So why is Wu-Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
The many permutations of the Wu-Tang Clan – which includes not only the large and mightily talented Wu-Tang Clan collective “proper,” but also a bevy of outstanding side projects and collaborations – contains multitudes.
Consider that on the best 1,000 albums ever project, I’ve already covered Wu-Tang “studio albums” that include A Better Tomorrow (#544) and The W (#452), in addition to Pollen: The Swarm, Pt 3 (#422), put out under the helm of Wu Music Group, and The Swarm (#348), released by the Wu-Tang Killa Bees. And that’s not even counting the riveting mashup of Wu-Tang and The Beatles: Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers (#367).
Keep in mind too that nearly a third of the albums on the 1k list have yet to be rolled out (which heavily implies that there’s more Wu to come, don’t you think?).
With Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture, Wu-Tang collaborates with a huge array of hip hop artists that includes legends such as Del the Funky Homosapien, Aesop Rock, and MF Doom in addition to highly talented up and comers such as C.C.F. Division and Timbo King.
The result is a wildly eclectic and rangy album that includes a number of underground rap gems.
“Lyrical Swords,” credited to Wu-Tang Clan, Ras Kass, and GZA, would fit in seamlessly on the latter’s brilliant Liquid Swords LP. The smooth yet bombastic sample alone should make every hip hop artist in the game jealous.
“Cars on the Interstate…” is flat out one of the most exciting rap songs of this century. Fair warning that the lyrics are… aggressive, and so is the sound – a team up of C.C.F. Division (which includes Freemurda, ShaCronz, and Terra Tory) and Wu-Tang Clan. This thing hits street level and goes hard end-to-end. Also note the really cool car revving and honking sound effects sprinkled in.
And then “Verses” is all smooth soul, pretty and groovy, the perfect backdrop for a talent-packed cast of rappers that includes La The Darkman, Scaramanga Shallah, Ras Kass, and GZA. This is chilled out, late night head bobbing at the lounge hip hop.
“Slow Blues” is exactly what it sounds like, with Vast Aire, Timbo King, Prodigal Sunn, Byata, and the Wu-Tang Clan methodically dropping rap science over a blues beat and incredible harmonica sample.
Some stats & info about Wu-Tang Clan – Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rap, Hip Hop, Underground Hip Hop, Hardcore Rap, East Coast Rap
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture released? 2005
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #327 out of 1,000
Wu-Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Wu-Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Formed in a very strong advanced post, east to west coast, ahead of time, competition not even half close.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.