This album was released on December 18th in the year of our lord 2001. I have heard pretty bad things about this album, so I’m honestly not expecting it to be very good. I mean, I’m sure there will be a lot of quality verses, but I’m pretty much expecting everything else about this album to be lackluster. Apparently Ol’ Dirty Bastard is completely absent from this album, which is kinda sad. However, on the bright side, Cappadonna was mostly absent from this album too, so that’s reassuring. Maybe there’ll be some dope songs on this one. I’m sure there’ll be at least one track that I enjoy. Most of the beats here are handled by RZA, so hopefully the production is decent. Even though I don’t think I’m gonna like this album, I’m excited to give it a listen and see what it sounds like. It’s always interesting to listen to a Wu-Tang project as long as most of the core members are involved.

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The opening song is called In the Hood, and I think it’s the wackest track on the whole album to be honest. It starts with RZA spitting the worst verse on the project over a really simplistic beat. The bars here are way too weak to not be freestyled. He was definitely just fucking around here. It just seems like an odd way to start a Wu-Tang album.

What the fuck is wrong? It's the Wu, bitch
Ain't got a clue, bitch, tie your shoe, bitch
Get the fuck back 'fore we break a f- listen
Tryna tell y'all, niggas, give you a fair warnin'
Just a chance to live, so you can see your kids
Yo, son, nah, before I split your wig

The beat switches up after his verse ends, and this second instrumental is way worse than the first one. This is one of the wackest beats I’ve heard in a long time. I think it’s awful. It’s way too repetitive. The weird drum pattern is really bizarre to me too. The first verse over this beat is performed by Masta Killa. I don’t really care for his verse. I really don’t think he’s a very good rapper honestly, so I’d be lying if I said I got any type of enjoyment out of his performance here. He has a very unorthodox approach when it comes to rhyme patterns, and some people may dig it, but it’s pretty inaccessible in my opinion. None of the rhymes land where you would expect them to, so it just sounds kind of awkward. The sung hook on this song is performed by an uncredited artist named Suga Bang Bang, and it’s really fucking weird; not in a cool way. It’s just weird in an annoying, off-putting way. The second verse from Inspectah Deck is solid I guess. It’s just hard to appreciate his flow and rhymes when they’re placed over such an ugly instrumental. For some reason the final verse is performed by Streetlife. I don’t know why they thought it would be a good idea to open the album with a song that has artists who aren’t part of the main group. I mean, maybe it’s not as big of a deal as I’m making it out to be, but I just feel like that’s a bad idea. Maybe if it was someone that I actually really like such as Killa Sin I wouldn’t be saying this. I’m just not a huge fan of Streetlife though. His verse was fine, but I would’ve much preferred a verse from one of the core members. It’s not like that would’ve been enough to make this song salvageable though, so I guess it doesn’t fucking matter. This track is terrible either way. It’s followed by Rules, which isn’t nearly as wack. I think the beat from Mathematics is a little lame, but it’s certainly a huge step up from that of the preceding track. The opening verse from Ghostface Killah is pretty solid. 9/11 bars don’t hit the same way in 2023. I’m sure I’d appreciate the verse a lot more if I heard it in 2001.

Who the fuck knocked our buildings down?
Who the man behind the World Trade massacres? Step up now
Where the four planes at, huh? Is you insane, bitch?
Fly that shit over my hood and get blown to bits

The second verse from Inspectah Deck is cool. The hook from Method Man really isn’t anything special, but it’s fine I suppose. The third and fourth verses from Masta Killa & Streetlife—again, why is he here?—are solid. The Raekwon verse is cool too, but it’s really the final verse from Method Man that makes the song worth listening to. That’s really the only verse that stands out a lot. He kinda killed this shit.

It's Wu-Tang, rushin' your gang, crushin' the game
Pretty thugs clutchin' they chain, handcuffin' they dame
Who get strange, gassed up playin' with flame
Let a nigga take off his shades, see what I'm sayin' is…

If every verse was as good as his then I’d probably be able to look past the lackluster production. However, as it is, this song is just okay to me. It’s followed by Chrome Wheels, which is performed by RZA & Raekwon, and has features from Two on da Road & Madame Dee. Again, I’m not sure why these unofficial Wu-Tang members are here. I have no interest in these random ass dudes. Again, if they were all super ill MCs then I’d be changing my tone, but that’s not the case. These dudes are slightly above average at best. The first verse from 12 O’Clock is solid I guess.

Big dogs, we put 'em to sleep, keep 'em on a leash
I move like days in a week
Niggas don't know the face and names on my teeth
Niggas carry a chrome piece, and separate the heat
Ain't scared of the motherfuckin' police

The beat on this song is really ugly. It sounds very clunky to me. RZA’s verse was kinda cool honestly. Raekwon sadly only spits four bars on this entire song. It’s a good quatrain, but it just leaves me wanting more from him. For whatever reason, 12 O’Clock & Prodigal Sunn have the longest verses on this track. The hook from Madame Dee is really bad. She keeps telling listeners to “bang that shit retarded,” which… I don’t even know what the hell that means. Anyway, I really don’t like this track. The shitty production and lousy hook make this one of the weakest songs on the album to me. It sounds more like a Two on da Road song that just so happens to feature RZA & Raekwon than a Wu-Tang song. I think it’s wack. Track 4 is called Soul Power (Black Jungle), and I actually like the beat from RZA on this track. The opening verse from Rae is really nice too. His flow and rhymes sound excellent here.

Catch me coolin' in Aruba, one sneaker on
Lookin' raw, beautiful, a blue Ruger, who you lookin' at?
600 whale, steel color, Brazil love us
Y'all niggas is fake, all y'all do is steal from us

I sadly don’t really care for the hook. The chants from Flavor Flav honestly just sound really annoying to me. It’s cool that they got him for this song, but I think it works better on paper than in reality. The second verse from Masta Killa on this song kinda sucks to me. Again, I just don’t care for his approach to rhyming. Ghostface killed his verse on this song though, and I actually think the closing verse from U-God was surprisingly good. In fact, I really think he stepped up his performances on this album in general. His flow was particularly nice here though. This is probably his best verse on the album. Overall, I think this song is just okay. I definitely think I would’ve liked it if the hook was removed. I just find Flavor Flav’s contributions to this song really lame. He sounds totally out of his element here. Anyway, the following track is called Uzi (Pinky Ring), and I actually think this one is pretty goddamn good.

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I really like the production from RZA. I honestly think this is the best beat on the whole project. The drums sound really great. The opening verse from U-God is really nice too. Like I said, he really stepped things up for this album in my opinion. I’m unfortunately not sold on the uncredited hook from Polite. I’d probably dig it more if it wasn’t so repetitive. It’s nowhere near bad enough to ruin the song though. Raekwon’s verse was nice despite its brevity. Ghostface killed the third verse.

Yo, what the fuck, yo? Yo, what the fuck y'all comin' for?
Get the fuck away from my door
We got big guns in here, coke over there
With blue bag and E pills stashed under the chair
And there's Boss Hog black and white pit with the pink lips
Stan thought he was soft 'til he bit his fingers
The shit had me dyin', yo, big fat nigga bleedin'
Big cat nigga all season

The lyrics are cool, but it’s mainly the way he delivered them that makes the verse stand out rather than the actual content. I’m glad the hook stopped being recited after RZA’s verse because it was starting to get really old. If the hook occurred after every single verse this song would be a lot more insufferable. Method Man’s verse was absolutely fantastic. When I heard it, I thought he was gonna have the best verse on the song. However, Inspectah Deck came in right behind him and completely ripped his verse to shreds.

New York, New York, legendary rhyme boss
Code name Charlie Horse, bust with blind force
I smash set it and wreck for cash credit or check
You crash-tests can't measure the threat
I dance on a nigga like my name's Zab Judah
Rap barracuda, three XL kahuna
Sure to get it perkin' and cause a disturbance
I'm thirstin', feel what I feel then we can merge then

His flow was spectacular. I love it. He definitely had my favorite verse on the song. GZA had my second favorite verse on the song though. He really killed it too. Masta Killa’s verse kinda sucked, but it was really short, so it doesn’t really tarnish the song that much. My top three verses on this song are from INS, GZA, and Meth. The only verse that I didn’t care for was Masta Killa’s, but, like I said, it was so short that it doesn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the song. This is a good track. I fuck with it. It’s followed by One of These Days, which is just okay to me. I sadly just don’t care for the production from Nick Fury. I’m not a fan of the hook, but the verses on this song are all pretty good. Inspectah Deck’s flow on the first verse was great, and Raekwon did a good job with the second verse. U-God definitely had the weakest verse, but I wouldn’t say it’s bad. The song is just kinda dull to me because the production isn’t very good. The rapping’s still good though. I think it’s an okay track overall. Same goes for the following track, Y’all Been Warned. I thought the beat from True Master was kinda cool at first, but it’s just really fucking repetitive. Seriously, by the time you get halfway through the track it starts to sound a little ridiculous. The simplistic loop gets old really quickly. Thankfully all of the verses on this song are pretty good. I mean, I personally wasn’t crazy about RZA’s performance, but I didn’t think it was bad. Definitely not bad enough to ruin the song. However, I will say that the more I listen to this song the less I like it. That beat is really rough. I think the song’s mediocre. Track 8 is called Babies, and it’s got a pretty solid beat from the RZA. Unfortunately, this song is really held back by the uncredited sung hook from Madame Dee. It’s a shame because the rapping here is really nice. The storytelling is really well done. Ghostface’s opening verse is great. The second verse from Raekwon is solid too. It’s really the GZA verse that makes this song stand out though. He absolutely slaughtered this track.

You're just worms in the worst part of the apple that's rotten
You squirm and you turn from the right, still plottin'
All slimy cause you stay grimy, petty crimey cat
You sometime me, don't need to remind me about
Living in the core, with the scramblers in front of the store
The bum holding the door, the mugging no one saw
We played ball in the alley where dope was shot raw
And the school they kept flawed, plus the lowest test scores

Again, I don’t even mind the production on this one like I did with most of the other tracks. It’s really just the hook that I strongly dislike. This is definitely one of the better songs on the album though. I think it’s pretty solid. The following track is called Radioactive (Four Assassins), and it’s thankfully pretty good. I think what really saves this song is the lack of a hook. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I like a single hook on this album, so I’m glad this song just doesn’t even have one. The beat isn’t great, but it’s far more tolerable than some of the other instrumentals on this album. The opening verse from the GZA is great.

Slept on this hazardous enterprise
Hit from the back from a long range attack in disguise
Weeks of captivity became months
Those who were holdin' it down now hold a pump
Do we delay the conflict and prolong the suffer?
Got a mass of starvin' niggas wanna eat supper
Unfair corruptions lead to abductions
Creatin' wider circles of destructions
So we attack with the cannon blazing
From the terrifyin' to the fascinating
Quick to slay a narrow minded nigga that's hasty to give credit
Full of hostile overtones mixed with wack edits
They heavily defended airfields
But their bodies rot behind punctured steels
When I greeted you, you didn't hear peace in my voice?
Or that water was my liquid of choice?

Method Man had my favorite verse on this song though. His flow was smoother than fuck.

Y'all get locked up, everything was wack 'til we popped up
And got it on and poppin' like Orville Reddenbacher
Partner, you ain't got no wins in mi casa
Wu-Tang got ya like every ghetto got a Tasha
Request lines are now open, you see these MCs chokin'
And thinkin', "what's that shit they be smokin'?"
I'm so focused, simple chronic halitosis
Keep my shit funky when I spit this braggadocious

The second verse from Raekwon is pretty good. The closing verse from Masta Killa isn’t, but it’s fine. It’s not bad enough to ruin the song. I think this track is pretty good overall. The beat could’ve been better, and the Masta Killa verse wasn’t very good, but I still enjoyed the song as a whole. Track 10 is called Back in the Game, and it’s got a pretty bad beat from Trackmasters. I really think this instrumental sucks. I don’t care for the hook from Ronald Isley at all either. Thankfully, the rapping on this song is pretty nice. The song features performances from Inspectah Deck, Method Man, GZA, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah, and they all came through with really good verses. I just can’t get into this shit sonically. The rapping is good, but everything else about this song sucks to me. I wouldn’t call it a bad song overall; it’s just really mediocre to me. The penultimate track is called Iron Flag, and it features a hidden song called Da Glock. The beat on Iron Flag kinda sucks, but thankfully the rapping is very good. Much of what I said about the preceding track applies to this one. The verse from Masta Killa isn’t great, but the verses from Rae & INS are nice. If the production was better I might actually dig this song to some extent. Iron Flag is okay, but Da Glock is incredibly underwhelming. The beat is really weird, and I honestly think it’s kinda cool, but I can see how a lot of listeners might find it to be really bad. It’s just so weird that I can’t help but enjoy it to some extent. Unfortunately, I don’t like what they did over this instrumental at all. This shit is just way too repetitive. The whole clan yells “GOOD THING WE BROUGHT THE GLOCK” between EVERY SINGLE LINE OF THE SONG. It’s so annoying. It’s unfortunate because if they just rapped normally over this song it could’ve been pretty cool. They ruined this beat though. Iron Flag is okay, but Da Glock is wack. Overall, I think the track is mediocre. The closing song is called Dashing (Reasons), and it’s got another really repetitive instrumental that I don’t care for at all. This is definitely one of the better songs on the album overall though. I don’t like the instrumental, but I wouldn’t say it’s bad. It’s just very mediocre to me. The opening verse from Inspectah Deck is fantastic.

Kamikaze, might karate lock ya head
Like a natty dread, then pour myself Calarasi
Professionally trained, I aim for your artery
I give the autographs, but charge for photography
Not hardly kid, you awkward Godbody
You'se a carbon copy, just started to rock Wally's
Spark the broccoli, spazz off this ghetto opery
Or catch the hot seat, you're batty boi without ya posse

The second verse from GZA is even better though. He killed this shit.

Quickly, who ring bells like it's twelve on Sunday?
While the stage catch shells from forceful gunplay
Mere fact that the track was a fierce counterattack
All those who couldn't multiply were sent back
No tanks, low rank, soldiers hittin' the heart
Tainted the fabric of an empire, was torn apart
Brought to a halt from a front full assault
The chemist left the lab with undetermined results

I even think the melodic hook from Inspectah Deck on this track is solid. The only aspect of this song that I don’t like is the production. This is by no means a bad song though. The rapping is too good for me to disrespect this track. I think it’s okay overall.

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^{This album isn’t good at all. However, I will say that it’s not quite as bad as I was expecting it to be. The majority of the songs here aren’t bad at all. They’re just really mediocre. The rapping throughout this project is pretty good as long as it’s not being performed by Masta Killa. The biggest issue is just the production. I guess RZA was really starting to fall off at this point. The beats here kinda suck. I also don’t care for most of the hooks on this album. Also, the features from the affiliates were just not appealing to me at all. I only wanna hear from the core members of the group on a Wu-Tang album. Again, it sucks that ODB was absent. I’m glad Cappadonna didn’t get any full verses on this project though because I’m not a fan of him at all. There are only a couple tracks that I like, and even those songs aren’t amazing or anything. This was a disappointment. Overall, I think this album is very mediocre.}

Favorite Song: Uzi (Pinky Ring)
Least Favorite Song: In the Hood

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