Wu-Tang Clan

GHOST STORIES

Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge at Gramercy theatr

Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge Produce an Album That's a Movie

Twelve reasons to buy

The Top 20 NYC Rap Albums of All Time: The Complete List

Any list of the Greatest New York Rap Albums of All Time is, essentially, a list of simply the Greatest Rap Albums of All Time. The genre was invented here, after all, and over the years -- from early days to Golden Age and onward-- the city's hip-hop history has been an embarrassment of riches. Fas ... More >>

Spring Arts Guide: The Once and Future Ratking

The trio have been hailed as the saviors of New York rap, but they've set their sights higher

The Top 20 NYC Rap Albums of All Time: 20 - 11

Any list of the Greatest New York Rap Albums of All Time is, essentially, a list of simply the Greatest Rap Albums of All Time. The genre was invented here, after all, and over the years -- from early days to Golden Age and onward-- the city's hip-hop history has been an embarrassment of riches. Fas ... More >>

Why Artists Should Stop Playing Their Seminal Albums Live

On a wispy evening last October, my housemate and I went to see GZA perform his magnum opus Liquid Swords in full at D.C.'s swanky Howard Theater. I wasn't the only one with high expectations. The crowd's hunger escalated with Killer Mike slaying his opening set, pulling out perfectly punctuated sho ... More >>

Rakim's Most Random and Confounding Appearances

This Thursday night, the man who set the standard for greatness in rap, Rakim, takes the stage for a show with Wu-Tang member Raekwon at Stage 48. It's a rare event that fans get to see Rakim as, even in this era of 24/7 social media, he's remained one of the few artists in hip-hop to maintain an au ... More >>

7LES and Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck Rap a Comic-book Fantasy

A czar is born

Rap Songs That Sample Shuggie Otis

Cult funkateer Shuggie Otis plays the Highline tonight. Despite his talent as a multi-instrumentalist and savvy singer-songwriter, Otis's career never quite went mainstream back in the '70s, but his legacy has been well served thanks to a judiciously reissued back catalogue and a series of rap types ... More >>

Five Rare Ghostface Killah Songs You've Never Heard

Tonight, lauded Wu-Tang MC Ghostface Killah takes the stage at Webster Hall. Ghost has spent almost two decades being one of the most prolific MCs in the game. Unfortunately, many legal restrictions have kept some incredible work of his from seeing an official retail release. So, for the Ghostface ... More >>

The RZA On His Feature Directorial Debut, Quentin Tarantino and Kanye West

RZA's bucket list must be down to a paltry few uncrossed items. Where does one begin when interviewing someone like RZA? Supreme Clientele, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Tical... The guy helmed some of the dustiest, grittiest, most timeless rap classics ever banged out on a drum machine. He's acted in Ju ... More >>

The RZA You Didn't Know Existed

Tonight, Wu Tang founder and hip-hop mastermind RZA takes the stage at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. One of the most respected names in the music business, he masterminded the transformation of a Staten Island supergroup into a brand whose logo is as recognizable as any in the past 20 years. Not c ... More >>

Live: Gonjasufi Presses On in The Midst of Technical Chaos

Better Than: Watching the corny parts of the "Watch the Throne" tour. Hip-hop has always flirted with spirituality. The S.p.o.o.k.s. and Wu-Tang embraced a Buddhist vision; M.C. Hammer, God's Property, and P.M. Dawn charted with Christian themes; and the 5% Nation attracted many gifted creators of ... More >>

Three Rappers Who Should Be The Center Square For MTV2's Hollywood Squares Reboot (And One Who Definitely Should Not)

Next month MTV2 will debut Hip-Hop Squares, a rap-centric takeoff on the "tic-tac-toe with trivia and celebrities" game show Hollywood Squares. (The non-genre-specific version of the show aired its last episode in 2004.) The show will be hosted by Hot 97's Peter Rosenberg, and MTV has announced a fe ... More >>

Presenting The Elite Eight: John Coltrane, Alicia Keys, Blondie, Neil Diamond, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Wu-Tang Clan, And Rakim

After three weeks of feverish clicking and arguing, the final eight contenders in our search for the quintessential New York musician have been finalized. Representing the Uptown division are No. 1 seed John Coltrane and No. 14 seed Alicia Keys; No. 12 seed Blondie will have it out with No. 3 seed N ... More >>

Bushwick's Party Xpo To Reopen as Renovated XPO 929

Party Xpo, an uncommonly resilient DIY space nestled under the J/M/Z tracks, has magically withstood two years of logistical hassles. After opening in January 2010 with a typically cantankerous Japanther benefit show, local law enforcement took notice of the place, paid a few visits, and the space w ... More >>

A Dissenting Opinion: Let's Quit It With The Live Performances Of "Classic" Hip-Hop Albums

Back in 2007, All Tomorrow's Parties and the Pitchfork Music Festival decided that getting GZA, the Wu-Tang Clan's resident rhyme scholar, to reenact his crime rhyme masterpiece Liquid Swords in full was a good idea. And it probably was—once, maybe twice. But the third time removed the charm. ... More >>

Everybody In Wu-Tang: The Gap Enters The 36 Chambers With Its Latest T-Shirt Offering

The jeans-and-tees emporium The Gap has paired up with musicians before; the likes of Luscious Jackson and Common have warbled holiday-appropriate tunes for them during the store's late-autumn shopping season ads, Daft Punk has danced for its denim, and even Willie Nelson has endorsed the brand. But ... More >>

An Idiot's Guide to SXSW 2011: DFA 1979 Chaos, Kanye in a Power Plant, Screeching Weasel Assault, and More

photo by Nate "Igor" SmithTexan frat-boy didgeridoos We know you hated us, and at this moment, we hate ourselves too. Since you probably (definitely/rightfully) blocked all the spirited gluttony and gleeful ignorance cluttering your Twitter feed about SXSW, let's just accept that a few things happe ... More >>

Q&A: Taylor McFerrin On The Art Of Beatboxing, Life On Flying Lotus' Label, And Why His Dad, Bobby, Threw Out His Rap CDs

"It's extra wack if your dad disses what you do." ​The McFerrin clan is creating a beatboxing dynasty. Father Bobby hit the pop heights in the '80s with "Don't Worry Be Happy" and caught ears with his knack for making music with his mouth. Next up is his son, Taylor. Based in Bedford-Stuyvesa ... More >>

Rock-Critic Pop Quiz #8: Can You Name All Three Members Of Sleater-Kinney?

Ordinarily there'd be some sort of joke in this caption, but at the moment we're a little intimidated.​For weeks now, our weekly music-writer embarrassment session "Are You Smarter Than a Rock Critic?" has puttered along innocently, proving just how precious little this generation of Wikipedia ... More >>

Rock-Critic Pop Quiz #2: How Many Members Of New Edition Can You Name?

Left to right: Raphael Saddiq, Luther Vandross, Usher, Gerardo, Masta Killa, and Jimmy Rollins​It's a poorly kept industry secret that rock writers are cheaters, frauds, and goons -- as dependent on Google as a clown is on facepaint. Our ongoing column "Are You Smarter Than a Rock Critic?" pee ... More >>

Week in Review: Report Gang Activity

Have seen you seen this man?​In the week we wondered if it was still possible to sell out in 2010 (short answer: no), we also found ourselves introduced to the horrific new term "rape gaze," about which the less that's now said, the better. Cleanse your palate with the six best things you can ... More >>

CMJ 2010 Announces 700 More Artists: Phoenix, GZA, Francis and the Lights, Screaming Females, Franz Nicolay, and More

Our hero, Screaming Females frontlady Marissa Paternoster, at Siren. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​The second round of artists announcements is out, and it's the big one--count on newly installed acts Phoenix, GZA, Screaming Females, Extra Lens, Francis and the Lights, et al, to be your headliners, ... More >>

Bushwick DIY Show Space Party Expo Is Changing Its Name

Superchief​The Bushwick DIY show space Party Expo has had a wild year: after opening back in January with a booze-soaked benefit show featuring three of the rowdier bands in Brooklyn--Japanther, Death Set, Cerebral Ballzy--the space went more or less dry, in response to repeated raids from the ... More >>

This Week in the Voice: Gladys Carrión, City Kids Advocate and Upstate's Bureaucratic "Satan"

​Why do some people upstate consider the Bronx's Gladys Carrión their own 'Satan' incarnate? Maybe it has something to do with all the juvenile detention facilities city kids get sent to up there. Or got sent to. Because -- as the commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services -- Car ... More >>

RIP Melvin Bliss, Creator of "Synthetic Substitution"

Wax Poetics reported yesterday that Melvin Bliss, singer of one the most sampled songs of all time, 1973's "Synthetic Substitution," has died. The list of artists who've borrowed from the track is long and overwhelming: Ultramagnetic MC's, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Naughty By Nature, Gang Starr, ... More >>

A Guide to Party Expo, Brooklyn's Newest Wu-Tang-Approved DIY Venue

Party Expo, late January. Photo via Superchief​Brooklyn Vegan brings word of a new Brooklyn venue, Party Expo, which is seemingly going public with a Japanther show this Wednesday--$5, limited to 75 tickets, no alcohol, either for sale or BYOB. So what is this place, exactly? Well. Their first ... More >>

CMJ, Day Two: New York Says Hello--and Then Goodbye--to OJ da Juiceman

"This guy's on the internet," says DJ Green Lantern, by way of introducing Atlanta's Pill--a curious diminution for a rapper whose best songs ("Trap Goin' Ham," or you know, "We Outside") are very much about being nowhere near anything like a computer. Anyway, it's not like being on the internet ... More >>

2Gethr 4evr

Rap’s BFFs kick off APW

Interview: Jaime Lowe, Author of Digging For Dirt: The Life and Death of ODB

'Uncle' Ralph McDaniels, A Hip-Hop Pioneer, Still Inside the Box

Celebrating 25 years of his trailblazing rap-video show

Status Ain't Hood Podcast 13

Status Ain't Hood Podcast 9

Put Your Paddle to the Metal

Take the Balls of Fury quiz and win a Def Leppard album!

Ghost's Second Kilo From 2006 Cut With Filler, But Pure Enough

Status Ain't Hood Interviews Method Man

The Wu-Tang Clan of the DJ Set

Dirty Staplers and Old Lady Suits

Staten Island thrifting: It could have been such a find!

Digging in the Dirt

Just another urban legend: The final interview with Ol' Dirty Bastard

Listings

Musicology

Prof's soul story subsumes civil rights and black power in gospel vision

Music in Brooklyn

Juke Joints and Alpine Lodges

Barbaric Bard

Gangsta Polkas

headline

Scrambling On Eggshells

A Bullet For Big Baby Jesus

Ol' Dirty Bastard Claims the FBI and CIA are Trying to Kill Him. Is He Crazy?

Letters