Inspect Her Deck
Skins of all colours come together as brothers
“I used the bus as an analogy,” he says. “I said, ‘I want all of y'all to get on this bus. And be passengers. And I’m the driver. And nobody can ask me where we going. I’m taking us to No. 1. Give me five years, and I promise that I’ll get us there.’ ” – RZA
The above quote said by RZA is in reference to what is commonly known as the ‘Five Year Plan’, whereby at the end of the 5th year of the Wu-Tang Clan forming, they’d be on top of the world.
Ever the visionary, RZA would proceed to command control of some of the finest albums to grace the genre of hip-hop. From 1993-1996, we’d be blessed with 36 Chambers, Tical, Return to the 36 Chambers, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Liquid Swords and Ironman.
At least three of those albums to this day are considered genuine contenders for G.O.A.T. The rest have a respectable amount of critical acclaim as well. So by the time 1997 rolled around, fans were at an all-time high level of anticipation for the group’s second LP as a collective.
The sales numbers of Wu-Tang Forever would point towards an immeasurable level of success. After all, it remains their highest selling album in their discography, going 4x platinum. It even sold 612,000 in its first week.
Despite largely positive reviews from critics, many of the fans had a bone to pick with an unfamiliar sounding album. The Wu aesthetic was so heavily sculpted off the gutter and lo-fi sounds of 36 Chambers, and even though later solo albums would sound more densely layered and polished, it never relinquished that rawness. However, with Forever, the production was even more polished, and even more clean, and it detached itself from much of that early Wu-Tang sound. This marked a new chapter sonically-speaking in the Wu-Tang chronology.
The aforementioned sound change, in addition to it being a double disc LP (renowned for never living up to expectations), led to what some people perceived to be the beginning of the Wu-Tang dynasty’s fall-off, in spite of the sale numbers saying otherwise.
In my opinion, this album is almost as good as 36 Chambers, and it’s the greatest double disc LP to ever exist. I’m not here to say why it’s the GOAT double LP, that’s not the purpose of this thread. Instead, I want to explain why this album should be regarded as one of the absolute best in a ridiculous run of classics between 1993-1997.
1. different =/= worse
The misconception is that because this album sounds different, it’s worse. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Forever marked a change in Wu sound, and preference wise I can see the argument for 36 Chambers' superiority. BUT, for all intents and purposes, Forever is better produced from a technical aspect. Most importantly, it holds up so well today, and the way soul samples are manipulated here (rather than the distortion of 36) would go on to influence the likes of Kanye West and Just Blaze. In order to hear the influence, listen to the track ‘For Heaven’s Sake’.
2. the rapping is exceptional
So much so that most rappers' primes are considered to manifest themselves in the lyrics of this double LP. Inspectah Deck had life-changing verses on the album. Ghost was REALLY beginning to gain his abstract and stream-of-consciousness identity. Raekwon maintained his mid-90’s lyrical rampage. RZA was arguably the most improved rapper. Perhaps the greatest thing to emerge from this album was the prominence of U-God and Masta Killa on the mic, who showed they had more to offer than the ‘once in a blue moon’ cameo performances.
3. hardly any filler
A double disc LP is often accused of having a lot of filler tracks. I believe this album to have only ONE track that could be considered filler, and that’s ‘Black Shampoo’, and also the Tekitha singing track if you want to count that. For an album that has 27 tracks, that is outrageously efficient.
Here’s how I’d rank the tracks personally:
TIER 1: Reunited, For Heaven's Sake, A Better Tomorrow, Triumph, The City, Bells of War, The M.G.M., Heaterz
TIER 2: As High as Wu-Tang Get, Severe Punishment, Older Gods, It's Yourz, Impossible, Deadly Melody, The Projects, Hellz Wind Staff
TIER 3: Cash Still Rules/Scary Hours, Visionz, Little Ghetto Boys, Duck Seazon
TIER 4: Maria, Dog shyt
TIER 5: Black Shampoo
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QUESTIONS
- What do you think of the album?
- Where does it rank as a double disc LP?
- Where does it rank as a Wu-Tang Clan album (group)?
- If you could make the album into one disc, what would it look like?
- How would you tier the tracks?
- Favourite verse on the album?
- Rate the album out of 10.
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