Once upon a time, the Wu-Tang Clan made a lot of headlines because of their music. Whether they were recording new material together or doing it separately, people were genuinely interested in what RZA, GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and Ol’ Dirty Bastard (R.I.P.) were up to musically. But in recent years—and specifically, this year—most of the headlines surrounding the Clan have not been related to music.
Sure, they made the news when they announced that they had put together a single copy of an album called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. But that felt like—and was!—a gimmicky, albeit clever, publicity stunt. And outside of that, they’ve made more headlines for the brewing beef between RZA and Raekwon recently than they have for their new album, A Better Tomorrow.
Don’t get us wrong, we’ll always have a special place in our hearts for Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Wu-Tang Forever, and even The W. But right now, it doesn’t feel like the whole is greater than the sum of its parts when it comes to Wu-Tang. Here, 7 reasons why it might be time for Wu-Tang Clan to call it quits.
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Reason #1: The eight existing members of Wu-Tang Clan have enjoyed varying degrees of success, which makes it extremely difficult for them to work together in 2014.
It’s been more than 20 years since Wu-Tang Clan made their debut. And in the two decades since Enter the Wu-Tang dropped, every Wu-Tang member has taken a different path. For example, RZA and Method Man have continued to do music but have also simultaneously worked on movies and other ventures. On the flip side, U-God and Masta Killa have stayed out of the public eye and only emerged briefly from time to time with new solo projects. That must make it damn-near impossible for all of the Wu-Tang members to get together in a room in 2014 and get on the same page. They’re all at different stages in their lives so it sounds like it’s hard to recapture what they had back in the early 1990s.Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Reason #2: RZA doesn’t have enough time to devote to focusing on Wu-Tang and only Wu-Tang.
As we mentioned in the first reason, RZA has enjoyed a pretty successful Hollywood career by both appearing in and scoring movies over the past decade. In fact, he stars in the new movie, Brick Mansions, which hit theaters later this week. So he can’t set aside months and months at a time anymore for the good of the Wu-Tang Clan. And if he can’t do that, then what’s the point of Wu-Tang working on more projects together? RZA will always have one eye on other things and it’s going to continue to make it difficult for Wu-Tang to put in work as a unit. That isn’t changing anytime soon, either.Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Reason #3: Raekwon doesn’t sound like he has any interest in recording new Wu-Tang material.
If all the media reports are true and Raekwon isn’t involved in A Better Tomorrow, then can we even call the project a true Wu-Tang album? We’d argue that you can’t. We’d also argue that people are going to focus more on the fact that Rae isn’t only the album than they are on the fact that seven other guys have teamed up to record it.Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Reason #4: At this time, Raekwon, Ghostface and Method Man might be better off working on their own solo projects than Wu-Tang projects.
In recent years, both Rae and Ghost have put out solid solo projects. We’re also still holding out hope for future projects from Meth. So we’d prefer to have those guys focus on their solo careers than take time out of their days to try and coordinate with the rest of the Wu members who don’t have as much going on when it comes to their solo stuff.Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Reason #5: Most of Wu-Tang’s hardcore fan base is either over 40 or pushing 40 now.
In the year 2030, do you think that Odd Future will be putting out new albums? It’s unlikely. And that’s not a knock against Odd Future. It’s just that, over time, their fans are going to get older, go off and get married and have families, and they’re not going to have a ton of time to devote to listening to Tyler, The Creator & Co. Wu-Tang is facing that same problem right now.The young kids who were snatching up all the Wu-Tang albums back in the 1990s are grown-ups and may not be clamoring for a new Wu album. And the teens today who would potentially be Wu fans are following other (see: younger!) rap groups like Odd Future. That’s not to say that some old fans wouldn’t be intrigued by more Wu projects in the future. But most of their old fans are more likely to listen to their old stuff than they are to buy new albums from the group.
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Reason #6: Putting out albums as a rap group in 2014 is not a good financial decision.
Want to know why there aren’t more rap groups today? It all comes down to finances. It’s hard enough to be a solo rapper and make money. So it’s pretty much impossible to rap alongside seven other rappers and catch a significant check. That’s not to say that Wu-Tang is only in it for the money. But for guys like Raekwon and Ghostface, putting out a solo album is a much better way to make money in 2014 than putting out a Wu-Tang album. From a business perspective, it’s just not feasible to have eight guys work on an album together anymore.Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Reason #7: Wu-Tang’s albums have gotten progressively worse—and that’s probably not going to change with A Better Tomorrow.
When’s the last time you pressed play on Wu-Tang Clan’s last album, 8 Diagrams? If you answered anything other than 2007, you’re lying. The album actually got pretty favorable reviews when it was first released (part of that is because people want Wu albums to be great).But it wasn’t anywhere near as good as Wu-Tang’s first project…or their second project…or their third project…or, well, you get the point. Wu-Tang isn’t improving their legacy with their albums anymore. They’re just kind of existing and reminding the world that, at one time, they were the best rap group in the world. But is that really a good reason to continue making music?
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