Rating: NN
It wouldn’t be a shock to find out that Wu-Tang has a franchising system in place where a nominal fee will grant you affiliate status with the Shaolin clan. How else to explain the small nation of questionable associates, protegés, posses, side-project rappers, R&B singers, spinoff groups and spinoffs of spinoffs (Wikipedia lists an astounding 118 all together) to emerge and dilute the East Coast collective’s venerable band over the last decade and a half?
Their latest offers more presence from the clan than “Wu-Tang & Friends”-style records like The Sting and The Swarm, by Wu-Tang Killa Bees. Seven of the original nine core members show up here, as well as notable New York rappers AZ, MOP and Sean Price, but ultimately the project suffers from uninspired production and lyrics. The occasional bright spot (Ghostface’s blistering verse on Meteor Hammer) is always counterbalanced by a low point (Trife Diesel’s middling turn on Laced Cheeba).
Top track: Meteor Hammer
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