Remembering the Wu-Tang era

[Legend of Josh]

RidonKs - my post was not intended to be offensive. I had no idea you were that young. I always pictured you being some white dude who grew up their teenage years listening to rock then around 18/19 turned to the rap genre and found a reborn beginning.



You've been posting here awhile, and to be 20 years young thinking back to the posts I've read from you, you're quite an intelligent dude. Seriously though, my post wasn't meant to offend, like I said, just wanted to gain a better understanding of where you're coming from. Now I know.

[~primetime~]

What do you mean "it it is impossible to take any of that stuff seriously now"? But, if someone can only take the Wu seriously out of all rap acts, then I can't complain since they're easily my favorite.

It means I grew out of it...

I went to high school in the early 90s...to put it bluntly if you didn't listen to gangsta rap you were a f[COLOR="Black"]a[/COLOR]g...even white kids...

my school was a pretty decent mix of all races...Texas, so lots of mexicans...and the "cool" white kids were wiggas to some degree or another...grunge was dead, and it was damn near the ONLY option...

a weekend house party would be a mix of all races, with cheap beer, 40s of malt liquer, and well liquer...and maybe THIS SH*T PLAYING:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic7KH1PpbMY

...and no, I am not kidding...even the girls were dancing to that...



I am 10 years removed from high school now...and you are asking me why I can't take that sh*t seriously anymore?

It is fun to listen to for nostalgic reasons...and that is all I get out it today...

[Gundress]

It means I grew out of it...

I went to high school in the early 90s...to put it bluntly if you didn't listen to gangsta rap you were a f[COLOR="Black"]a[/COLOR]g...even white kids...

my school was a pretty decent mix of all races...Texas, so lots of mexicans...and the "cool" white kids were wiggas to some degree or another...grunge was dead, and it was damn near the ONLY option...

a weekend house party would be a mix of all races, with cheap beer, 40s of malt liquer, and well liquer...and maybe THIS SH*T PLAYING:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic7KH1PpbMY

...and no, I am not kidding...even the girls were dancing to that...



I am 10 years removed from high school now...and you are asking me why I can't take that sh*t seriously anymore?

It is fun to listen to for nostalgic reasons...and that is all I get out it today...

Were you used to be a "wigga"?.... that's song is about Eazy-E.

[RedBlackAttack]

Interesting thread...

I remember the 'Wu-Tang era' for completely different reasons than most, though. Before 36 Chambers came out and anyone knew who the hell Wu-Tang was, they were creating absolute havoc in my hometown.

I was born, raised, and went through high school in a small Ohio town named Steubenville. When I say small, I'm talking about under 20,000 people. It is about 25 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, under two hours from Cleveland, and under three hours from Columbus. So, while it is a relatively little city, it is sort of in the middle of a lot of 'big' cities (relatively speaking).

In the late-80s and early-90s, our city (like just about every other urban area in the country) was introduced to crack and serious gang crime. The leaders of Steubenville's drug cartel were a group of guys that referred to themselves as the Godz. Violence was out-of-control for a city our size. There were literally shootings every night.

Packs of guys from New York were also showing up every night and waring with the local 'home grown' gangsters (this was a tough town before they showed up).

I had friends that my older brother went all through school with getting shot and killed on a regular basis. One fight, in particular, that was widely talked about at the time was when Ghostface, ODB, and a lesser known affiliate of the Godz jumped a guy that was on lunch break during school hours because he was a black guy with a white girlfriend.

Little did they know, the guy they were jumping was an All-State football player and took third in Ohio as a heavyweight wrestler. He proceeded to beat the hell out of all three of them. The event was witnessed by about half of my high school and is still talked about regularly today.

When 36 Chambers was released, Steubenville pretty much went into a state of shock. These guys that had been reeking havoc on our city were suddenly the biggest things in the f#cking music industry... Who knew?

RZA grew up in Steubenville, so it is no coincidence that they picked this city to attempt to take over, but it still is pretty amazing looking back. The last real incident with the Godz (ie Wu-Tang) was when one of their producers -- Wise God Allah -- was shot dead in downtown Steubenville in the mid-90s, riddled with bullets. He was shot many times by multiple people, one of which I knew well (his name is Keith West and he just got out of jail a couple of years ago).

There were retaliations and another guy that I knew well was shot dead outside of his house (Spanky Ware). A few months later, several members of the Wu-Tang Clan were pulled over in Steubenville (RZA, Ghost, and several others) with a car full of guns. They got a slap on the wrist and that is really the last that we heard of them, crime-wise.

There were several local Steubenville kids that hopped on board with Wu, though. The most notable were Killarmy, which was a Wu offshoot made up almost entirely of Steubenville rappers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killarmy

What a crazy time to be around for... Just type in Wu-Tang Clan and Steubenville in google and you will get hundreds of results. I was always a fan of Wu and, in the 90s when they were playing Pittsburgh, one of the Wu's promoter whom my brother had known since high school dropped off 20 tickets for me and my buddies... He had Method Man in the car with him.

Pretty cool.

If you listen back to old Wu albums, though, pay attention to all the shoutouts for Ohio and references to Tappan Lake, a pretty big camping spot just outside the city limits where Wu-Tang would go to pen many of their lyrics.

While other 'gangsta rappers' may have been faking it and mere observers to the drug game, take it from me... the Godz were the real thing.

[~primetime~]

Interesting thread...

I remember the 'Wu-Tang era' for completely different reasons than most, though. Before 36 Chambers came out and anyone knew who the hell Wu-Tang was, they were creating absolute havoc in my hometown.

I was born, raised, and went through high school in a small Ohio town named Steubenville. When I say small, I'm talking about under 20,000 people. It is about 25 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, under two hours from Cleveland, and under three hours from Columbus. So, while it is a relatively little city, it is sort of in the middle of a lot of 'big' cities (relatively speaking).

In the late-80s and early-90s, our city (like just about every other urban area in the country) was introduced to crack and serious gang crime. The leaders of Steubenville's drug cartel were a group of guys that referred to themselves as the Godz. Violence was out-of-control for a city our size. There were literally shootings every night.

Packs of guys from New York were also showing up every night and waring with the local 'home grown' gangsters (this was a tough town before they showed up).

I had friends that my older brother went all through school with getting shot and killed on a regular basis. One fight, in particular, that was widely talked about at the time was when Ghostface, ODB, and a lesser known affiliate of the Godz jumped a guy that was on lunch break during school hours because he was a black guy with a white girlfriend.

Little did they know, the guy they were jumping was an All-State football player and took third in Ohio as a heavyweight wrestler. He proceeded to beat the hell out of all three of them. The event was witnessed by about half of my high school and is still talked about regularly today.

When 36 Chambers was released, Steubenville pretty much went into a state of shock. These guys that had been reeking havoc on our city were suddenly the biggest things in the f#cking music industry... Who knew?

RZA grew up in Steubenville, so it is no coincidence that they picked this city to attempt to take over, but it still is pretty amazing looking back. The last real incident with the Godz (ie Wu-Tang) was when one of their producers -- Wise God Allah -- was shot dead in downtown Steubenville in the mid-90s, riddled with bullets. He was shot many times by multiple people, one of which I knew well (his name is Keith West and he just got out of jail a couple of years ago).

There were retaliations and another guy that I knew well was shot dead outside of his house (Spanky Ware). A few months later, several members of the Wu-Tang Clan were pulled over in Steubenville (RZA, Ghost, and several others) with a car full of guns. They got a slap on the wrist and that is really the last that we heard of them, crime-wise.

There were several local Steubenville kids that hopped on board with Wu, though. The most notable were Killarmy, which was a Wu offshoot made up almost entirely of Steubenville rappers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killarmy

What a crazy time to be around for... Just type in Wu-Tang Clan and Steubenville in google and you will get hundreds of results. I was always a fan of Wu and, in the 90s when they were playing Pittsburgh, one of the Wu's promoter whom my brother had known since high school dropped off 20 tickets for me and my buddies... He had Method Man in the car with him.

Pretty cool.

If you listen back to old Wu albums, though, pay attention to all the shoutouts for Ohio and references to Tappan Lake, a pretty big camping spot just outside the city limits where Wu-Tang would go to pen many of their lyrics.

While other 'gangsta rappers' may have been faking it and mere observers to the drug game, take it from me... the Godz were the real thing.

the RZA grew up in Brooklyn, as well as ODB and GZA...(I think they are al related)

and didn't the others grow up in Staten Island?

[Legend of Josh]

Interesting thread...

I remember the 'Wu-Tang era' for completely different reasons than most, though. Before 36 Chambers came out and anyone knew who the hell Wu-Tang was, they were creating absolute havoc in my hometown.

I was born, raised, and went through high school in a small Ohio town named Steubenville. When I say small, I'm talking about under 20,000 people. It is about 25 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, under two hours from Cleveland, and under three hours from Columbus. So, while it is a relatively little city, it is sort of in the middle of a lot of 'big' cities (relatively speaking).

In the late-80s and early-90s, our city (like just about every other urban area in the country) was introduced to crack and serious gang crime. The leaders of Steubenville's drug cartel were a group of guys that referred to themselves as the Godz. Violence was out-of-control for a city our size. There were literally shootings every night.

Packs of guys from New York were also showing up every night and waring with the local 'home grown' gangsters (this was a tough town before they showed up).

I had friends that my older brother went all through school with getting shot and killed on a regular basis. One fight, in particular, that was widely talked about at the time was when Ghostface, ODB, and a lesser known affiliate of the Godz jumped a guy that was on lunch break during school hours because he was a black guy with a white girlfriend.

Little did they know, the guy they were jumping was an All-State football player and took third in Ohio as a heavyweight wrestler. He proceeded to beat the hell out of all three of them. The event was witnessed by about half of my high school and is still talked about regularly today.

When 36 Chambers was released, Steubenville pretty much went into a state of shock. These guys that had been reeking havoc on our city were suddenly the biggest things in the f#cking music industry... Who knew?

RZA grew up in Steubenville, so it is no coincidence that they picked this city to attempt to take over, but it still is pretty amazing looking back. The last real incident with the Godz (ie Wu-Tang) was when one of their producers -- Wise God Allah -- was shot dead in downtown Steubenville in the mid-90s, riddled with bullets. He was shot many times by multiple people, one of which I knew well (his name is Keith West and he just got out of jail a couple of years ago).

There were retaliations and another guy that I knew well was shot dead outside of his house (Spanky Ware). A few months later, several members of the Wu-Tang Clan were pulled over in Steubenville (RZA, Ghost, and several others) with a car full of guns. They got a slap on the wrist and that is really the last that we heard of them, crime-wise.

There were several local Steubenville kids that hopped on board with Wu, though. The most notable were Killarmy, which was a Wu offshoot made up almost entirely of Steubenville rappers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killarmy

What a crazy time to be around for... Just type in Wu-Tang Clan and Steubenville in google and you will get hundreds of results. I was always a fan of Wu and, in the 90s when they were playing Pittsburgh, one of the Wu's promoter whom my brother had known since high school dropped off 20 tickets for me and my buddies... He had Method Man in the car with him.

Pretty cool.

If you listen back to old Wu albums, though, pay attention to all the shoutouts for Ohio and references to Tappan Lake, a pretty big camping spot just outside the city limits where Wu-Tang would go to pen many of their lyrics.

While other 'gangsta rappers' may have been faking it and mere observers to the drug game, take it from me... the Godz were the real thing.

Dope story. Thanks for sharing.

[RedBlackAttack]

the RZA grew up in Brooklyn, as well as ODB and GZA...(I think they are al related)

and didn't the others grow up in Staten Island?

RZA and ODB were born in Brooklyn. They spent a good portion of their youth in Steubenville. I don't think GZA was ever involved in the goings on in Steubenville, but I could be wrong.

Trust me... I couldn't make all of that up.

[oh the horror]

The insane thing about the Wu-Tang was the fact that they had so many members to begin with, and all of them were great, and had decent solo succuss in their own rights when THEY released their solor projects.


As a group, they were good, as solo artists, they were good. Some better than others, but they all did fairly well. You dont SEE that anymore.


They literally changed up the face of rap in those days.

Not to mention there were HOW MANY offshoots and different people joining the wu?


I lived in Staten Island at the time when Wu hit big, so i was literally hearing ALL of it being born.

[~primetime~]

RZA and ODB were born in Brooklyn. They spent a good portion of their youth in Steubenville. I don't think GZA was ever involved in the goings on in Steubenville, but I could be wrong.

Trust me... I couldn't make all of that up.

I didn't think you were making it up...it is just that I have aways known them to be products of Brooklyn/Staten Island...and they made that clear in damn near every track..."Brookln Zoo"

I can even remember watching documentarys on them talking about what it was like growing up in those areas...

I has never heard of this Steubenville thing till now, that is all...

[Gundress]

the RZA grew up in Brooklyn, as well as ODB and GZA...(I think they are al related)

and didn't the others grow up in Staten Island?

Yeah, all of them are related and Method Man grew up in Staten Island.

A lot of Tha Wu-Tang's material went over peoples heads and, they all are the 5% & The Wu Tang songs where 5% lingo is used are countless. I was talking to some young cats and they didnt even know what a 5% was. Thats a ****ing shame. They know Bloods and Crips but they didnt know 5%. But it doesn't stop with them, a lot of people dont know what a 5% is.

[RedBlackAttack]

I didn't think you were making it up...it is just that I have aways known them to be products of Brooklyn/Staten Island...and they made that clear in damn near every track..."Brookln Zoo"

I can even remember watching documentarys on them talking about what it was like growing up in those areas...

I has never heard of this Steubenville thing till now, that is all...

They claimed Brooklyn and rightfully so... That is where almost all of the members were born (along with Staten Island). But, they were running drugs from New York to Steubenville (which, in turn, would be routed to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Columbus) in their late teens and early 20s.

RZA and ODB also have a lot of family members in Steubenville.

Like I said... type in Wu-Tang Clan and Steubenville in google... Some good reading will pop up.

[Vragrant]

Yeah, all of them are related and Method Man grew up in Staten Island.

A lot of Tha Wu-Tang's material went over peoples heads and, they all are the 5% & The Wu Tang songs where 5% lingo is used are countless. I was talking to some young cats and they didnt even know what a 5% was. Thats a ****ing shame. They know Bloods and Crips but they didnt know 5%. But it doesn't stop with them, a lot of people dont know what a 5% is.

Some of the Wu guys aren't 5% anymore though. Ghostface now is an orthodox Muslim and GZA doesn't claim any religious affiliation nowadays. I read that in interviews with both GZA and Ghost. I don't know about the others though.

[Jackass18]

Outside of maybe 5 tracks this album is complete and total piss. Slang Editorial is dope. Pillage track is solid, nothing special. Run was OK. Skip forward to Young Hearts and Everything Is Everything (the album's two best songs) and then that's it.

The Pillage was a crap album overall. Junk. Milk the Cow was decent too.

That's just your opinion. You skip through some good songs. I like it.

Slang Editorial is hot
Don't really care for Pillage
Run is hot
Blood on Blood War is OK
Supa Ninjaz is OK
MCF is good
Splish Splash is nice, but short
Oh-Donna is my favorite track on there
Milk the Cow is alright, but kind of silly
South of the Border is good
Don't really care for Check for a *****
Dart Throwing is nice
Young Hearts is alright
Everything is Everything is OK
Don't really care for Pump Your Fist

[~primetime~]

Yeah, all of them are related and Method Man grew up in Staten Island.

A lot of Tha Wu-Tang's material went over peoples heads and, they all are the 5% & The Wu Tang songs where 5% lingo is used are countless. I was talking to some young cats and they didnt even know what a 5% was. Thats a ****ing shame. They know Bloods and Crips but they didnt know 5%. But it doesn't stop with them, a lot of people dont know what a 5% is.

I never knew back in the 90s...and I don't think anyone did...

we thought they just called each other "gods" because it was their slang...we didn't know they really thought that the black man was "god"....like literally...

I don't like that stupid ass pro black religious BS...and unfortunatly it is near impossible to aviod it on most of their sh*t...but not all of it...


back in the 90s then I didn't care...no one cared

I had a lench mob CD...



that sh*t was really pro black...but no one gave a f*ck...

I knew awhite dude that loved Paris




paris was actually too pro black for me...he took it to the extreme...

[Jackass18]

I am 10 years removed from high school now...and you are asking me why I can't take that sh*t seriously anymore?

It is fun to listen to for nostalgic reasons...and that is all I get out it today...

So you can't go back and listen to Nas, Eminem, Biggie, Tupac, The Lost Boyz, NWA, OutKast, Mobb Deep, etc.?