Exceptional. Its not surprising this under-performed commercially but I think its a much tighter project overall than "Forever". "Forever" had more standout tracks but was also too long with a few overlong or unimportant songs. It was also more of a mixtape with no real focused concept or sound. "The W", on the other hand, feels like what Forever should've been if it were 1 disc. Besides one extremely mid song ("The Monument", I think Busta Rhymes is overrated af), every other track has sharp verses, great group chemistry and RZA being as grimy and experimental as he was on "36 Chambers". The album's only weakness is that it ends quickly which seems even shorter after the extremely long "Forever".

I've heard this album called "too poppy". Really stupid criticism imo. The only thing making this more commercial is its short length, the club quality of "Gravel Pit" and guest appearances by kinda wack pop rappers like Snoop and Busta. If you delete Snoop and Busta from this, it might be their best album. I especially love "I Can't Go To Sleep" which is the third in the trilogy of songs by RZA and Ghostface rapping about racism, STDs & black-on-crime after "Tearz" and "Impossible". These 3 songs are the best from their first 3 albums and "Tearz" was also the first official song recorded by TWC (as"After the Laughter"). So The W feels like the 3rd in a trilogy and a bookend to Golden Age Wu for me.