The 12 Days of Wu-Mas #10 - My Gut Reaction: Various Artists - Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men (EP) (May 17, 2019)

2019 was a fairly busy year for the Wu-Tang Clan. Aside from the group’s ongoing tour schedule, which featured them performing their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), in its entirety as a way of celebrating its twenty-five years of existence (even though, again, 2019 marked twenty-six years), they invited the rest of the television-watching public to join in the festivities with two separate projects that told the story of how the Clan came to be in the first place. The second of these efforts, the Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Saga, was a Brian Grazer-produced fictionalized version of the group’s formation, focusing largely on the events in the lives of eight of the nine original members (U-God chose not to participate) that led to the Wu as we know it.

The first, however, was the Showtime documentary series Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men, which was very much an official retelling of the Wu’s story, featuring input from every living member along with that of affiliates, managers, record label executives, fanatics, and the like. Over the course of its four-hour length, series creator Sacha Jenkins (co-founder of ego trip) did his best to string together the stories from ten separate Wu members into a cohesive narrative, touching on everything from their respective tough upbringings; how the passing of Ol’ Dirty Bastard affected everyone; how The RZA’s issues with control resulted in multiple minor mutinies over the years, always over money; and how Masta Killa is related to fucking Marvin Gaye, something that had somehow never been revealed before the series. The series was presented through a framework of the surviving Wu-Tang Clan members sitting in a theater and watching old interview footage while commenting on how young they all were. While it didn’t tell the full story (although I was impressed that it did touch on RZA’s tumultuous time in Ohio pre-Wu), Of Mics & Men is the closest we’ve gotten to a true history of the Wu-Tang Clan, so if you’re even just a tiny bit curious about the group, I’d suggest you track it down as soon as possible.

Unsurprisingly, Showtime capitalized on the critical acclaim of the series with a promotional tie-in, which doubles as the very last musical project the Clan has dropped to date. Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men is a seven-track EP featuring brand new music and some leftover interview footage from the cutting room floor. At least one of these songs was played during the end credits of the first episode of the series.

What it does not feature, however, is the Wu-Tang Clan, hence my cautious wording in the article’s title. Various members of the group do appear, and also Nas (as this was released by 36 Chambers Records in conjunction with his Mass Appeal label, so there had to be some sort of business justification, I presume), but for the four actual songs therein, only five of ten Clan members make a rapping appearance (six if one counts a cameo during an interlude). There is no one track that includes all five of these artists, either: their verses are spaced out throughout the EP. The RZA’s name appears in the production credits of four of the seven tracks, which seems promising until you discover that three of those are the motherfucking skits, and the fourth is for a RZA solo song: the rest of the Clan tackle instrumentals from third parties (although one of those third parties is DJ Scratch, so at least there’s one other famous name present).

It’s safe to assume that I don’t have a great feeling about this one.

1. ON THAT SHT AGAIN (GHOSTFACE KILLAH & RZA)

Not sure why the group felt that the word “shit” couldn’t be spelled out properly all of a sudden, but sure, okay. DJ Scratch’s never-ending loop for “On That Sht Again” is a decent-enough Wu imitation, but couldn’t he have just done his own thing and given the group the same level of heat he’s blessed the likes of EPMD, Busta Rhymes, and LL Cool J with in the past? Aside from that misstep, the song itself is alright: RZA’s brief verse is packed with boasts-n-bullshit culled from some wild sources (“I turn your fuckin’ face to Jonah Hex” is certainly a threat), but Pretty Toney steals this one as though it were his own shit, unleashing one-and-a-third verses (and an admittedly crappy hook) full of the bizarre imagery and absurd attention to detail his best performances are known for. There certainly aren’t many rap songs where a quick description of the man’s blood sugar levels almost immediately follow a flex such as, “It’s going down tonight at the Garden / Mary and Maxwell, Dru Hill, I’m supposed to be starring.” “On That Sht Again” sounds almost like vintage Ghost, which isn’t nothing, but it also isn't enough anymore.

2. SEEN A LOT OF THINGS (GHOSTFACE KILLAH & RAEKWON FEAT. HARLEY)

I’m unfamiliar with producer Core’s other work, but the instrumental for “Seen A Lot Of Things”, while not at all complex, was pretty interesting, a guitar-driven melodic piece that is sobering and revelatory, appropriate given the title of the song and the emotion it’s intended to evoke. The Clan is represented here by Ghost once again, although this time he brings his partner-in-rhyme Raekwon the Chef into the mix, each tackling their own single verse to talk mad shit while obliquely discussing how long they’ve been in the rap game and how they’ve, obviously, “Seen A Lot Of Things”. Tony Starks claims the lenses in his sunglasses are “darker than Don Cheadle”, which was amusing, I guess, but his performance otherwise felt a bit off to me, as though he never really took to the beat and merely had to beat the clock. The Chef, however, shimmies around the instrumental, unloading criminology talk and observations with ease, even if he does sound more than a tad bit sleepy here. (He is older now, I suppose. Hell, I’m fucking exhausted all the time now.) Guest crooner Harley, not affiliated in any fashion with the Wu, provides the hook, which mostly stays pout of the way while sounding pleasant enough. Not bad.

3. PROJECT KIDS (SKIT) (FEAT. NAS)

The two huge issues I have with this skit are as follows:

(1) A RZA beat is wasted for an interlude on which no rapping occurs.

(2) A Nas cameo takes place on an audio track that doesn’t house an actual song.

This EP accompanies a documentary series, so I’m perfectly okay with breaks where talking heads discuss the legacy of the Wu and the impact they had on hip hop, whatever, that’s fine. And in that respect, Nasir’s story is pretty engaging. But this still felt like a wasted opportunity. Also, this skit breaks Nas’s monologue into three segments, with lengthy breaks in between each, which, why? What was the purpose of this? Who edited this fucking thing?

4. DO THE SAME AS MY BROTHER DO (RZA)

The RZA's lone beat on a musical number for the evening comes on this solo effort, “Do The Same As My Brother Do”. His instrumental is somber and moody, as are his two verses, which dive into reflective Prince Rakeem “Twelve Jewels” mode as he explains ever crevice of his life growing up so poor that “we [couldn’t] bump crumbs”. He paints the path from a sparse childhood to the drug game as being linear and inevitable, which isn’t entirely truthful, but can certainly seem that way for some, and although hos vocals are modern-day RZA, this track recalls his more serious verses from early in the Wu-Tang Clan’s catalog., The chorus is overlong and has far too much going on, but when stripped to just the bars and the beat, “Do The Same As My Brother Do”, awkward title and all, isn’t bad. Didn’t think RZA still had it in him, to be honest.

5. YO, IS YOU CHEO? (SKIT) (CHEO HODARI COKER)

RZA’s instrumental underneath this interlude was decent, but would never work for an actual song, so this was certainly a way to use it up. Cheo Hodari Coker’s story is amusing, but it also makes Masta Killa sound like a complete asshole, so.

6. OF MICS AND MEN (RZA, CAPPADONNA, & MASTA KILLA)

The final song of the evening is one that appears to have been crafted especially to promote the documentary miniseries: Masta Killa says as much at the very end of his verse, even letting the listeners know that “you can check it on Showtime”. (Cappadonna, in contrast, is already looking to the future, thinking about how he would “flip many bags when our Hulu shit pop”, said Hulu shit, Wu-Tang” An American Saga, not debuting for another four months after Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men dropped.) All three participants rap about the Wu-Tang Clan, name-dropping their fellow team members and praising their collective come-up, but only Cap sounds natural doing so, mostly because he spends a good chunk of time during his middle verse talking about himself. RZA mentions Allah Mathematics in his last bar, which makes me believe that he may have originally produced “Of Mics and Men”, because otherwise, why would anybody bring up their producer during the song itself? The beat we ended up with, credited to VitalSignzEnt, is okay in its free-associative feel, bit the Wu thrive within some semblance of structure, and the instrumental sounds incomplete without it, yet another job rushed to completion to appease the corporate masters at Viacom. Masta Killa also sounds bored as shit on here. Never thought I’d write this, especially in 2019, but Cappadonna rules the day here. He fucking kills it. Enjoy it, my man.

7. ONE RHYME (SKIT) (GZA & MASTA KILLA)

A vintage GZA clip is a part of this final interlude for two reasons: (1) it helps reinforce Masta Killa’s response regarding the man’s influence on his rhymes and work ethic, and (2) this way, Showtime and 36 Chambers/Mass Appeal get to add GZA’s name to the credits. It was fascinating, in a rap nerd way, to discover that the Genius basically wrote and performed RZA’s verse from Method Man’s “Mr. Sandman”, but otherwise, the High Chief should have had this skit to himself, as his story is both inspiring and doesn’t make him sound like a complete asshole. Who compiled this EP, anyway? Sequencing an album is an art, people, and whoever did the work on Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men needs to be called out, because this was lazy as shit.

THE LAST WORD: Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men isn’t really much of a cohesive project, nor was it ever supposed to be: as a companion piece to a Showtime documentary series, it’s was designed to market said Showtime documentary series and nothing more. That explanation doesn’t wave away the fact that this is credited to the Wu-Tang Clan but only features five members out of ten, nor does it alleviate the pain Wu stans felt when they realized The RZA only produced one of the actual songs present, and it’s just a solo effort with no Clan involvement.  But the mere fact that this EP even exists in the first place, especially when I was convinced we’d never see anything credited to the Clan as a collective ever again, at least not after the failure of A Better Tomorrow and the backlash against Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, is enough to get fans excited again, and I count myself among their numbers.

But let’s be really real here: Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men is a waste of space. One would assume that a companion piece to a documentary about the Wu-Tang Clan would feature examples of why the group was deserving of such a series to begin with, but my beef isn’t that older Wu classics weren’t included (you can find those literally anywhere) – it’s more that there isn’t anything on Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men that one can point to as proof that the Wu-Tang Clan is worthy of its following. The four songs present are so disconnected from one another that they may as well have been recorded in different universes. Most of the verses are throwaways: only Cappadonna and Masta Killa seemed to sense that these tracks would be used in a promotional nature, and added bars to their performances accordingly. The only song that’s sort-of worthy of more than one listen is RZA’s solo showcase “Do The Same As My Brother Do”, but even that’s not a valid reason for anyone to give this project a spin.

Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men is a cash-in and nothing more. One can gleam much more about the creation and foundation of the Wu-Tang Clan by watching the docuseries (which is quite good) and pretending this EP just plain doesn’t exist. As I tend to say a lot during these write-ups these days: it is what it is.

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

Oh, you want some more Wu-Tang Clan posts? I’ve written some here and there over the years.