Was Wu Tang Forever The Best Rap Double Album Ever?
Inspired by the Straight Bangin’ mixtape that kicks off with unsung gem, “Older Gods,” I’ve been listening to Wu-Tang Forever non-stop today. I feel like I say this every two years or so, but jeebus, this thing is so much better than I remember it being. Maybe it’s because I *get* it now but maybe it’s because the thing’s aged incredibly well. I used to give Life After the Death the nod as the best rap double-album ever, but now I’m not so sure. I suppose it comes down to what you think is worse, “Fuckin’ You Tonight” or “Black Shampoo.”
Download:
MP3: Wu-Tang Clan-”Older Gods”
May 6th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
No Weiss, it’s the best double-album period of all-time.
May 6th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
The only other double album that pops into mind is from Biggie, and though while I wholeheartedly still believe that Mo Money = Mo Problems (no I don’t) I can’t help but admit that I know all the words to “Dog Shit.”
May 6th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Diplomatic Immunity
May 6th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Each disc by itself is a classic
May 7th, 2008 at 2:21 am
1st of, Mouse, i got 3 words 4 ya
The White Album
expend your horizons a little…
now mr. Weiss, you can hate R. Kelly as much as u want (and believe me, we’re on the same boat on this one), but “Fuckin’ You Tonight” is one helluva song! it’s one of the smoooooooooothest rap/R&B collabos ever. and Kelly came correct (no pedo) on this one. not to mention Biggie (did he ever have a wack verse?)
oh, and about the Wu? i got 4 words 4 ya
All Eyez On ME
i know bloggers don’t have respect for 2Pac, but it’s OK since most bloggers don’t know jack about music. i know you’re a “blogger” but i’m still kinda disappointed by you.
Nati
Jerusalem, Israel.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:41 am
only one of these albums has tekitha reinterpreting ‘macarthur park’.
“punch you in the face music”.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:43 am
the best rap double album ever, easily
straight up the best double album ever, though? I don’t know about that in a world in which double nickels on the dime, selected ambient works ii, tago mago, bitches brew, songs in the key of life etc. exist. not that any of those are definitely better than wu-tang forever - they’re all just kinda on the level where it can’t be judged.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:11 am
“Fucking You Tonight” is EONS better than “Black Shampoo.” Although I literally listened to “Forever” everyday for the entire summer of ‘97, as a whole I’m picking “Life After Death” as a better album. That particular album laid out the blueprint for every single major label rap album since: the R. Kelly song, the double time song, the “miss my homies” song, the Premo song, the street/death threat song, the lewd skits, the west coast song….it’s all there.
“Scary Hours” might be the best song on Wu-Tang Forever that no one talks about….
May 7th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Nati: Ixnay on the condescension-ay.
http://passionweiss.com/2007/04/23/my-25-favorite-hip-hop-albums/
You can look for your hero in there. Stop being such a stan, 2Pac was great, Biggie was greater. And you know this, man.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:43 am
although “black shampoo” is probably the worst song ever to grace a rap double-album, i’d have to say that forever just SLIGHTLY trumps life after death. only because “black shampoo” is track 14 on the second disc, and, in my opinion, no track before that [save for probably the intro] is even remotely skippable.
and as far as songs that are supposed to be funny goes, “dog shit” is way funnier than “playa hater.”
May 7th, 2008 at 9:16 am
I still don’t know know why I hate this Wu album. But it’s been sitting in an old box of iffy CD’s since the week it was released and I dumped it in there with all my strength. Maybe I expected too much. I’ll have to listen to it again when I scan the ‘97 Source with the record review.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Trust, it’s worth it. I like it a lot more now. Good stuff at Thimk too. Your site makes me very jealous that my mom made me throw out all my old Sources.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:45 am
dude — the best rap double-album is “art of war” by bone thugs.. every track a banger, plus the amazingly intense collab with tupac.. that shit rocked my world back when i was in high school..
May 7th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I don’t know about best ever, but you know I completely agree with you about Art of War being sorely slept-on. That album didn’t leave my CD player for six months minimum.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:33 am
co-sign heavily that Wu-Tang Forever has aged well, especially in comparison to a lot of its’ contemporaries (although the likes of Uptown Saturday Night & the Artifacts 2nd album are also sounding pretty great a decade later & Funcrusher Plus STILL sounds futuristic).
May 7th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Weiss, for real? And Schwartz, you too! You wanna hear U-God solo tracks? Poppa Wu intros that blunt the sheer force and brio of “Reunited.” Sequencing is out of wack, too many failed experiments, and totally uninspired guests. Not to mention a number of tepid RZA beats, thereby ending the Coltrane-like streak the guy was one. Can’t be serious.
That being said, if this album were condensed and re-structured it probably could have been one of the greatest rap albums ever made. However, since it’s quite clearly not, I’m still goind with Life After Death, if not All Eyez on Me.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I shit on The White Album! If The White Album is “expanded horizons” then ODB is Neil Diamond.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Old skool heads may remember that Jazzy Jeff’s and FP’s “He’s the DJ…” was a double album. Record 1 was the actual album, while Record 2 was billed as a “scratch album” or something along those lines that featured a ton of Jeff-only cuts. I know it’s easy to hate on the Will Smith these days, but back in 88, it was hot ish
May 7th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Although, I’m of no way of the opinion that Tupac was the greatest rapper of all-time. I might just be contrarian and say “All Eyez One Me” is the best double album. Pretty much all of disc one is great and the first half of disc 2 is banging as well but it slows down in the end.
Wu-Forver would get the nod over Life After Death, though. It’s been awhile since I popped LAD in my CD changer though but people are absolutely fucking on crack when they say it’s beter than Ready to Die. That’s a completely incorrect opinion.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
i can’t help but bring it up — someone’s still gotta tell me what’s not great about Jay’s “Blueprint 2.” sure it doesn’t really follow any particular concept/theme in the way dude’s “only good albums” (to haters who don’t wanna admit he’s got good shit on his “sellout” albums) RD/BP/Black Album/American Gangster do, but on the actual quality of music and technique, there’s only maybe three songs there i don’t like. it actually is probably my favorite Jay album.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
and i’d give LAD the edge over RTD for a couple reasons — 1) better production, 2) Biggie trying a wider range of styles and generally pulling all of ‘em off well. RTD’s more conceptually focused obviously but i guess i’m just a sucker for more expensive-sounding production
May 7th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Trey:
“and i’d give LAD the edge over RTD for a couple reasons — 1) better production, 2) Biggie trying a wider range of styles and generally pulling all of ‘em off well. RTD’s more conceptually focused obviously but i guess i’m just a sucker for more expensive-sounding production”
My thoughts EXACTLY. RTD is classic but isn’t as much fun as LAD, arguably the greatest hip hop album to listen to in your car May-Aug.
Brandon Soderberg should do a post re-structuring Wu-Tang Forever as one CD. And Trey–I’ll re-listen to Blueprint 2 on your recco.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Co-sign Tal. Weiss is on some Hilary-type revisionist bull.
Call it blasphemy, but Forever ain’t nice like that. LAD all the way.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
You two live a dry and sober existence.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly, Weiss.
One.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Ready to Die is soooo the superior album. Conceptually, it’s brilliant. Starting with his birth, ending with his death, blah blah blah. We’ve all heard it. It’s a darker, grittier, more focused, better written, better singles, and it doesn’t feature any filler (with the possible exception of Me & My Bitch).
Life After Death is a dope album, no doubt but it has this throw everything at the wall type of feel that eventually was the impetus of ruining hip hop albums all toghether. Although, it would be the album I would introduce to Biggie to hip hop neophytes. It’s just a lighter album. I’ll take my Biggie brooding, badass, and suicidal, though.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I just want to say though that Black Shampoo immediately disqualifies Wu-Tang Forever from Best Double Album discussion the same way that “The Making Of A Perfect Bitch/Getting Married/No One Else In The Room” troika ruins Street’s Disciple’s chances. Black Shampoo is a horrific, horrific song.
Seriously, U-God? Is that the BEST you could do with your chance to shine on Forever? You couldn’t have gone to GZA or Meth and have him help you ghostwrite a song for you?
May 7th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
i just wanna say i love ur blog man. ur down with the best shit ever made and thats the WU TANG CLAN so respect man. good shit like this is too rare these days.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:56 am
i’d probably put “Respect” as RTD’s least necessary song really. it just seems redundant
quick note on “BP2″ Zilla — while i think Jay’s on-point for the album, a lot of my appreciation for it is because i think it’s the dude’s best-produced work. while i’m probably in the minority thinking that three of The Neptunes’s beats there (which will not be specified in order to protect my manliness) are some of their best ever, Kanye and Just bring it too. it’s almost like they took the sound they introduced on “BP” and made it more expansive, cinematic — “A Dream,” “Poppin’ Tags,” “Hovi Baby” and “Some How Some Way” are some of my favorite songs they’ve done with Hov.
Timbo’s the weak link in the big names there, which is weird cuz him and Jay usually have great chemistry. “The Bounce” is their only good collabo on the album though.
oh, and as an unrelated aside, “Fuck You Tonight” = one of the best songs on the first disc of LAD. believe it
May 8th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I’ve been creepin on ur site for a good year now so let me toss an opinion out:
36 Chambers > Ready to Die > Wu-Tang Forever > Life After Death > All Eyez on Me
but…
Aquemini > 36 Chambers
Aquemini just got bangers galore. Plus my favorite song to make love to:
Spottieottiedopaliscious = top 5 song evah.
Coincidentally, playing “Why don’t we do it in the road” for a girl ultimately helped me (really) get in her pants. But when we packed, it was to “Spottieottie”
May 15th, 2008 at 2:39 am
Dear Jeff
i wrote u but u still ain’t calling…
why am i a stan? cause i just think that Pac > Big?
hell, even Nas is > Big
and so is Jay (who beat Big 4 the title of “the most overrated rapper EVER”)
i know RTD + LAD by heart,i think Pac was Better, that’s MY musical taste. nothing more, nothing less.
and 4 your list, everybody out of New York and the Blogshpere love “All Eyez On Me”, you can add “Me against the World” to that list too. based on that, they think that’s all Pac had to offer.
much props to one of my favorite bloggers DocZeus 4 poppin up.
June 14th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
how can hiphop be dead if wu tang is for EVER..
From whut i’ve read, ya’ll dont know shit about real hiphop and em ceeing, the wutang fro ever double cd was is an will always be the best album ever crafted, that shit is time less, the lyrical content is of the chain, beats is crazy ill too! till this day that album is more relevant than any album out right now on any gender!!!
June 14th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
EVRY ONE THAT POSTED ON THIS BLOG IS A FUCKIN LIL FAGGIT WIGGER KID DAT DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT NO HIPHOP, YA MU FUCKERS NEED TO STOP SPENDING YA PARENTS MONEY ON BULL SHIT AND COP ALL THE WU TANG ALBUMS YA CAN GET YA LIL WHOIGHT MITTEN ON, CUZ TRUST DATS ALL THE EDUCATION YA’LL EVER GON NEED!
NOW TAKE THE FILTHY ANAL BEADS OUT CHA ASSES AND DO AS THE GOD SKAMPOE SAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 15th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Hey skampoe, leave dem lil white kids alone and get back here and eat this gutbuster cheeseburger from my pulsating crab infested snatch ya big blubba whale.
Plus if you get the chance, can you pick me up some vagisil from the chemist cos my pussy is itchy as a flea ridden dog bed..
loves and kisses,
Ms Tsa