The plan today was to do a tribute/mockery (tribumockery?) to Snap’s “The Power,” as I was in the peculiar mood to hear some German hip-house*. I’ve been raiding my cassette collection lately and as Doc Brown once said, “where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” So don’t be surprised if by the end of the week I get to Utah Saints and K.W.S. Don’t front like you didn’t like “Please Don’t Go.”
Unfortunately, my friend/neighbor/television savior, Ben, convinced me to ditch blogging to watch the Phillies beat the Dodgers. (Side note: Was I the only one who thought that Torre should’ve left Kuo in the game?). You guys may need to be patient with me for the rest of the week. I’d say month–but really–if it’s a Tampa Bay-Philly World series the only people watching will be the player’s moms. During the final few innings, we decided to drown out the C.P.A.-dull TBS broadcast team and listen to DJ Muggs’ show on Sirius’ Shade 45 channel. While his banter can’t match his beats, the program was solid, including this oft-overlooked gem that the Rza and Gza cut in ’97 for the Soul Assassins album.
Re-watching the video for the first time in over a decade, it’s tempting to play sentimentalist. Directed by the Gza, the militaristic mini-movie is swathed in ice-cold blues, camouflage greens, vermilion reds and a dull, phosphorescent purple. The song itself almost perfectly distills the Wu aesthetic. Muggs’ Rza-aping beat is menacing in its minimalism, with guitars tense as arched bowstrings, drums caked in dirt and dust, and sinister, savage drum kicks. On the mic, Rza and Gza operate as perfect foils, with the Gza’s cold-blooded malice off-setting his cousin’s maniacal excitability. Best of all, Rza drops the line “send ’em back like George McFly,” who actually never went back in time (perhaps he was referring to Shaymus McFly?). Then again, who am I to quibble with the man who once wrote “Glock-O-Pop”?
*I’m not sure what mood this constitutes exactly. Of late, I have been struck by the powerful lust to eat bratwurst, wear Lederhosen and listen to Neu!.
Download:
MP3: Soul Assassins Ft. Rza & Gza-“Third World”
