we're coming to the end of the year, and i dont think there's gonna be anymore wu releases before '14, so i figured why not look back at some of this years wu-tang releases. it hasnt been a super long time, no, but i think it's been long enough to get an idea of how these things are gonna age.
so let's look at em
killah priest: pwowr. i loved this the first time i heard it, and it remains amazing. this one is going to live on way past this year. like i said, it hasnt been so long, but i dont think its hyperbolic to call this an instant classic. one of the best double albums ever. great beats, lyrics, concepts, expert guest emcee placement. this came out in february and remains far and away the best album of the year.
ghost: 12 reasons to die. this one had to age on me a little bit. now the only song i dont really like is the opener, which ghost seems to flow strangely on. this is a strong album, one of the best this year, but it doesnt make me wanna go back to it again and again. ultimately this one suffered from expectations a bit. ghost and younge are both very talented, and this album does have some great stuff, but all in all its not as good as it coulda been. solid. nothing more.
u-god: keynote speaker. i could barely get through this the first time, so replay value is kinda moot. still som dope songs, but ultimately this is what you would expect from a u-god release. dopium is prolly gonna go down as the closest thing to a good album he ever drops.
raekwon: lost jewlry. idiotic spelling aside, this is a very nice drop. lots of dope songs over dope beats. rae contineus his late career greatness. this seems to be a bunch of tracks leftover from the shaolin and fila sessions, and so just got me hyper for fila. this still gets some spins now and again when i'm giong through rae shit. scram jones laced him with a few mean cuts on this.
cappadonna: eyrth, wynd, & fyre. about as smooth and enjoyable as the title. in the same year that killah priest, an affiliate drops an amazing double CD that sounds like the great dope wu, donna, a general, drops a double album that sits in the iron flag region of wu quality. this shit is a snoozer, and not because nobody outside this site knows about it. worse than u-god's, by far the worst wu release of the year.
wu-tang clan [single]: family reunion & extinction in autumn. family reunion is a laid back track that got a lot of hate here, but isn't bad at all for a single song in the aether. the worst part is the beat, to be honest. it's not bad, but it feels sleepy and slapped together. doesnt have the soul you'd expect from the sample and producer. extinction in autumn is much better. raw, with a hard beat, and fire bars from all emcees. extinction still gets plays, and gives hope for a better tomorrow, if it ever drops, which given that the reunion day gimmick is done, feels unlikely. family reunion is a song on my computer. that's all.
inspectah deck: czarface. the beats are weak, esoteric sucks, and deck is there for a check. there's a few quality songs (the one with roc marci stick out), but ultimately this cd isn't much, and deck's quest for a front to back listenable album continues. he got the right idea working with a single producer, he just needs to choose a better one.
drake [single]: it's yours. i'm not a fan of this song, but i like the shoutouts. throwing this in just in case this thread is really boring in the hoeps that it'll start a nice wu-corp flame war.
so thats it, right? am i forgetting anything? if i am i guess that says as much about its replay value as anything else, but still.
which did you like best when it dropped? what do you like best now? least? which has aged best? which will continue to do so into the future? etc. etc.
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