Four Essential Wu-Tang Clan Tribute Albums - Chris 'Preach' Smith

The Wu-Tang Clan celebrates twenty years as one
of hip-hop’s greatest collectives and in truth, the
music industry as a whole. Nine brothers from an
oft-overlooked part of New York City rising to such
prominence and influence from left field is mighty
impressive. And that influence has shown itself up
in different ways. But there’s not too many who
have taken up the daunting challenge of creating
music that pays homage to the Clan while establishing
something new and vibrant in its own right. Here
are four projects that salute the Wu in unique ways.
And if they’re not in your collection or playlist, you
might want to remedy that as soon as possible.


1)Shaolin Jazz: The 37th Chamber

Released in 2011, Shaolin Jazz: The 37th Chamber is the
result of a collaboration between Washington D.C artist
and entrepreneur Gerald Watson and DJ 2-Tone Jones.
Watson, a creative designer who had ties to the Lyricist
Lounge among other ventures, was organizing parties
that combined music and art. One particular exhibition
contained the art of Logan Walters, who had created a
series of album covers inspired by the classic Blue Note
recording label. Only these featured the Wu-Tang Clan.
Watson got together with Jones and together they began
a creative process that resulted in this album. The bond
between hip-hop and jazz is irrefutable, and that is in
full evidence on Shaolin Jazz. 2-Tone Jones created a
brilliant album here; songs from the entire Wu discography
are chopped up and stitched together with sound bites
from popular movies. These are peppered with sound
bites from Wu members as well. The backdrop for each
track is fluid and far-reaching. The sound just really
wraps you up and makes you feel as if you’re sitting in
one of the alcoves of the Village Vanguard watching the
Wu live, surreptitious cheeba smoke in the air, feet
tapping. It’s hard to pick standout tracks from this; you
will find yourself letting this play out repeatedly. ‘How
Sly’ is a wondrous merging of Method Man & Redman’s
‘How High’ with a Richard Pryor skit as the intro. ‘Killer
Tape/Astral C.R.E.A.M.’ is a liquid flight of fancy for the
ears. Learn more here: http://shaolinjazz.com

 

 
2)El Michels Affair - Enter The 37th Chamber

The band from Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York had 
garnered themselves a good amount of fanfare dating 
back to 2004 with the release of their first album, Sounding
Out The City. Dubbing their sound ‘cinematic soul’, they
wound up collaborating with different artists and founding
an independent label, Truth & Soul. This also led them to 
approach the Wu a year later at the behest of Scion A/V
to see about teaming up on music. That meeting of the minds 
led to them performing as the backing band for the Clan
as well as touring with Raekwon nationally. El Michels 
Affair then released some potent singles including ‘The 
PJ’s From Afar’, a remix of Raekwon’s hit single with Pete
Rock. Spurred on, they released Enter The 37th Chamber
in 2010. The thing with this album is the overall sonic
feel of it. Each track appears at first listen to be a cover of
classic Wu tracks, but their unique approach truly makes
each of them awesome experiences. You get a sense of 
all of the different eras of funk and soul pulsating and in
some cases, crashing in discordant but rich harmony. Key
tracks here to check for are ‘Can It All Be So Simple’, which
just smacks of summers out on the avenue, and ‘Pinky
Ring’ which if you had put it in any of the Shaft movies,
it wouldn’t be out of place at all. 




 3)Cloud Kicker & Emilio Sparks Presents: The Wudos Band

This project is a Shaolin/Staten Island combination that really
swings. The Budos band is essentially a collection of ten musicians
from the Daptones label, hailing from the borough. They
wound up colloaborating with Tekst of The Higher Concept. The
man has done production engineering for different MCs from
the Clan such as the RZA, the GZA, Remedy and Trife as well
as Kool G Rap. This is a quick but satisfying eight track mixtape
that snaps with soulful swagger. ‘Scorpion Style’ is a winner if you
are looking for a standout track. 

 
4)Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers

Wu-Tang Clan Meets The Beatles. If you had even
mentioned something like that aloud, you would have
gotten a few sideways looks. But this mashup album,
conceived by Tom Caruana, is hip-hop gold. Caruana,
a DJ/MC and music teacher from Brighton, United
Kingdom winds up artfully creating this album with
no need for heavy sampling. One pass through this
album and you will find yourself immersed as if you
took a plunge into the cool waters off South Beach
on Memorial Day Weekend. I have to say, I was a
bit thrown when this first dropped in 2010, but it has
grown to be a nice part of my musical collection
since then.




BONUS: Ghostfunk by Max Tannone

Okay, part of the Wu’s appeal has been the swagger that
harkens back to the African diaspora. Most of the Clan have
visited different countries on the Continent. Ghostface Killah
in particular went over to Benin to live and get organic medical
treatment for diabetes (the RZA refers to this stay briefly in
The Tao Of Wu) for several months before recording Supreme
Clientelein 1997. So it seemed only right that Max Tannone,
a producer who had a high amount of praise for mashup 
efforts featuring Talib Kweli and Yaasin Bey respectively, put
together this album pairing Ghost Deini with choice cuts 
from Afrobeat classics and psychedelic tracks. I promise you,
once you get this album on your music player, stereo, whatever -
you will GROOVE. The first track alone, ‘Make It N.Y.’, sets a
mighty tone. You could almost get a feeling as if Ghost could
get on stage with Femi Kuti in Lagos and rock the stadium
with this track. Tannone’s precise ear makes this album a 
real treat for hip-hop heads and will satisfy Ghostface fans 
to no end.