After reading RZA’s book, The Tao of Wu, I have become re-obsessed with the Wu Tang Clan and their ground breaking history that changed the face of hip hop throughout the 1990′s. One thing that always set the Wu apart was their gritty style of lyrics, beats, and cover art. They were the group shooting videos in the basement of a Brownsville apartment. They were the group who wore over sized bubble jackets and never smiled. They were also the group who had some of the most original and raw cover art of the time. Enter the 36 Chambers looked like an intro CD to Cult learning. As I was reliving my youth by looking at old Wu Tang art, I came across these gems. These are redone covers done in Blue Note style. Blue Note was known for their striking and unusual album cover designs. It was distinguished by its tinted black and white photographs, creative use of sans-serif typefaces, and restricted color palette (often black and white with a single color), and frequent use of solid rectangular bands of color or white. A few mid-fifties Blue Note album covers featured drawings by an unknown artist, Andy Warhol. Im not exactly sure who made these, but pay that no mind. Im even considering having a few of these blown up to hang on my walls.




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The RZA, the leader and undisputed master mind  of the Wu-Tang Clan and hip-hop culture’s most dynamic genius,  embarks on a mission to show the lessons he’s learned on the journey that’s taken him from the Staten Island projects to international superstar, in his new book, The Tao of Wu. Along the way, RZA has been a dedicated student to the knowledge that he has encountered on the streets, in religion, in martial arts, in chess, and in popular culture. Part chronicle of an extraordinary life and part spiritual and philosophical discourse, The Tao of Wu is a nonfiction spiritual journey for the hip-hop generation that is sure to enlighten, entertain, and inspire.

 The sea of Wu-Tang fans are fully aware to the way of life and their obsession with the groups puzzlelike lyrics and elaborate mythology has propelled the group through fifteen years of dazzling, multiplatform success. In his 2005 bestseller The Wu-Tang Manual, the RZA provided the barest glimpse of how that mythology worked. In The Tao of Wu, he takes us deep inside the complex sense of wisdom and spirituality that has been at the core of his commercial and creative success.

The book is built around major moments in the RZA’s life when he was faced with a dramatic turning point, either bad (when he was facing murder charges) or good (a record deal that could pull his family out of poverty), and the lessons he took from each experience. His points of view are always enlightening and you cant help but to listen and pay attention when the RZA is spitting some wisdom. This book is a spiritual memoir as the world has never seen before, and will never see again.

The book has an official release scheduled for October 15th, 2009.

Whether you know him as Ol Dirty Bastard, Big Baby Jesus, Dirt McGirt, Dirt Dog, Osirus, or The BZA, Russell Jones was a creative personality that will forever live on in the hearts of hip hop fans. Ol’ Dirty Bastard simultaneously brought a measure of humor and a touch of the absurd to the Wu-Tang Clan, which he helped to form with his two cousins, the RZA and the GZA. In late 1992, the trio decided to expand their group and added 6 more members, forming the original Wu Tang Clan. While most of the members received individual praise from critics and fans, Jones became perhaps the best-known member of the group. Armed with a seemingly crazed, slurred, often off-beat, half-sung half-rapped delivery, bizarre lyrics and humorous antics that were unlike anything ever heard before in rap, he seemed to encapsulate and personify the raw, unadulterated and innovative style of the group. ODB died in November of 2004 from an accidental drug overdose, as an autopsy found a lethal mixture of cocaine and prescription drug Tramadol, a synthetic opiate used to treat severe pain. Leading up to his death, Dirty’s legal troubles seemed to be piling up and were making him “something of a folk hero”. Music critic Steve Huey wrote.

it was difficult for observers to tell whether ODB’s wildly erratic behavior was the result of serious drug problems or genuine mental instability … the possibility that his continued antics were at least partly the result of conscious image-making disappeared as time wore on.

Fortunately, for everyone who craves just one more dose of Big Baby Jesus, his cousin, Raison Allah Iceman, has plans to release a slew of tribute albums and a documentary, entitled Dirty. One Word Can Change the World. The film, three years in the making, is set to be released this November and it chronicles the life of ODB and the impact that he had on the people and world around him. The film is set to show ODB’s old hood, interviews from family members, friends, his musical counterparts, and even features the 13 year old girl Dirty saved from a car wreck when she was a toddler. According to Raison Allah Iceman, who serves as producer on all of the albums and the movie:

Years ago I promised to keep Dirty’s legacy alive, so we formed Zu Films and started filming a documentary which tells his life story. When word got out that we were working on a documentary, Wu fam(ily) started sending me so many tracks that we didn’t want to wait until the soundtrack to the DVD to put them out. We decided to put out a tribute album every other month until the documentary, Dirty. One Word Can Change The World, is released in November. Each tribute disc will include a short trailer to promote the upcoming DVD documentary

Enjoy the trailer below as it shows some insane Ol Dirty Bastard moments, and touches on some stories that have never made their way to the main stream. I am particularly excited for the unreleased ODB footage, and can’t wait for the up close and personal look at one of Hip Hops most eccentric, creative, troubled, and misunderstood personalities. Shimmy Shimmy YAAA Shimmy yammm Shimmm YAY!