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Album provides reminder by reflecting band's perspective
The Advocate
Long time Wu-Tang affiliate, DJ Mathematics, masterfully displays his ability to combine amazing beats and the rhymes of all nine members of the Wu in this album.
Consisting entirely of previously unreleased material, “Return of the Wu and Friends” is a well-done mix of songs that people did not get to see in an album release. The songs were all recorded between the production of Wu Tang’s 2000 album “The W” and 2008.
DJ Mathematics stays true to Wu style with this album as well, sticking close to the heavy, often funk-infused beats fans are used to hearing from this group.
Although this album lacks a breathtaking single the likes of “Triumph,” each of the 16 tracks is great in its own right.
With this album, the Wu-Tang Clan sticks to the type of edgy, well-calculated lyrics that they are known for, the type of lyrics that at first seem to skirt the boundary between violent, rough, street-life and commercial hip-hop macho-violence. The saving grace within these songs is the Wu-member’s astounding ability to remind the listener just as they begin to catch the faint sounds of a cliché that this is not a collection of songs about violence or drug use, it is about life from the perspective of the group’s members. This contrasting reminder comes specifically in the form of songs like “Keep Pace,” which describes the troubles of a person just out of prison who is moving on with his life and can’t escape the troubles of old friends who refuse to change.
Another shining gem of a track on this album is “Early Grave” featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who died of a drug overdose in 2004. In true ODB style, this song is full of irreverent, egotistical, verbal middle-fingers-to-the-world.
Although this one may not be a true Wu-Tang album in the strictest sense, it is full of material that will catch the attention long time fans and newcomers alike.
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