Iron Flag reception at the time

As someone who was surprised by the W and the sudden resurrection to glory over here in the Netherlands - starting with the Gravel Pit video that was on repeat like crazy, only to be followed by The Jump Off and Cant Go to Sleep, which also got crazy airplay - how surprising was it to see the Iron Flag album announced and being released so shortly after? I do remember seeing the Uzi video, but hated the song and didn’t even hit me that they did a whole new album as I wasn’t that big of a fan yet. Was there a lot of hype behind it? Did they do a lot of promotion, a sampler, the whole nine or not really? And what was the initial reaction, was it similar to now where most people feel it was a letdown after the W?

Over here, it was obvious it was a desperation move by Loud as they were dwindling in sales at the time. Pretty much same reaction as W, but W is now seen as the superior of the two as time has gone by

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by David Daniel Davis

Over here, it was obvious it was a desperation move by Loud as they were dwindling in sales at the time. Pretty much same reaction as W, but W is now seen as the superior of the two as time has gone by

---

So both were perceived how then exactly? I am sure you didn’t care about the desperation part right?

The W, poorly at first, with the exception of a handful of tracks, but it's reputation has increased since then. Iron Flag for the most part was considered subpar back then and still now. The desperation part, not at all.. I actually like it when labels are troubled, because then they start throwing out stuff that they usually would not throw out, hoping that something sticks.

Personally I loved The W when it came it. I had it on repeat for the next year. But it was definitely a departure from Forever, and generally was not as well received as, say, Supreme Clientele. Not much support in the mainstream behind it.

I also loved Iron Flag. I must’ve played Uzi 1000 times. I still think it’s one of their best songs. Even though Iron Flag felt more like a compilation (which it basically was), I still thought it was a great record, on even footing with The W, but for different reasons.

Always felt like it was a decent album with some absolute bangers on it

There was mild reaction to Uzi Pinky Ring as the lead single, and that was the pinnacle of Iron Flag's relevance.
The album was released the same day as Nas' Stillmatic, and was an afterthought among the hype of that album and Ether

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Abraham Lincoln

There was mild reaction to Uzi Pinky Ring as the lead single, and that was the pinnacle of Iron Flag's relevance.
The album was released the same day as Nas' Stillmatic, and was an afterthought among the hype of that album and Ether

---

I can imagine, Uzi was a poor choice for a single for sure. I think Back in the Game Now and Rules would’ve been great choices. Right, makes sense.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ta12113

Personally I loved The W when it came it. I had it on repeat for the next year. But it was definitely a departure from Forever, and generally was not as well received as, say, Supreme Clientele. Not much support in the mainstream behind it.

I also loved Iron Flag. I must’ve played Uzi 1000 times. I still think it’s one of their best songs. Even though Iron Flag felt more like a compilation (which it basically was), I still thought it was a great record, on even footing with The W, but for different reasons.

---

Very surprised with not much support in the mainstream as it felt they had it over here.

For me it came as a suprise. I heard nothing about it and mtv and another channel where i stayed that was simillar to mtv didnt play pinky ring from it. Internet was kind of new and I didnt have it at home. I remeber going into loud records homepage one day and saw it was about to be released.

The reception of the album for me was a bit mixed though. It felt like a album with leftovers whith some better songs on it.

Remember we had to wait until 8 diagrams for the next wu tang album after iron flag.

It seemed like a desperation move somehow.
After reading the forum here that loud wasnt doing well I can see why they banked on a new wu album to tey to save them.

I dont think it sold very well though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shaolinmonk

I can imagine, Uzi was a poor choice for a single for sure. I think Back in the Game Now and Rules would’ve been great choices. Right, makes sense.

---

Back In The Game was actually released as a 12" and scheduled to be their next single. A video was to be shot directed by R Kelly if I recall correctly. But nothing was ever heard of. The 12" even featured a TV version of Back In The Game.

What was the b side of Uzi again? Because i remember Rules, In The Hood, & Y'all Been Warned. Ah yeah. Uzi (Pinky Ring) was the lead of single, with Y'all Been Warned as a b-side. Interestingly enough, they actually also shot a video for Y'all Been Warned. It did not see a release untill 10 years ago when the director uploaded it on YT. From the looks of it, it was recorded on the same day as Uzi.

In regard to Rules/In The Hood, that was supposed to be to so called street single. The funny thing about this one is that Wu appeared on Crank Yankers together with Chappelle. Chappelle dit a skit about booking a B&B for Wu. At the end Wu did a whole video as puppets for In The Hood.

As far as reception, it sort of came out of nowhere for me. Happy, but weird suddenly. Plus everybody was hoping ODB would be on the album. Also suddenly Cappadonna was scrapped from Wu. I personally enjoyed the album even though it is very very uneven. It had some insane bangers. But yeah, it was all cobbled together. Old Masta Killa tracks, some clear bob digi tracks.

On that last stretch, Loud & Sony were pushing the album a lot.

Yeah, and that Y'All Been Warned video was not worth the wait. It sucked very badly..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jet Set

Back In The Game was actually released as a 12" and scheduled to be their next single. A video was to be shot directed by R Kelly if I recall correctly. But nothing was ever heard of. The 12" even featured a TV version of Back In The Game.

What was the b side of Uzi again? Because i remember Rules, In The Hood, & Y'all Been Warned. Ah yeah. Uzi (Pinky Ring) was the lead of single, with Y'all Been Warned as a b-side. Interestingly enough, they actually also shot a video for Y'all Been Warned. It did not see a release untill 10 years ago when the director uploaded it on YT. From the looks of it, it was recorded on the same day as Uzi.

In regard to Rules/In The Hood, that was supposed to be to so called street single. The funny thing about this one is that Wu appeared on Crank Yankers together with Chappelle. Chappelle dit a skit about booking a B&B for Wu. At the end Wu did a whole video as puppets for In The Hood.

As far as reception, it sort of came out of nowhere for me. Happy, but weird suddenly. Plus everybody was hoping ODB would be on the album. Also suddenly Cappadonna was scrapped from Wu. I personally enjoyed the album even though it is very very uneven. It had some insane bangers. But yeah, it was all cobbled together. Old Masta Killa tracks, some clear bob digi tracks.

On that last stretch, Loud & Sony were pushing the album a lot.

---

So actually they did pick the right songs for singles, just didn’t really push them through proper music videos like the W. I bet that would’ve made a difference. Still maintain that thinking Uzi is the video to start off with was and is stupid. Holy shit, never knew they did a video for Y’all been Warned lol. A shame that Back in the Game Now video never happened.

Any chance you have that Crank Yankers video?!

Thanks a lot for the info.

My memory is foggy because I was 16 when Iron Flag was released. I remember The Box playing their videos alot, and high school students were playing some songs, including my friend.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shaolinmonk

So actually they did pick the right songs for singles, just didn’t really push them through proper music videos like the W. I bet that would’ve made a difference. Still maintain that thinking Uzi is the video to start off with was and is stupid. Holy shit, never knew they did a video for Y’all been Warned lol. A shame that Back in the Game Now video never happened.

Any chance you have that Crank Yankers video?!

Thanks a lot for the info.

---

https://youtu.be/ut0PiniuOmo
This is In The Hood

Here you can find the Chappelle skit:
https://www.wcostream.tv/crank-yanke...3-wu-tang-clan

Here is the Y'All Been Warned video:
https://youtu.be/RC0Y0X86raE

I believe the original uploaded made the video private couple years after uploading it. They also stated that they forgot about it.

In regard to reception, I remember when we heard some of these for the first time (in fucking RA format). Like the earlier version of Y'all Been Warned, which was received as a boring loop, it was just the first loop without the later added sounds in the loop. Uzi, Rules & In The Hood, after the more slickly produced The W, were positively received. Gone was the Gravel Pit hip pop, even though it was huge in Europe.

What did strike people, was the outside production by Trackmasters with Back In The Game now. Flavor Flav being featured, as a substitute ODB. Both were received mixed. Some though Flav to be a good fit, like Busta previously. Some were not having it. Which brings it back to the album being and uneven product, that turned out to be actually slapped together.

A part from the album dropping out of nowhere, I do remember the album trying to use more online marketing. Could simply be due to the fact that the money was gone. Because as mentioned, the video for Uzi is very basic, with Y'all been Warned being even more basic compared to that. A year earlier we got a DVD with a 3 song mini movie, which was followed up with a emotional video for I Can't Go To Sleep with Isaac Hayes and Ghost spitting cereal while rapping dressed in pj's.

In any case, the support for the album was short lived.

(Being that One Blood was released late in The W's lifespan as a 12", I am left wondering if they were planning a video for this as well. It has since become a staple for Killa during shows. Something that can not be said for many of the other tracks of these two albums. Safe for Click Click with Cappadonna.)

Speaking of haphazardly thrown together, just discovered this was the cover of the Uzi promo single in Australia:

https://i.discogs.com/otuJgL1a8-ugLE...A4LmpwZWc.jpeg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jet Set

https://youtu.be/ut0PiniuOmo
This is In The Hood

Here you can find the Chappelle skit:
https://www.wcostream.tv/crank-yanke...3-wu-tang-clan

Here is the Y'All Been Warned video:
https://youtu.be/RC0Y0X86raE

I believe the original uploaded made the video private couple years after uploading it. They also stated that they forgot about it.

In regard to reception, I remember when we heard some of these for the first time (in fucking RA format). Like the earlier version of Y'all Been Warned, which was received as a boring loop, it was just the first loop without the later added sounds in the loop. Uzi, Rules & In The Hood, after the more slickly produced The W, were positively received. Gone was the Gravel Pit hip pop, even though it was huge in Europe.

What did strike people, was the outside production by Trackmasters with Back In The Game now. Flavor Flav being featured, as a substitute ODB. Both were received mixed. Some though Flav to be a good fit, like Busta previously. Some were not having it. Which brings it back to the album being and uneven product, that turned out to be actually slapped together.

A part from the album dropping out of nowhere, I do remember the album trying to use more online marketing. Could simply be due to the fact that the money was gone. Because as mentioned, the video for Uzi is very basic, with Y'all been Warned being even more basic compared to that. A year earlier we got a DVD with a 3 song mini movie, which was followed up with a emotional video for I Can't Go To Sleep with Isaac Hayes and Ghost spitting cereal while rapping dressed in pj's.

In any case, the support for the album was short lived.

(Being that One Blood was released late in The W's lifespan as a 12", I am left wondering if they were planning a video for this as well. It has since become a staple for Killa during shows. Something that can not be said for many of the other tracks of these two albums. Safe for Click Click with Cappadonna.)

---

Oh shit, appreciate this! How crazy that a cheap ass video like that In the Hood one is easily the best of the 3. So Gravel Pit was not well received in the USA - at least not as good as - and didn’t get as much air time as over here in Europe? I do not understand why it matters that Back in the Game Now is produced by someone outside the inner circle of Wu. Was is that out there? That beat feels very Wu to me and had way more of a gritty, east coast, underground appeal. Especially as a single. Definitely over ‘The Jump Off’ and plenty of other poppy songs. I can definitely agree with Flavor Flav being a poor choice and cannot stand that song. Busta would’ve been way better. Regarding the tracks not being part of their live sets, I am quite surprised as there’s some serious bangers on there, even if both albums to me are quite a mess and shit thrown at a wall to see what sticks type of shit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jet Set

Because as mentioned, the video for Uzi is very basic, Y'all been Warned being even more basic compared to that.

---

Y'all Been Warned reuses the same sets from Uzi and was likely shot the same day. Very cheap.

And besides Loud's money issues as they were folding, I think one of R Kelly's scandals dropped the same time as they might have rolled out Back In The Game so, at least at the time, I always thought that's what kept the video he directed from releasing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Buddah_MAC

Y'all Been Warned reuses the same sets from Uzi and was likely shot the same day. Very cheap.

And besides Loud's money issues as they were folding, I think one of R Kelly's scandals dropped the same time as they might have rolled out Back In The Game so, at least at the time, I always thought that's what kept the video he directed from releasing.

---

Do we know if a video was actually shot for this or just planned? Any articles / interviews speaking on this?

They should’ve come out the gate with that one honestly. I don’t remember seeing Uzi nearly as much as all the W videos.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Buddah_MAC

Y'all Been Warned reuses the same sets from Uzi and was likely shot the same day. Very cheap.

And besides Loud's money issues as they were folding, I think one of R Kelly's scandals dropped the same time as they might have rolled out Back In The Game so, at least at the time, I always thought that's what kept the video he directed from releasing.

---

Clearly. Wardrobe is even the same. Too bad that the original video is not public anymore, not sure if Sugar Factory Films actually had some more information on it on the page. They were the one who published it.

You're also correct about the timing. Right around the time Crank Yankers was running, Chappelle's show was also running. They had the whole R Kelly skit. Boondocks also went after him, and that tour for Best of Both Worlds was canned. The latter being 2004.

Had to check:

Quote:

---

On February 3, 2002, a video began circulating allegedly depicting Kelly's sexual abuse of a girl known to be underage.

---

Iron Flag was released just 3 months before it, so that does seem to coincide with each other.

Now as fard as reporting goes, I only recall an article mentioning the shoot being scheduled. There was no further confirmation of it being shot, unless Budddha_MAC got more on that.

EDIT
Here is the old MTV article, which seems to be dated February 4, 2002.

Quote:

---

NEW YORK (Loud Records) - The Wu-Tang Clan kicked off a tour last night (February 3) in New Orleans, Louisiana. The group is touring in support of its latest gold-certified release, Iron Flag, which is presently Number 74 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Wu-Tang Clan are going on their first official tour since hitting the road in support of 1997's Wu-Tang Forever.

The rhyming swordsmen from Staten Island will head down South to Atlanta on February 21 to kick off the outing, which finishes up April 7 in Worcester, Massachusetts, according to a Loud Records spokesperson.


Although the collective has yet to schedule dates in its hometown, the Wu-Tang Clan will be in New York prior to the tour to shoot a video for the second single from Iron Flag, "Back in the Game." According to their spokesperson, the track's guest vocalist, Ron Isley, will make a cameo in the clip. Isley's good friend R. Kelly will also be on hand � he's co-directing the video with Billie Woodruff.

Wu-Tang Clan tour dates, according to Loud Records:
2/21 - Atlanta, GA @ Earthlink Live
2/22 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
2/23 - Orlando. FL @ House of Blues
2/25 - Houston, TX @ T-Town
2/27 - Austin, TX @ Stubbs
2/28 - Las Cruces, NM @ New Mexico State University
3/1 - Phoenix, AZ @ Celebrity Theatre
3/3 - San Diego, CA @ 4th & B
3/4 - Anaheim, CA @House of Blues
3/5 - West Hollywood, CA @House of Blues
3/6 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
3/8 - Seattle, WA @Paramount
3/9 - Portland, OR @ Roseland
3/12 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore
3/14 - Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium
3/15 - Wichita, KS @ Cotillion
3/16 - Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
3/17 - Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
3/19 - Minneapolis, MN @ Quest
3/20 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
3/21 - St Louis, MO @ The Pageant
3/22 - Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles
3/24 - Detroit, MI @ State Theater
3/25 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music
3/27 - Cleveland, OH @ The Agora
3/28 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Laga
3/29 - Baltimore, MD @ TBA
3/30 - Virginia Beach, VA Boathouse
4/3 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
4/4 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
4/5 - Amherst, MA @ University of Massachusetts
4/6 - Providence, RI @ Lupos
4/7 - Worcester, MA @ Palladium

---

https://www.mtv.com/news/k88t55/wu-t...ck-on-the-road (Link had died due to MTV degrading their website)

​

I reached out to Bille Woodruff. As far as he knows the video shoot was cancelled.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jet Set

I reached out to Bille Woodruff. As far as he knows the video shoot was cancelled.

---

Ah damn, that would've been amazing. I think it could’ve kicked the album’s reception into another gear.

Thinking back of that time, 22 years ago, I am not that sure. Everybody was a whole bit younger, a generation for which Forever was their first Wu record was waiting for more hard hitting stuff, that sounded like Wu. Rules, In The Hood, Y'all Been Warned, or Radioactive. Back In The Game now was an odd one to me at the time, feeling like a by the numbers hit set up, with the hook and everything. Could it have resonated in 2002? Roc-A-Fella was running the game, 50 was flooding the street. A video would not have saved it or kicked reception into another gear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jet Set

Thinking back of that time, 22 years ago, I am not that sure. Everybody was a whole bit younger, a generation for which Forever was their first Wu record was waiting for more hard hitting stuff, that sounded like Wu. Rules, In The Hood, Y'all Been Warned, or Radioactive. Back In The Game now was an odd one to me at the time, feeling like a by the numbers hit set up, with the hook and everything. Could it have resonated in 2002? Roc-A-Fella was running the game, 50 was flooding the street. A video would not have saved it or kicked reception into another gear.

---

Agree to disagree, that early 2000 era was a lot of R&B, East Coast was hot with the 50 Cents, Jay-Zs, Ja bringing some of that poppy gangster rap. 'Back in the Game’ had the hook for the R&B vibes and that beat was very much that grimey style with a poppy finish. The W had just came out a year earlier and I am sure after ‘Uzi’, which is among the most uninspiring, bare beats of the album and just flow wise is off for a lot of the group, ‘Back in the Game’ would’ve hit different.

Isley Brothers definitely had their name out there with that Contagious song and video. R.Kelly was very hot as well. Of course some people who just want one type of Wu sound would not have been pleased, but let’s not kid ourselves either with the W being some kind of spiritual successor to Forever. It was a lot of hit and miss, Gravel Pit being a good example. But for those looking for the grimey Wu sound, then this will hit the spot way more than Uzi did. Maybe the damage was done with that one, but to those not already sold on the album or not interested in Wu, this definitely would’ve turned some heads.

The song has enough to the beat to please a lot of different styles, street / underground to those who want to their heads to bang and just have that relaxed dance vibe with some ass shaking, hips and arms popping. It’s a bit on that Jump Off vibe, which in Europe at least got a lot of airplay on the radio and TV. I think at least this would’ve garnered attention again, be back in the rotation to maybe change opinions on the album and show the Wu still had it.

I just went back to official reviews and it’s funny to see most think this is their best album since Forever and one official review even claimed more in line with their original debut than even Forever, but definitely not as positive about the W as I would’ve expected. This honestly surprises me as I even I can acknowledge Iron Flag is more out there in terms of production and the W the more safer and darker album. I would’ve figured the general public, even critics, would look more favorably upon the W in comparison to Iron Flag.

I like the W cause of so many hidden tracks, production style(s) and Ghostface, who clearly peaked that year.

Iron Flag has a few decent tracks, and that is it. Iron Flag the song kinda owns the album imo, Wu have always needed more dirty scratches btw.

Aside from RZA's OST hustle, 2001-2007 is the worst era in Wu's history.