Originally Posted by
Buddah_MAC
My knowledge isn't really any different than anyone else who was on the site at the time, b/c Cilva was pretty open & inclusive about letting people into the process as he was building the album and figuring out what it was up until he got into the selling of the album.
Unfortunately, as I said before, his being so inclusive in that process is part of what increased the backlash as they felt part of something they now weren't going to get to hear/have. That's not a rational reaction, b/c it's his album to do with as he sees, and it's not one I share, but I can understand how people would feel let down by a "for the fans" album they were in for the making of and now won't get. You add in these are some people who are still checking every new Cappa album & Islord track desperate for something decent, and I think a chunk of the flack he's gotten is misdirected lashing out from people who've suffered through a lot of sup-par & just bad Wu releases the last few years and this potentially good one they saw pieced together exists but is denied them.
I think it was deleted but I believe what I said at the time was I understand his needing to recoup & profit on his investment in making the album & why therefore it had to be named as a "Wu" album & not a "Cilva presents..." album, but some fans aren't going to understand it.
I guessed/forewarned that there might be some issues with some Clan/Fam members in recording verses for a project that ends up marketed as a "Wu-Tang Clan" album, especially with them possibly wanting more money on the back end.
I thought pharma-bro buying it was a bad look for both the brand & the "reclaiming music as art" concept. I've lessened on that slightly as it's made Martin more the villain and Wu/this album a bit more mythic in the long run, but still think it was a bad look overall. Then again, who with that bank wouldn't be some kind of asshole?
And I thought the single album concept was going to be a new model for an investor to pay for the single album and then it was their onus to further try and capitalize on it & it'd flip the industry model on its head (instead of up front advance to artist w/ recouping the production cost & very little on the back end for artists, the artist presents a completed work that the industry has to pay a great amount for and then that industry has to figure out how to profit on it themselves). So the 88 years/not capitalizing was a let down as I was thinking the album could be used as a new way for artists to profit in the dying music industry, while Cilva was looking more for a re conception of music as art itself.
Again, anyone who was here at the time knows the situation & it just comes down to how you feel about how it went down. Cilva gets overly vilified on here b/c they take something they were let into the inside process of during its early stages turning into something they were denied having as a betrayal. I think it's unfortunate that well-meant inclusion led to people getting pissed when they were excluded, but I understand why they might feel that way too. Cilva ended up making the best moves he saw to sell his album and in most respects he succeeded. That's probably not going to make a difference to the people who feel put out, but that's the impasse this board is at.
Also, disagree w/ the "web of lies" as I think the only misdirection in this whole thing was in the marketing. We were in on the process when he transitioned this from what it was to what it became, which is just a concept becoming something solid & different than what it began as.
And agreed people are too ready to jump all over any & everything Wu here & overrate things, but it's a Wu board, so that's going to happen.