uptown, conveying their connection to these places and their intention to be recognized there.
There are references to Russian culture and lifestyle, particularly in the verses of Sunzini the Flame and Byata, who speak about their Russian heritage and their involvement in the rap game. They mention wearing Russian silk screens and living a hustle-driven life, striving for success and not accepting defeat.
Other themes explored include the struggle against oppression and the desire for freedom. The artists criticize corrupt politicians and express their willingness to stand up against them. They speak of revolution and the power of music as a means of resistance and communication.
Overall, "Slow Blues" is a lyrical showcase that touches on various aspects of personal experiences, cultural identity, and social commentary. It presents a unified front of Wu-Tang Clan members, each delivering their unique perspectives while collectively representing the group's ethos.
Lyrics ยฉ O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Timothy Drayton, Theodore Arrington III, Lamar Ruff, Beatrice M. Dikker
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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@thabangkgosimoatshe9521
Seven years and my great grand kids gon find me still banging this shit.
For now, let's take "a moment of silence" for those who haven't heard this song.๐๐๐พ
@tanequamcbride7284
Same here! Timbo King verse going over a lot of people heads too!
@iamrobberino2107
This whole album is a timeless classic. Byata is easily among the top 5 female emcees of all time, up there in the absolute top with Lauren Hill and Missy Elliott etc ๐๐
@WhispersOfWind
I'm pointing at the moon, and you are looking at my finger.
@KingnEm
Hells Wind a bruce lee reference
@jasonsharma5888
"Don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory."
@blissz4
Wow, just watched that movie yesterday...
@poodymac63
@@KingnEm actually, this quote was long before Bruce Lee. He just brought it to many us here
@dylanmccallister1888
Referencing bruce less was not what was intended. Read between the lines, that's why I love this line so fucking much. Ever been held down by people who couldn't see the bigger picture, didn't have the motivation you have to aim high? Somebody who couldn't see the fores for the trees the way you can?
Im pointing at the moon, but you're looking at my finger
@ApyrGaming69
"Spray lead at the governor's head, cuz he don't wanna Break bread with the slaves that never been fed." Damn Timbo King is sick!!