Music Review: The Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams - Page 4

4. "Rushing Elephants:" This is when things really start heating up on the album. This track is on every playlist I have working right now, from my writing mixes to the random CD’s I pop into my car on the way to work (no, I don’t have an iPod hookup). The first 45 seconds are pure magic: the little horns and Rae’s “yeah, yeah, yeah” leading into the colliding drums and bass and then the sharpest Raekwon verse in almost a decade (although he came surprisingly close on last year’s Ill Bill mixtape). Then no chorus and bam, the first GZA appearance on the record and it’s a good one. Who cares what the rest of the song even includes? (For the record though, it is RZA’s best verse on the album and another solid Masta Killa contribution.)

5. "Unpredictable:" Here is one song where I pretty much know right off the top that I like it more than everyone else. And that is because it reminds me of my favorite stuff from Deck’s first solo album and also because RZA manages to accomplish the rare feat of successfully working in an electric guitar over the clanging and uber-aggressive track. (I would argue that it is the best use of electric guitar in a rap song since Kanye layered them into Freeway’s “Turn Out The Lights.”)

6. "The Heart Gently Weeps:" This is the one song that all the critics are fawning over and it is easy to see why. Between the outstanding RZA track that (as you know by now) is the first to legally sample a Beatles song and the transcendent Ghostface verse about a shootout with the vengeful nephew of a guy that died from the drugs Ghost once sold to him, there is plenty to get the critics in a lather.

7. "Wolves:" While it might not be the best track on the album from a technical standpoint, “Wolves” is my favorite song on this record. I love the George Clinton ramblings that recall 2Pac’s “U Can’t See Me,” the tiny little ODB sample 20 seconds in, the best U-God verse of all time, the eerie “oohs” in the background, the awesome lead-in and sparse mix that RZA throws on the beat at the beginning of Masta Killa’s verse and, well, pretty much everything on this song. Download this, throw it in a random mix, and tell me it's not one of the best rap songs you’ve heard this year.

Article Author: Adam Hoff

Adam Hoff is the columnist for the Webby-winning WhatifSports.com. He can be reached at wis.insider@gmail.com.

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