Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams

As a scrawny white guy who listens to a lot of sixties folk music, I am hardly the target audience of any hip hop group. Stereotypes aside, I do enjoy listening to rap and hip hop artists and fully recognize their artistic merit and importance in the music world. However, as mainstream hip-hop becomes more and more diluted (as most every other genre has), it is much harder to find groundbreaking hip-hop that offers anything original.

This seems to be the case with the latest Wu Tang Clan album 8 Diagrams, which is unfortunate as the Clan was one of the most prolific hip hop outfits of the early nineties spawning numerous solo albums and influencing a generation of hardcore rappers. 8 Diagrams marks the first Wu Tang album in almost seven years and the first album since the death of Ol’ Dirty Bastard in 2004.

The last 15 years have seen many changes in the hip hop world, and 8 Diagrams is evidence of this. The sound that set Wu Tang Clan apart in the early nineties has been debased to the point of boredom. 8 Diagrams sounds like just about every other mainstream hip-hop album of recent years - full of the same obligatory cliches. For example, “Stick Me for My Riches” sounds more like an Usher single than the hardcore rap that the Wu Tang became known for. Lines about “cashing checks” and “snapping necks” and “riches and bitches” fit the same yawn-inducing mold that has become commonplace. Elsewhere on the album, pointless misogyny and boasts of sexual conquests trigger further eye rolls and yawns.

Despite the catchy “Wolves” featuring funk legend George Clinton (Parliament, Funkadelic) and “The Heart Gently Weeps” which features both Chili Pepper John Frusciante and son of George Harrison, Dhani, the rest of 8 Diagrams is awfully stale. Impressive guest appearances are unfortunately not enough to make the album anything more than a boring record. The emotive ode to Ol’ Dirty Bastard, “Life Changes”, closes the album, but the sincerity of this track can hardly be seen on those that precede it.

It seems that many hip-hop artists have hit a plateau. The music industry has been devoid of the explosive power that was unleashed by pioneers such as Public Enemy, Run-DMC, and NWA. I am not suggesting that it’s a dead genre, but perhaps rap artists have entered into the same sort of “dark ages” many rock bands entered into during the eighties. But just as bands like The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth rescued rock from the clutches of Wham and Culture Club, it is quite likely that there will be similar groundbreaking rap artists that will revive the hip-hop genre.