Simmering, intra-group rivalry spilling over into a high-profile, online beef is not ideal in the run up to the release of your first LP in six years, but that’s the crazy, ego-pumped world of hip hop for you. Raekwon has claimed that producer RZA ignored the other members’ artistic ideas to pursue his own vision and it’s alleged that this spilled over into matters financial. ‘We can never forget all the positive energy that he shared with us,’ said Raekwon of RZA in November, ‘but if your ears are fucked-up right now and we don’t like the way that you’re doing business, you have to respect the fact that men are going to be men.’ Oof – message received, loud and clear.
So, does ‘8 Diagrams’ (the title refers to both a kung-fu movie and the Clan number following Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s death) prove that RZA’s ears are indeed ‘fucked-up’? Well – the problem is our expectations of the crew, who set the bench so high with their extraordinary 1993 debut, ‘Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)’. This established the illbient style of heavily textured and darkly cinematic hip hop that’s still so popular – artists as diverse as DJ Shadow, cLOUDDEAD and Clipse (for starters) would be nowhere without it. Fourteen years on, making a hip hop splash is very much harder, which is why ‘8 Diagrams’ sees the Wu struggling for focus. They briefly bite rock, soul, funk – and hair-metal styles (John Frusciante guests), while reusing the odd fave sample, but these are incidentals – it’s the lack of over-riding vision that’s the problem. Lead single, ‘The Heart Gently Weeps’ is an ‘interpolation’ of the George Harrison song, featuring Erykah Badu and is tough as might be expected under the sonic circumstances, but didn’t P Diddy start this ghastly hip hop habit of riffing on MOR pop songs years ago? ‘Unpredictable’, ‘Wolves’ and ‘Stick Me For My Riches’ all hit the spot, but there’s little panache and no serious punch here. Sadly, the Wu’s flab is showing – time for a few creative push-ups, we reckon.
