Can It All Be So Simple?

Earlier in the school year I began my next business venture: selling lyrics to my classmates.  I can't really remember how it all began, but penning lyrics to songs was something I had done since early elementary school when I got super heavy into Michael Jackson and had to know every word he was blessing me with.  I attribute at least 75% of the blame for my deterioration of my hearing trying to really learn those hard lyrics; blaring the sound until things suddenly became more clear.

This was not my most successful business venture, not because of a lack of fun or customers.  Demand was fine.  I wouldn't have been able to do more.  But I charged only a couple bucks per song, and if you get a song like "Look Into My Eyes" by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony than you are stuck for days, shit, weeks for just a few lines - I wouldn't turn down the challenge:

I would made much more loot doing the dreaded yard work, but I didn't look at it as something I was doing for money - I was going to know the words to half of these songs anyway based on my own spins, why not get geeky with it and put some sort of pressure on me?  

"Triumph" was beginning to get spins on the radio and demand was HIGH for the lyrics - more so than any track Puff Daddy, B.I.G., or 2Pac released during the time, primarily due to the fact it was a LONG track; 9 emcees (10 if you count ODB's intro).  Many of the lyrics were more difficult to understand; less cut and dry, quicker pace, more prevalent similes/metaphors, and several members that lyrics make it pretty easy to decipher.  I wasn't going to learn the words without the album; there was too much profanity blurred out in the video/on the radio.

I copped the double disc from Schoolkids and was careful riding it home, bag dangling from my bike handle.  The double disc had a thin cardboard cover before you got to your typical album case and I couldn't let the corners get bent.

One of my favorite Raekwon verses of all-time. Really is something serious.

Disc 1 could have been it's own release and whoop the mess out of 95% of albums that dropped that year.  A mentioned "A Better Tomorrow" as the first Wu song I really fell in love with, but there are some other golden songs on the disc, namely "It's Yours" (Prod. RZA):

One of my favorite RZA-produced track gets set the hell off with Raekwon.  How good is this guy?  Seriously, I have to really get down to a top 10 (20, 30, whatever it ends up being) because I am excited and nervous for how high I will have him up there.  After U-God, RZA, and I.N.S. come through with all solid verses...the beat breaths for a bit and then Ghostface comes through with a typical Ghost verse; not the most deep, not the most complex, but unbelievably entertaining and that stands for a LOT in my book.

I like "Reunited" is another great track from Disc 1, although it didn't have any of my top 3 members on it so it wasn't quite a favorite.

For as solid as Disc 1 did in my book, Disc 2 is a better disc to me.  A first gem, "Bells of War" (Prod. by RZA):

Another terrific track is"Heaterz" (Prod. by True Master), which serves as just another reason why Raekwon is one of the filthiest emcees there is or has been. The dude is so multi-dimensional. He can come at you many, many different ways and all work:

And finally, the aforementioned "Triumph" (Prod. by RZA):

This really is one of my favorite quotable hip-hop songs of all-time, no other way to put it.

Wu-Tang Clan is really something quite special. To me, you have four top 25 lyricists: Raekwon, Ghostface, GZA, and Inspectah Deck.  Method Man, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty each bring/brought a different dynamic to group and are all solid enough to have dropped classic content on their own.  In RZA you have a lock city top 8 producer of all-time who's style fit perfectly with the sound of the lyricists.

It's the greatest conglomerate of emcees we have ever seen, and yes, it's just that simple.