The Wu Tang Clan and their debut album, Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers), changed the face of hip hop. “The group’s 1993 debut, basically obliterated the old rule on hip hop. It broke ground in so many ways, from charting new directions in sampling, studio production, and storytelling to expanding the concept of a hip hop crew” (Denver Post, Harrington). The Wu Tang brought an entirely different element to hip hop with their ensemble and production. Member RZA said in an interview, “We were street kids, guys that was more like felons, or high school dropouts. Not saying this was a positive thing, I’m saying this is the difference of our character. If you keep eating McDonald’s, you gonna get sick. You need a real home cooked meal of hip hop. Of the real people” (The RZA Interview 36th Chamber of Shaolin).
The Wu Tang fused East Asian martial arts culture into their form and lyricism, uniting different and otherwise separate cultures into one realm. Each aspect of the group and their album, from the lyrics to the title songs to the group name and stage names have been inspired by kung fu. Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, more widely known as RZA, was the mastermind behind the idea of the Wu Tang. He states, “This war style of this movie (Shaolin vs Wu Tang) was invincible and unbeatable. And that’s how we felt about our lyrics. Wu Tang Clan became us” (The RZA Interview 36th Chamber of Shaolin).
Kung Fu and other forms of martial arts exhibit a quality of invincibility and toughness. This quality is woven into the Wu Tang Clan’s intricate lyrics. For example, in the first song of the album, “Bring Da Ruckus,” the introduction includes a snippet from the film Shaolin vs Wu Tang. “‘Shaolin shadowboxing and the Wu Tang sword style. If what you say is true, the Shaolin and the Wu Tang could be dangerous. Do you think your Wu Tang sword can defeat me?’” This song continues to portray the idea that this group and their lyrics, are not a force to be messed with; if one dares to, they should ‘bring da fucking ruckus’ because ‘Wu Tang slang’ll leave your headpiece hanging.” “My Wu Tang slang is made fucking dangerous. And more deadly than the stroke of an axe chopping through your back *swish* giving bystanders heart attacks. Niggas try to flip, tell me who is him I blow up his fucking prism make it a vicious act of terrorism.” In Shame on a Nigga. Ol’ Dirty Bastard raps, “Do you wanna get your teeth knocked the fuck out? Wanna get on it like that, well then shout,” meaning anyone who fights him will get beaten up. And Method Man raps, “For rhyme and for rapture, got niggas resigning, now master my style? Never. I put the fucking buck in the wild kid, I’m terror razor sharp, I sever the head from the shoulders, I’m better than my competta.” His raps have people resigning; and the people who try to imitate him and his style will never be able to, because he will slaughter them, literally. The song continues to perpetuate this representation of the Clan as everything but gentle and easygoing. In Method Man, they rap “I’ll fuckin pull your fucking tongue out your fucking mouth and stab the shit with a rusty screwdriver,” to portray how incredibly tough and intimidating they are.
The tough and raw nature of this album represents the nature of life in New York City – rough and filled with hardships. There were high rates of crime, drugs, and poverty. In the song C.R.E.A.M. the first verse begins with Raekwon rapping, “I grew up on the crime side the New York Times side, staying alive was no jive.” Living in New York City, meant that one had to fight to survive. One had to embody the traits of the City and also become tough and aggressive. C.R.E.A.M. most vividly portrays the cold, hard reality of the crime life in NY.
Inspectah Deck in verse 2 raps, “It’s been twenty-two long hard years of still struggling. Survival got me bugging, but I’m alive on arrival.” He continues, “I peep at the shape of the streets. And stay awake to the ways of the world cause shit is deep. A man with a dream with plans to make cream [cash] which failed; I went to jail at the age of fifteen. A young buck selling drugs and such who never had much. Trying to get a clutch at what I could not. The court played me short now I face incarceration. Pacin’ – going upstate’s my destination. Handcuffed in the back of a bus, forty of us. Life as a shorty [kid] shouldn’t be so rough. But as the world turned I learned life is hell. Living the world, no different from a cell.”
The Wu Tang Clan was focused in Staten Island where most of the members originated from and lived in. Most of the members were from neighborhoods like Stapleton and Clifton, federally subsidized low income housing complexes, also known as projects. Violence and conflict was often the result of high levels of unemployment and poverty. In his book The Tao of Wu, RZA wrote, “I’ve lived in at least ten different projects in New York…and they all taught me something different even if they were lessons no one would choose. Imagine you’re eight years old, going to the store with 35 cents to buy a packet of Now and Laters and a bag of sunflower seeds. You get there, three teenagers choke you with an umbrella, take your 35 cents and buy cigarettes. That’s the projects: math and economics on every block. You wonder why the jail and courthouse are so close to the projects. When you get locked up a few years later, you learn” (RZA, 122).
During the 1980s, crack had arrived to New York City. It had a profound impact on America, particularly on inner city life. It had completely altered life for the worse. For example, Clifton or Park Hill acquired the nicknames “Killer Hill” and “Crack Hill” because of this. Raekwon said in an interview, “Park Hill was a dangerous project you know what I mean. I grew up with drug dealers all my life. It’s where I learned how to grow up fast. Park Hill was one of the most hated projects in Staten Island because it was like everything that you needed on the Island – drugs, money, guns, prostitution, all that shit was going on in our projects and we was growing up living in it. It was a hustle area” (New York Minute Episode 5: Raekwon). Crack had exacerbated the already growing rates of drug use and crimes, which in turn worsened the already high rates of poverty.
Drug, crimes, prison, violence, and poverty were all things that the members of the Clan witnessed and experienced while living in the projects of Staten Island. The Wu Tang was “From the generation that was ravaged by the era of crack and trapped in neglected cities under the regime of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. The desire to be a superhero or a comic book character, has not been a mere fantasy but a bizarre attempt to flip reality…” (Ghansah, 127). Music was a means of flipping reality; the formation of Wu Tang Clan served as a coping method as well as an escape route from the harsh reality of life. RZA states in the Tao of Wu that, “As a kid, especially, a single parent kid, the one thing you really need is protection…and more kids wish they had some kind of special powers to protect themselves” (Ghansah, 130). And that is what he and the Clan did with the powers of kung fu and Shaolin.
Growing up in New York was more about survival than anything, and one had to do whatever it took to survive. “Niggas got to do what they got to do, to get through – know what I’m saying? Because you can’t just get by no more, word up. You gotta get over straight up and down” (C.R.E.A.M). Transferring the values, ideas, and themes from kung fu films into their music and character was a method of survival for the Wu Tang Clan.
Shaolin is a recurring symbol in this album. For example, “From the slums of Shaolin, Wu tang Clan strikes again” (Method Man), “I come from the Shaolin slum, and the isle I’m from” (Da Mystery of Chessboxin’), and “Started off on the Island, aka Shaolin” (Can It All Be So Simple). Shaolin was synonymous to Staten Island for the Wu Tang, it represented where they came from and the place that they could escape to, like their music or the movie theatres. RZA stated, “These films definitely resonate with the Black community. It’s the underdog thing, the brotherly thing, and also I think its escapism. Cause you can go there and watch the movies and it’s not even America” (The RZA Interview 36th Chamber of Shaolin).
These films emphasized values of fighting, of being strong and resilient, and having a strong brotherhood which were some of the essential elements of what it meant to be a Wu Tang member. RZA explains that the brotherhood between the warriors in the films were what inspired him and shaped his mentality of a brotherhood. “Especially in 36 Chambers, in the beginning you think both of the guys made it, but only one of them did because his friend risked his life so he could make it” (The RZA Interview 36th Chamber of Shaolin). Brotherhoods are built on complete loyalty and trust, bound by the ideas that they will protect and support each other and die for one another. Gang activity often increases during times of economic and social hardships because the concept of brotherhood that gangs spring from, ensure the survival of all members of the group. Having support and comfort helps people deal with the struggles and reality of living, which was what the Wu Tang Clan provided for each other.
Member RZA said, “The movie 36 Chambers in Shaolin hit me multiple times in my life. The first time I saw it, it just was the first film that I had seen that had a history that was outside the scope of American history. And being a Black man in America, history don’t go farther than slavery actually. Then when I saw it again at the age of 14, I actually started hearing things that I heard in the movies. It kinda started getting to me in an internal level and I started looking into books about Eastern philosophies. The third time it affected me was when I was 19 when I was with the Wu Tang crew, throwing lyrics. It let me understand that a chamber is a chamber that a man must go through, something a man must conquer. That made me call the album the 36th Chamber” (The RZA Interview 36th Chamber of Shaolin). The kung fu genre allowed RZA and the other members to create their own identities. It provided a promise of a more helpful, brighter future as a result of being resilient and patient. This genre portrayed the theme that overcoming struggles is something that everyone must go through, this resonated with the Wu Tang Clan members who were surrounded by hardship in the circumstances around them.
