Out of the (what seems like) 137 members and affiliates of the Wu-Tang Clan, you would think that it would be hard to stand out from the Clan crowd and easy to be overshadowed by members that have more hype like the very popular movie and rap star Method Man, and sometimes it is (see the Masta Killa, Inspectah Deck), but if there's one member of the Clan that shines based on skill alone - with no help from movie and television popularity - it's the GZA aka the Genius, my favorite lyrical swordsman in the Clan and somenoe who I believes earns his name.
In all honesty, I only like a small portion of the large amount of Wu-Tang material, basically their first album as a group and the first five solo albums that came after it. Everything I've heard from the double album Wu Tang Forever has bored me and the same goes for Iron Flag, and all the solo material that I've heard that succeeded the first five has been decent, but they don't bring the same aggression that those early albums provided. Everything I haven't heard has only gotten lukewarm reviews by critics, and I've avoided listening to them so far. But I don't really care about this so much because those first six albums have brought me so much enjoyment and have provoked me to bob my head and throw up ridiculous arm gestures with abandon so many times that I couldn't care less that anything came after them. The first five solo albums included Method Man's Tical, ODB's Return to the 36 Chambers, Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Ghostface's Ironman, and while all of them are fantastic albums, the GZA's Liquid Swords gets the edge for me.
So, what exactly gives the Genius the edge here? First of all, the album's length is much more manageable than the other Wu solo albums that came before it and after it. It was not uncommon to see a hip-hop album in the '90s with as many as fifteen to twenty songs, sometimes even more. Hell, Method Man's album Tical 2000: Judgement Day has 28 tracks on it that I refuse to listen to from start to finish. Liquid Swords on the other hand has only thirteen tracks, and the thirteenth track on the album ("Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth") I see as a bonus track since it isn't produced by the Wu's producer the RZA and does not feature the Genius whatsoever. Speaking of the RZA, this album features his best production work since Enter the Wu-Tang; his production ranges from spunky ("Liquid Swords") to spooky ("Gold") to smooth ("Shadowboxin'"), providing the perfect canvas for the GZA to paint over with his considerable lyrical prowess. And that's the third thing that gives this album the advantage over other Wu efforts; the GZA really is a Genius. Someone once wrote that the GZA doesn't write verses, but chapters, and that's a valid argument. Just read this analysis of the first track alone to get every reference he's making and what everything means. He'll brag about his formidable style or he'll give a chilling narrative about drug dealing among other topics, either way, the guy's got the whole being-a-hip-hop-lyricist thing down to the ground.
Great guest spots help this album out even more. A lot of these Wu solo albums feature so many guest spots from other Clan members they they are in effect Wu-Tang albums, and this is no different. Ghostface, Raekwon, U God, Masta Killa, ODB, the RZA, and Method Man all make appearances. Oh, and let's not forget the Inspectah, the other best lyricist in the Clan, who appears on "Cold World" alongside the GZA. Yeah, epic.
Again, out of all the Wu-Tang solo material, this is my favorite and probably always will be. Does it beat Enter the Wu-Tang? No, nothing does, but it's the next best thing and well worth a listen, in fact, I'd say it's essential music for anyone who loves the Clan, and hip-hop as a whole.
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