Meanwhile, adult contemporary vocalist Mariah Carey would get a hip-hop/R&B makeover as well, with a Bad Boy remix of “ Fantasy,” utilizing a fairly obvious Tom Tom Club “ Genius Of Love” sample and inserting a verse from the Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Blige aboard to sing Terrell’s original hook, polishing the beat with slick production, and Meth’s unchanged lyrics went from rough to smooth instantaneously. “ All I Need” was an ugly track on Method Man’s 1994 debut album, Tical, that pulled inspiration from the 1968 Marvin Gaye / Tami Terrell song “ You’re All I Need To Get By.” In April 1995, Puff Daddy would remix the song, bringing Mary J. Two of these remixes would take Wu-Tang Clan members Method Man and Ol’ Dirty Bastard to pop radio, who until that point were creating music that was deeply underground. There’s a part of me that still awaits the debut record from the illustrious Shorty Shit Stain.Īside from the tremendous work of The Notorious B.I.G., what would eventually help Puff Daddy land that Vibe cover in 1996 was a series of remixes that he was doing for other artists, redefining the sound and style of commercial hip-hop. I hunted down all the rare 12-inch singles from the more oddball offshoot acts, such as KGB, Rubbabandz and Brooklyn Zu. I bought into the idea of hip-hop’s 300 hook-line-and-sinker, snatching up each of the group’s solo albums, as well as all of the offshoot projects, swearing by albums from Wu affiliates La The Darkman, Killah Priest and Killarmy. Little did we know the full extent of RZA’s game-changing business plan, which would allow each Wu-Tang member to sign solo deals with different record labels. If there was this much talent in the original line-up of RZA, GZA/Genius, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, U-God, Inspectah Deck, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Masta Killa, then who was waiting in the wings among these other unknown members? As a budding DJ, I started doing a series of mixtapes called Wu-Tang Killa B-Sides, and I was even a proud owner of a pair of Wu-Wear jeans.Īlong with the mysterious nine-diagram phoenix logo, my fascination began with a statement printed inside the album jacket for 36 Chambers, which in the “thank-yous” acknowledged:

In the pre-MP3 era, I traded dubbed tapes by snail mail to get unreleased and obscure tunes from other kids, which led to demos of both Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and Gravediggaz 6 Feet Deep landing in my mailbox.

As a teenager, I was an active contributor to the pre-web U-Wu email newsletter created by John Book in 1996. Admittedly I am-or at least at one point in my life was-a die hard fan of the Wu-Tang Clan.

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