As a personal favor to William Pomerantz and as I have lost the funding for my feature-length documentary on Shock G/Humpty Dumpty, I have taken a listen to the soundtrack for The Man With The Iron Fists, and here are my musings:
First off, I've been listening to the Wu-Tang Clan since 1993 and I've followed them closely ever since...then, once ODB died, I sort of lost interest as the Wu-Tang Clan, in my eyes, did not exist anymore.
I've paid attention to some of their solo efforts, mostly Method Man's and RZA's and, to a lesser extent, the GZA's, Raekwon's and Ghostface Killah's. While most of them have had some pretty solid rap albums with a lot of the Wu-Tang guesting on their stuff, no one's career has been as interesting to watch unfold as much as Robert Diggs AKA the RZA aka Bobby Digital AKA about four hundred other aliases he's shed like snake skins over the years. Rather than just continue making albums and occasionally producing something, he's matured into something I've never seen before in the hip hop and rap industry; he brings something new and exciting to every release he works on, from Ghost Dog to Kill Bill and, most recently, to The Man With The Iron Fists, a film for which he not only did the soundtrack, but which he also directed, co-wrote and stars in.
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.
On to the music...
The stand out tracks for me include the opener (of course) which sets the Black Keys opposite some wonderful hyperbolic rapping from the RZA. It has an excellent beat, as most every RZA song does, but it's marred horribly by the RZA's last line. After a litany of how badass he is ("I look the Grim Reaper in the eye", "I spit in a crocodile's eye", "I tell a great white shark to brush its teeth" etc.), he finishes with "I date rape Beauty right in front of the Beast". Wow. Really? Call me soft or whatever you want, but rape really isn't funny and this line not only goes against the playful vibe of the song, it really ruins the whole thing for me. Seriously, after twenty years in the rap game and you're making light of date rape?
Sadly, there are quite a few instances of really disgusting treatment of women on this album, like "White Dress" and "Get Your Way". I don't know...maybe I've grown up since my days of enjoying rap or maybe rappers have gotten even more horrible with regards to objectifying women in their music, but, man, some of this is just awful.
Anyway, despite that poor lyrical choice up front, there are a few other great tracks on here, such as "Rivers of Blood", an amazing Wu-Tang showcase, "Built For This", "Just Blowin' In The Wind", and "Six Directions Of Boxing", which has one of the best GZA verses I've heard in a while. The thing that always set the Wu-Tang Clan and its members apart from a lot of other rappers for me was how distinct each of their voices were, specifically Ol' Dirty Bastard's and GZA's. No one could ever mistake them for anyone else.
The rest of the album is made up of some pretty functional rap tracks ("Tick, Tock", "The Archer", "I Go Hard"), some R&B (which I have never been a fan of), a 70's funk beat with some Chinese singing done over it and some other stuff I couldn't really get into.
Quite frankly, I'd have loved to see RZA branch out more with his collaborations, because, while there is some great rap on here, it's just rap. I'm not talking about Trent Reznor and RZA*, but maybe more stuff like the track with the Black Keys...minus the rape, of course.
Anyway, whether RZA takes my advice or not, I'm sure of two things: first, that the Wu-Tang Clan, however diminished it might be in the year 2012, still ain't nuthin' ta f' wit and, second, whatever RZA does do next is going to be great and sound timeless and innovative, all at the same time.
I am fully planning to see The Man With The Iron Fists as soon as I get the chance.
* You thought it, I'll say it: Trent RZAnor
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