Here's the rest of my review. It's worth about two cents.
Ghost and Rza argue about who discovered Wu Tang kung fu movies first and the rest of the Clan eggs them on. These two arguing is a lighter moment. Then the documentary talks about how Rza was a visionary for it all. The failed solo projects of Prince Rakeem and Gza words from the genius are described as learning lessons for how they established their next group contract. I actually have these albums, lol.
Then we begin to get introduced to the business side. Mook still narrating as promoter. But we get introduced to Mike Lask McDonald, Power, Divine, Sophia Chang, Steve Ripken .... I notice in a pic an old DMX Oberheim and the SP.
Ralph McDaniels shows up with the huge Music Box collection. A full basement stacked floor to ceiling with tapes. I wanted to know who filmed the early Wu videos but they never talked about it. Then we learn how CREAM was their breakthrough single. U-God's son gets shot in 94. Cute kid. Earlier in the segment Raekwon was preaching an Us versus Them attitude about the police. Well, if your kids are getting shot, obviously there's guns and violence in the neighborhood. The police didn't shoot U-God's son. Who did you call when he got shot? The police. The police have to do their job because a bunch of black men who think they are "gods" are shooting each other and shooting 2 year old kids. I don't get the whole us versus them mentality when you know why the police gotta be there. You're grown men now and should have a higher understanding of this.
End of part two sets up what will become a vilification of Divine. He admits that he put business first and admits being a tyrant. Part 3 picks up with Divine. But they sort of fast foward through the solo successes of OB4CL, Liquid Swords, Meth, Ironman, Return to 36... Then the making of Wu Tang Forever then the quitting of the RATM tour which I hadn't known about before. I never knew about Ghostface airing out Hot 97. I have never really liked Hot 97. I can't stand Charlamagne, the Jersey accent girl, Sway, etc.
Then more footage about blacks versus the police. More evidence that blacks only care about a dead black man if the police were involved. If a black man kills a black man, which is usually the case, no one gives a shit because many black people don't want to take responsibility. Then this is immediately followed by more of the "black man is god" bullshit. Another silly contrast depicting the hypocrisy. Then we learn about ODB beating gun charges. So both he and Rza beat gun charges. For Rza it is apparently a pivot point in his life. But the court system never let go their clutch on ODB. Silly shit like violating him for wearing a vest which is a stupid probation rule that violates a man's right to protect himself. It's also silly that demoKrats are the ones pushing all these strict anti-gun laws, but blacks vote demokrat even though these laws disproportionately hurt black people. Conservatives like me support your 2nd amendment right. DemoKrats who you vote for don't.
Then we go through the part where it seemed like the Wu wasn't really there for ODB through his incarceration. And they weren't there when ODB was released. This lends credence to the sentiment that Rza and Divine were on the wrong tip. ODB even sheds a tear when his manager tells him Rza and Divine won't release him from his contract. Then his death.
Part 4 is about villains. Beyond vilifying Divine, we now get to vilify Cilvaringz and martin Shkreli. We finally get an inside look to Mathematics developing the art. We find out he sold the symbol for just $400. Cappadonna finally gets his fair coverage in this. Through it all I think Cappadonna is one of my favorite members throughout the entire duration of the Clan. He and Masta Killa seem the least bitter about everything through it all. U-God and Raekwon and Ghost seem to be some of the most bitter about how some things played out. I always felt that U-God, Inspectah Deck, and Masta Killah kind of got cheated by not getting solo projects until almost 10 years after their first group album.
So I obviously don't know even half of what really went on and only know bits and pieces from these interviews. But ultimately I don't think Divine totally deserves all the vilificaiton he receives. I think that any manager would have probably got a similar cut. If it wasn't divine it would have been some corporate executive at a record label. I also have doubts that all the members invested their money wisely. The money was getting split a lot of ways so it doesn't sound like most of them got rich off the success of 36 Chambers or Forever. You can see that burning the bridge with Divine resulted in cappadonna driving a cab and being homeless, though they don't talk about that bad part of Cappadonna's career. And when they burned bridges with Divine their solo careers suffered for sure. At least in the short term. So there's probably enough blame to go all around and Divine isn't all good or all bad. But what the fuck do I know. I'm not holding their contracts in hand and reading them.
Then they get into Cilvaringz and spend a decent amount of time talking about his involvement with Rza. Cilvaringz comes off as an articulate, smart businessman. I wasn't aware how close he was with Rza how they toured the entire world together. A Rza protege. So here's what I think about the Once Upon A Time In Shaolin album. I think it was a smart concept, and unique. It got the Wu tons of PR whether good or bad. It sounds like Rza signed off on it. It sounded like Ghost, Inspectah Deck, Meth, and U-God's manager were the most salty about it. But it's fair to say that they may have been misled. Though Cilvaringz says in the documentary that he personally reached out to all of them or their representatives beforehand. It sounds to me like they're mad because they didn't get more money out of something pitched as a Wu-Tang clan record. How the album was put together doesn't sound all that different from previous Cilvaringz albums that featured Wu appearances/verses.
And of course the album was bought by the Notorious Martin Shkreli. I actually like Martin Shkreli and consider him a political prisoner. I think people just want to hate his smirking face looking like Adam Scott gone troll. I think that Shkreli raising the price of that medicine is standard for the industry. I am unaware of anyone who has actually died from not receiving the medicine. I think he's an epic, legendary internet troll and if you take it too seriously or get offended then you're the one with the problem, not him. I've heard that the investors in his company actually made money, so suggesting he defrauded them is silly considering how much the Federal government has defrauded people, such as lying and telling Americans opioids weren't addictive for the last 30+ years or bankrupting practically every single Federal insurance scheme. I think Martin Shkreli was vilified because he wasn't a sHillary Clinton supporter. As soon as he offered a reward for a lock of sHillary's hair his bond was revoked and the bias, prejudiced judge threw the book at him. Then it sounds like utter hypocrisy hearing some Wu members happy he's in jail after all the crimes, felonies, gun crimes they got away with in their younger years. Rza shot at people and got off. ODB allegedly shot at police officers and walked. Deck was selling crack to undercover officers and got off light. What did Martin Shkreli do? Make himself and his investors a profit while hurting or harming no one? Overcharging big corporate greedy insurance companies for some medicine that maybe wouldn't have even been produced and available anymore had he not bought the rights to produce it and keep it on the market. Big corporations weren't going to buy rights to manufacture medicine with so few people needing it. They make more money keeping people sick and addicted. Martin Shkreli's goons skit was hilarious and Ghostface still being salty about it isn't a good look. Your fans still know all the lyrics to Ironman and Supreme Clientele. You didn't lose your fans.
And let's be honest. I am willing to bet that Once Upon A Time In Shaolin is better than at least one of the "official" Wu tang albums. Don't act like you suddenly are concerned with protecting the brand after you have hundreds of artists with wu logos on their albums and some half ass projects such as Method man letting P Diddy produce tracks and Raekwon doing songs with Justin Beiber.
What else? We find out Masta Killa is related to Marvin Gaye and Nat Turner. No talk about 4th Disciple or Tru Master or any of the Wu fam groups. Much of the Wu Universe is left out. I think the documentary could have elaborated on how Wu Tang created a huge sub-genre to hip hop. Hundreds of Wu afiliates.
The end of the documentary Wu Tang kind of buries the hatchets. You can tell there are some deep wounds and awkward moments of silence. Hopefully this gave them some time to heal and maybe renew their bonds. I'm hoping this leads to a resurgence in Wu material and better cohesion within the group.
Props to Sancha Jenkins and Mass Appeal for a good documentary on my favorite hip hop group. I learned some new things about the generals. My only criticism might be that the last couple episodes dwelled on some negative things that deserved attention but shouldn't have taken over the plot. However, perhaps the animosity between the members is real and Sancha is just giving us an accurate documentation.
I think I learned that even if you become famous and rich that the money still might not last and you still got problems. And the Wu Universe brought a whole lot of different people together which is a good thing. Wu Tang is the best group in hip hop history and if anyone deserves a documentary in hip hop it is them. I think there's more to explore and more to their story and think that much of the documentary focused on the 90-97 and then fast forwarded through 2000 to 2018. I would have liked to learn more about their philosophies, spiritual beliefs, their own families and children and being fathers, members being dedicated vegans, more about the artists they look up to, and more about some of the positive ways they've given back to the community outside of just music.
