To KillaBee Or Not To KillaBee?...That Is The Question
So im bumping Hell Razahs' Razahs Ladder and I begin to think to myself, Razah is a seriously dope mc in his own right. After hearing Renaissance Child and this I began to feel a little bad that after all these years I never truly gave this Sunz Of Man member his props, in fact the only member I ever truly gave props to from Sunz was Killah Priest. Because of his solo work imo he has been able to develop and grow beyond mere wu affiliate status, but the others only really had their group efforts and I just never really saw them as anything past wu affiliates. Of course im not belittling their work or their identity because I do think that Sunz Of Man had their own niche within the wu dynasty but I never really stopped to look at them as individuals (besides Priest) and truly analyze their skills.
Hell Razah (using his last two efforts as an example) has in my view just now been able to finally transend and elevate beyond his wu affiliation to become a respected hip hop solo artist. His music to me was the perfect way of keeping within the boundries of the so called "wu sound" so as to not alienate his core fans yet still sonically expand enough to appeal to newer fans.
My question is this.......Do you think staying too close to that killabee status hurts the artist?.....or helps them?
Do you think that if other killabees balanced more of a fine line regarding their production and subject matter, they would probably find more success?
I want to break down and analyze some of my fave killabees and look at their contributions to the wu dynasty and whether or not they backed themselves into a corner or were able to expand and become their own legacy.....
SHYHEIM AKA THE RUGGED CHILD
Shyheim stated recently that he got his deal and was signed to Virgin records before the Wu blew up, but because the Wu dropped their solo before his and became huge, his connection to the Wu made him appear as a Wu follower as opposed to himself as an individual artist. Of course im sure that at the time because Wu were so popular he probably didn't mind riding their coat tails a little bit, but as the years went on Shy seemed to be unable to escape from their shadow and soon faded out into obscurity (partly because of his own doing). His beat selections on his later albums even seemed to come off as Wu-Tang left-overs os in turn the fans just lost interest.
Shy seems to be trying to make a comeback now to the dismay by some wu fans due to his beef with Raekwon, with his upcoming album it's going to be interesting to see what growth Shy has made both lyrically and production wise.
KILLARMY
Killarmy to me always seemed when they first dropped back in 97 like the Wu-Tang Clan part 2, and like a typical movie sequel they were not as good as the original but they expanded on the legacy and were in my view at least almost equally as enjoyable (just for slightly different reasons). They brought their own spin while 4th Disciple came with a sound that was not (like some consider) a Rza knock off but rather another extention of the same sonic vibe. Releasing three consistently solid efforts they have remained in good favor amongst us wu fans but due to falling outs and incarceration no one is sure if we will ever see the return of Killarmy.
One has to wonder what their music would be like today, would they be able grow out of their Wu shells and become something bigger?...who knows, I guess we will just have to wait and see.
LA THE DARKMAN
Darkman in my opinion has always been the Wu's answer to 50 Cent, here we have a brother who has entrepenurial ambition, likes to enjoy that plush lifestyle and rhymewise tends to very street yet flossy.
Heist Of The Century for those lucky enough to have it is one of those seriously slept on albums that people tend to always overlook. One thing I liked about LA was that even though he rhymed alot about the materialistic, he never sacrificed skills in the process, he can be commercial and he can be raw. I think his follow up album (if it ever sees the light of day) can put him in a much more established position in the game, one that could maybe help gain more exposure bordering on the mainstream.
CILVARINGZ
In my opinion, Cilva has the hardest route of any killabee. He's the outsider, the sole european Wu affiliate yet at the same time he is one of the most fortunate. Close ties to the Rza and other members of the clan keep him in close proximity, a producer/beat maker too meaning he doesn't really need to wait for anyone to give him beats.
Cilva's debut album "I" really caught alot of us by surprise, we figured it was going to be very "wu sounding" but we never expected how much it would be. If you were take Cilvas lyrics away from it you could easily mistake it for a clan album of the late ninties. The Wu and other affiliates are all over this, Cilva clearly wanted people to know that he is Wu stamped, surprisingly some wu fans opposed what he was doing, so much so that it almost split the corp in half with those in favor and those against him. Regardless his follow up is going to be put under a microscope. Will Cilva try and grow out of the Wu shadow and become his own artist? or will he continue to rep the W to the fullest?.....only time will tell.
WU-LATINO
Could this label really spearhead the wu name back into the mainstream?....is combining hip hop (grimey hip hop) with the flamboyant reggaeton a match made in latin heaven?......only time will tell.
THE CORP VIEW
So what do people think?...should they go back to stamping the Wu logo on albums or distance themselves?
Do you think the W helps some while hinders others?
Can Wu-Latino help draw a new audience towards the Wu-Tang Clan that may not have been familiar with them to begin with?
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Originally Posted by TAURO
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