throwback article: wu tang clan banned from Hot97 after Summer Jam

[TGambino]

found this shit incase yall dont remmeber its from when they went out n blasted hot97 and summer jam in 97 and got banned from the station didnt get a single spin in the height of their popularity in all of NYC

Love, Lust And Death, The Old Triumvirate






By JON PARELES
Published: June 28, 1997
The Wu-Tang Clan chomped like a pit bull on the hand that could feed it when the hip-hop collective headlined Summer Jam 97 on Thursday night. The sold-out concert at the Continental Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., was presented by WQHT (97.1 FM, or Hot 97), which rarely plays the Wu-Tang Clan's new album, ''Wu-Tang Forever'' (Loud/ BMG). ''Our records ain't getting played the way we supposed to,'' said Ghostface Killah, one of Wu-Tang's rappers.

The Wu-Tang Clan is the most innovative force in hip-hop at the moment, and ''Wu-Tang Forever'' went to No. 1 when it was released on June 3. But the nine-man group has little use for melodic hooks or pop choruses, which radio stations prefer because they carry hip-hop beyond its core following. Ghostface Killah and the RZA, Wu-Tang's producer and mastermind, derided the station for ignoring hard-core hip-hop in favor of smoother, catchier mixtures of rap with rhythm-and-blues. The four-hour Summer Jam bill also included the pop-rap of Puff Daddy, Li'l Kim and Heavy D and the singers Mary J. Blige, Blackstreet and 112.

''Hot 97, where hip-hop dies,'' the RZA intoned, mocking a station slogan. When he tried to say it again, after the Clan had vowed to buy its own station, the microphones were turned off and the house lights went on. The show wasn't over; Method Man led unamplified Wu-Tang chants, then jumped into the audience for handshakes. Like the three previous Wu-Tang performances I've seen, the set ended in anarchy.

Meanwhile, the Wu-Tang Clan had not recruited many new fans. The group holds all of hip-hop's conflicting aspirations: consciousness-raising and bawdiness, realism and adventure fantasies, innovation and old-school loyalty, underground credibility and commercialism, organization and chaos. Its rappers act as storytellers and braggarts, preachers and clowns, reeling off lyrics so densely packed with allusions that they approach hypertext.
On albums by the group and by individual members, the RZA supervises spare, ominous backup tracks in a tightly controlled tension and release.

Onstage, however, the Wu-Tang Clan just shouted through its raps, expecting audiences to know every word, while dozens of hangers-on joined them. The group had a stage set -- a streetscape including a police car -- and a wardrobe from its subsidiary, Wu Wear. But concertgoers who hadn't memorized new material like ''Impossible,'' ''Deadly Melody,'' ''It's Yourz'' and ''Cash Still Rules'' heard mostly the beat and malfunctioning microphones, and many left well before the set ended.

The rest of the concert dealt with love, lust and death. The audience was happiest with Sean (Puff Daddy) Combs, the rapper and executive who runs Bad Boy Records. He turned his set into a tribute to the Notorious B.I.G., culminating in a full-house sing-along to ''I'll Be Missing You,'' now the No. 1 pop single, which uses ''Every Breath You Take'' by the Police as the backdrop and chorus to an elegy. Li'l Kim's raunchy sexual boasts drew hoots of recognition. In her set, Mary J. Blige let loose the raw but indelible voice that makes her hip-hop's answer to Ronnie Spector; Method Man joined her for their pop-rap hit, ''All I Need.'' Heavy D rapped along with his prerecorded voice, playing the ''overweight lover'' promising seductive delights. Blackstreet, the vocal quartet led by Teddy Riley, had richer harmonies and stronger voices than the opening group, 112.

Current urban pop has little connection to flesh-and-blood musicians. During the entire show there was only one instrument -- a keyboard played by Blackstreet -- onstage. The other music came from turntables and tapes.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...55C0A961958260