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Wu-Tang Clan United Against the Industry
But how did they get their name? That is perhaps one of the most asked questions about the Wu-Tang Clan. How did that get that crazy name, and their whole martial arts motif. Well, believe it or not, it all comes from a move, a kung fu movie at that. Wu-Tang Clan founders RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard were watching an old movie called Shaolin and Wu Tang, which is about a group of warriors in China who belong to a certain school of martial arts fighting against another school (i.e., Wu Tang versus Shaolin).
If you listen to Wu-Tang Clan on their first album, some of the beginning of songs before the Wu-Tang Clan lyrics are actually recordings of this peculiar kung fu movie. But before we get to that first monumental Wu-Tang Clan album, we have to cover the earlier bases. What earlier bases?
36 Chambers to Success
Well, Wu-Tang Clan did not spring up overnight. They actually formed a group called the Force of the Imperial Master, then renamed the All in Together Now group. But this group, whatever it was called, failed. Then they came up with the idea-they being GZA and RZA-to try solo careers. That failed too.
Enter the Wu-Tang Clan. In 1992, The RZA formed the group with this friends and other rappers out of Staten Island. The idea, without mincing any words, was to conquer the hip hop world, with RZA as their leader. By 1993, the first Wu-Tang Clan song was out in the market, released on their own and titled "Protect Ya Neck."
This one single got so much underground attention that record labels agreed to sign Wu-Tang Clan on their condition-which was that Wu-Tang Clan records would be released on that label (Loud RCA) but that individual Wu-Tang Clan members could release solo albums on other labels. The plan worked, because in 1993 the first full Wu-Tang Clan album came out, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
The Killa Bees Attack
After the acclaim and the attention that "Enter the Wu-Tang" got, many of the individual Wu-Tang Clan members (there had been nine until Ol' Dirty Bastard died) got their own solo albums, including perhaps the best known member, Method Man, as well as Ol' Dirty before he passed, Ghostface Killah, RZA, GZA, and Raekwon.
Three of the best solo Wu-Tang Clan albums to come out of this period in the mid-1990s probably have to be Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" and the GZA on his "Liquid Swords." Any others? You also can't count out Ghostface Killah's "Ironman."
Then, in 1997, after their bout of solo albums, the Wu-Tang Clan regrouped to release one of the best selling rap albums of the 1990s, their " Wu-Tang Forever." Some of the Wu-Tang Clan songs off the album include "Triumph." All in all, the Wu-Tang Clan record has sold more than 8 million copies.
After this point in their careers, some critics complain that Wu-Tang Clan got out of hand. Now not only did each release more solo albums, but then Killa Bees and other Wu-Tang Clan friends got into the act, like Killah Priest and the Killa Bees as a group. Since then though, into the 2000s and after Ol' Dirty Bastard's death in 2004 and U-God leaving the group, the Wu-Tang Clan has regrouped releasing popular solo and group albums, as well as going on tour.
