My ONCE UPON A TIME IN SHAOLIN review of cut down version previewed yest in nyc
Sorry for the delay. Ive been typing this up all day in bits and pieces in my notes im trying to give yall everything I can remember.
Im going to make this as concise as possible. Ii dont know if you heard but apparently this album had some hype. I like most of you DID NOT get very mad over the album not dropping; we would not have forever stewed in the misery of never hear the dream wu album… i feel like im dead. Seriously. I was praying to god all month.
Then ringz hit me up with invite and i got to listen to it ;) thank you. Praise the lord. Mysterious ways indeed. Never teach the wu tang.
ok. Starting off. Cap. Bazz. 60 in the building. It was a pleasure meeting all of them. Told 60 he was a legend. Dapped bazz. Cap had people all over him. I dont’t want to be a bother.
Ill explain every track I can remember off the head as sometimes I got lost in the ambience/changing tracks. At the midpoint I just started trying to enjoy it instead of remember everything I am hearing. I really was not expecting this.
We all sit down and they start with.
PILLAGE 88 cappadonna solo. The beat reminded me of pearl harbor from the saga continues in its speed but lusher and more knocking. Everyone seemed to be feeling it. The second verse had me dust king 60 and cap rocking hard haha as he changed his flow and went even harder second verse.. Was a dope joint to start with to get people going with cap in the house.
The true intro with Rae in the rain starts. Traditional talk with the rain blending in to setup I would guess pt II.
Magnificent Butchers I think skreli played this once. Listen deck’s verse is a monster great opener. But priest comes rhyming like a demon with aggression and flowing nice. Then SIN EXPLODES with a cappa winter wars length verse in the middle and destroys it. After that streetlife who spits one of his better verses flow wise and hype. Great street feature right there. Then meth seals it with flow. I dont think I missed anyone maybe rae was on there? It reminded me of house of flying daggers with quality to match. Each verse getting better and better.
— random notes of things I noticed
I remember early on hearing liquid swords, cuban linx, odb and tical interludes. Whether its from movies or old verses over old beats never used officially.
Also members would come in and out of songs like old wu songs like supa ninjaz or liquid swords’ all the rza/meth background features.
It was around the third song or so that I realized ringz wasn’t lying. The DRUMS.. the knock... The BASS. The lyrics. Its all here. wu albums havent thumped this much in a minute. I say that as someone who occasional enjoys even modern wu tang to this day.
I caught different drum patterns from previous classic song that i couldn't put my finger on being reused as an intro to a track tho I may be confusing myself with rainy days 2.
RZA/UGOD track. Drums knock for this one. All the first 5 songs are tough man. Toughest stuff in a while. Both rza and ugod rapping with ferocity. It cut early quickly after u-god started. Used as a snippet really.
Not sure when exactly but mid first half, the rainy dayz II starts to kick in. At first it sounds exactly like the original intro. Same patterns maybe diff sounds or clips. Then it kicks right into the song which has a whole different flip on the verses but sounds like a true sequel for it. Did not sound cheap.
Somewhere around this gza spit a verse with more life than he has in years.
Around the midway point I started to get a little lost on the tracks because so many rappers in and out and cuts and interludes so this is where I kinda was just vibing and not taking note of every little thing.
There was one track that was unique I dont know what kinda instruments that was but it sounded different and “new” while being wu song. It was like intricate strings of some kind. Second gravediggaz album type of material.
The brooklyn zu snippet with zu keeper and odb came on and that was a vintage best of the best brooklyn zu track. It only played a snippet of this gem but zu keeper killed it. 60 was rocking hard to this. Was really unexpected and hard man. Reminded me of the hype that protect ya neck 2 had.
Once upon a time in Shaolin… woah. this is a classic song. Ghost drops a 5 mic verse on here (all his verses on this album are really incredible…). The beat was like impossible on forever. One of those end of the album soul controller/northstar types of tracks.
Ok… now I will blow wu corps mind. Redman track ft wu in a way. “Hosted”
as ringz said. To me it sounds like half gravel pit, half mf doom cartoony banger.. Red has 2 verses while 3/4 members of wu rap shorter verses. I didn’t even realize it was cher until the end when they played the part they fid from the forbes interview. We all bitched about this. It didnt bother me at all.
This was a banger of a track And red fucking murders it. A very red sounding track and it works. The singing isnt too much. It isnt like thea where it dominates the track. Its a lil singing with guys going back n forth in a huge cypher. Short hook. Its a fun song. Gravel pit ish but beat is tougher. .
Like i said i got lost on a few only could keep so much in the brain. dust king if you can talk about other songs if you can remember.
Ok: to break it down
Highlights:
1:THE VERSES. I dont know what the fuck ringz do to get these guys spitting like this but holy fuck. Im not kidding here. Deck is laying it down every verse. Ghost has like 4 legendary verses on here himself. I mean zu keeper was a highlight man. Streetlife had a monster. Sin and priest. Meth stole a few. Rae as well. It dont make sense haha. EVERY VERSE. . I believe I heard rza spitting some geavediggaz esque venom but i was overwhelmed by the fire at that point it coulda been the heat getting to me.
this whole thing feels like a giant hallucination. I was at the altar of the wu where they did 36 cover with 60 second assassin behind me, dapping bazz and seeing the funny skits come to life in real time. I must be dead. This isnt real…. Ghost is dropping gihad type verses on pedos. What is happening here.
2: the beats. These beats are fucking dope. Better than I. The drums. Oh my god. That hit me first. They were cracking like scarfaces. we haven’t had knocking drums like that in a while. Even modern ug stuff wasnt knocking like this.. The bass was there. It sounded GREAT. The sound reminded me of all the og albums play style mixed with the 8diagrams sonics; ie the rich horns and strings all over the album but This album is infinitely more pumping than 8d and the original 8d I consider 4 mics and one of my fav wu albums both group and solo wise. .
Were risks taken? Sure. But the RIGHT risks were taken and imo pulled off. We on the corp know ringz style is based in 4th disciple so his sound always had that that sunz of man/killarmy vibe a lot. I was concerned that modern heads would dismiss it for being too underground wu style. But it wasnt just ug wu. It was a little bit of everything. All the vibes from 36-the w were there. And not only was the style perfect, it wasnt straight mimicry either. Like rainydayz 2 has the vibe of the first but the verse flip changes it all up. I never felt once.. “cheap”. Or knockoff. It felt real… it did. It felt like for once the fans got the guys to understand everything they want from them.
3.
The comradely was great even if there was not actually any ha. Like i said guys come in and out. It feels like they were all in the studio together. Guys are talking to each other betwern verses and doing adlibs. It felt hectic like a real wu album.
If i was to say anything negative about what I heard, I just rmemeber being so overwhelmed by the first half it was hard to take in all of that straught forward, non stop mcing by the time of the second. The first half was so much one after another I couldn't even think. heavy just non stop. The second half kinda slowed down but used the skits to keep the energy up.
I saw people say the album would be “funeral music” as deck so affectionately put it. While there were slower simple stuff similar to say pearl harbor or on that shit again (as for recents); but the beata had way more lushness and stuff going on outside of that so it didnt feel stiff at all. . And the beats werent just static loops they kept evolving in rza type ways to go with the great flows. I felt maybe 4 of the 12/13 or so joints we heard like that at mosl and not really at all. Nothing screamed that to me.
What i heard was def in the CL2 class of wu tang at the very least. Beats were banging like dillas was banging on that album. Like how dill was channeling rza there, ringz channeled rza here. This was a SERIOUS labor of love. It had to be. Imo these beats blow away the I stuff. Ringz def grew as a producer as we should know he would have as a close protege to rza. Im sure he knows all the tricks. And well see how it works out because the guy was talking about trying to put it out this year if they can. I have faith.
Anyway. Dust king was also there with me. He could also go in for you. There were people there who were obviously just there to be there and not wu fans. But a few of us were rocking big time.
ringz. Thank you man. Seriously. For everything. For the album. For the link. For holding down wu fans with the forum. I had a seriously good time and am cery very very happy with what I heard.
Strong. STRONG album. Blows saga and abt out the water. They both have their moments but this… this right here… this is it. I wouldnt say its better than forever or anything but its a mighty record imo.
