Sunz Of Man {The Last Shall Be First} is wildly underrated

[New Jeruzalem Journalist]

The first after Wu themselves. They dropped singles for Soldiers Of Darkness / Five Arch Angels ‎& No Love Without Hate in 95 and Bloody Choices in 96, which is when Wu-Tang Records signed the distribution deal with Priority Records.



Nothing to do w/ Power/Divine. As evidenced from above, they were on the process to a release on Wu-Tang Records and, before the distro deal, the label wasn't even in a position to drop full length, which ended up being Killarmy's debut in 97. Why didn't Sunz come first and why none of the songs so far on it? A couple issues:

1) They ended up going specifically to a new imprint Threat on Red Ant that paid like a half million to buy out Sunz from their Wu-Tang Records contract. Now, I don't know exactly why the release had only new songs (especially b/c they played the old ones in the backgrounds of interludes) but I imagine it might have something to do with the contracts of Sunz on Wu Records vs Sunz on Threat especially if the distro deal w/ Priority added wrinkles that otherwise Wu wouldn't have to worry about working around on their own label before. Threat is where the mismanagement happened and the Sunz album and singles are the only things that imprint ever released (and Red Ant itself was gone a couple years later).

2) While all that was being formed, Killah Priest solo deal overlapped w/ the Sunz album and the solo was priority for KP. That's why the most known MC of the group is only on 5 songs. This caused conflict within the group, mainly between P Sunn & KP. The Wu overall backed the group members which is why you'll find Razah, 60, & Prodigal all over Wu features the next few years (plus second Sunz album w/no KP) and KP largely on his own. They've worked it out since though. Now, maybe the building animosity effected the older songs or songs w/ KP specifically being included?

Dope. And props on the info.

Yeah, I couldn't remember if Wu themselves were on Wu-Tang Records. Figured they were since they were one of the pioneers of the indie D.I.Y. movement that took over underground hip-hop in the 90s. And I knew Red Ant folded but didn't know about Sunz being bought out of their previous contract.

It's all a damn shame cuz having the full squad of Sunz at the height of Wu popularity drop would have made their careers and music turn out way differently. A gold plaque at the very least. All that internal beefing with Killah Priest and Shabazz, and Su-Preme stopped working with them on the production tip.....just sucks as a fan seeing all that wasted potential.

Even by the time they finally dropped they had some decent promo, but the landscape of hip-hop had changed so much by then. I remember them appearing on Planet Groove. I taped it on VHS back in the day. Somebody posted footage of that performance on youtube a few years ago.

 

[BuddahMAC]

Yeah, I couldn't remember if Wu themselves were on Wu-Tang Records. Figured they were since they were one of the pioneers of the indie D.I.Y. movement that took over underground hip-hop in the 90s.

They started Wu-Tang Records to press up the Protect Ya Neck single on their own in 92.

All that internal beefing with Killah Priest and Shabazz, and Su-Preme stopped working with them on the production tip.....just sucks as a fan seeing all that wasted potential.

Shabazz beefs with everyone eventually and when Supreme's bootlegging all your old recordings, why would you record with him again?

Wasted potential is true though...even with how strong Sunz album and KP's solo are at around 20 tracks each, there's so many great songs from those sessions that didn't make the albums. They were just in that zone.







To the original post, Sunz album is definitely great and overlooked but it does have a couple problems: not enough KP, too much 60 rapping, not enough 60 crooning & some really clunky hooks throughout the album. That said, album's still dope and most the group's music of this era is on par w/ the core Clan.

 

[Heavy_Handz]

They started Wu-Tang Records to press up the Protect Ya Neck single on their own in 92.



Shabazz beefs with everyone eventually and when Supreme's bootlegging all your old recordings, why would you record with him again?

Wasted potential is true though...even with how strong Sunz album and KP's solo are at around 20 tracks each, there's so many great songs from those sessions that didn't make the albums. They were just in that zone.







To the original post, Sunz album is definitely great and overlooked but it does have a couple problems: not enough KP, too much 60 rapping, not enough 60 crooning & some really clunky hooks throughout the album. That said, album's still dope and most the group's music of this era is on par w/ the core Clan.

Yea Killah Priest only being on 5 tracks was a letdown and true about some of the hooks. 60 Second Assassin definitely underrated too.

 

[newworldafro]

The actual song escapes me at the moment, but that hook is actually taken from a U-God verse.


Even funnier is that aside from 2 or 3 extras and Sunz of Man themselves, he's literally the only other person in the video for "The Plan". And he's not even on that song.

Nah...the U-God hook was dope. If you were a Harlem Intellectual/Smarty Pants it was the jam .....

"Intellectual, rhyming professional
Bring all the ladies in our directional "

 

[nieman]

Who do y'all like more between P-Sunn and Razah?

 

[Heavy_Handz]

Who do y'all like more between P-Sunn and Razah?

Definitely Hell Razah. This was my shyt

 

[BuddahMAC]

Who do y'all like more between P-Sunn and Razah?

Razah was the better lyricist but Sunn had the better flow. They complimented each other very well on tracks.

 

[Majestyx]

To the original post, Sunz album is definitely great and overlooked but it does have a couple problems: not enough KP, too much 60 rapping, not enough 60 crooning & some really clunky hooks throughout the album. That said, album's still dope and most the group's music of this era is on par w/ the core Clan.

broken down so flawlessly actual facts. also, shining star was a weird ass single

every time sunz of man is brought up, im gonna say i want someone to release all the population click songs, cuz just maybe that shyt will happen


also @ shabazz beefining with everyone eventually

 

[Heavy_Handz]

Razah was the better lyricist but Sunn had the better flow. They complimented each other very well on tracks.

Definitely complimented each other perfectly. That’s what made Sunz Of Man so dope. Like you said previously, just wished there was more
Killah Priest on the first album.

 

[KingsOfKings]

Classic In my eyes

 

[THE 101]

Great album....

 

[Soymuscle Mike]

This and the first Killarmy album

Then you had Wu-Syndicate and Royal Fam first albums as well.

Wu-Tang was and will always be forever

 

[Corndog]

Love this album, even with Priest not on it as much as you'd like
Raza, Sunn, and 60 work pretty well as a trio to be honest
Not Promised Tomorrow shows this and is a very slept on track in general, the production from 4th was way ahead of its time

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

I preferred Killarmy more but this album has bangers

Perfect plan was my shyt