Music Review: The 25th Anniversary of Midnight Marauders and 36 Chambers
This Friday marks the 25th anniversary of two of the greatest and most important hip hop albums ever: A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders (MM), and the Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers (36 Chambers).
A Tribe Called Quest was founded in 1985, consisting of rappers Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Jarobi White, and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad. They released their first album, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, in 1990, after which Jarobi left the group. After releasing 4 more albums, the Tribe broke up in 1998. They reunited in 2006, releasing their final album in 2016, then breaking up after the unexpected death of Phife Dawg from diabetes-related complications.
The Wu-Tang Clan has been around since 1992. Its original members, with other names or alter egos in parentheses, are the RZA (Bobby Digital), the GZA (Genius), Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck (Rebel INS), Ghostface Killah (Tony Starks), Method Man, Raekwon (the Chef), U-God, and Masta Killa. Cappadonna, who went to prison when 36 Chambers was recorded (he was replaced by Method Man), started collaborating on Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… in 1995 and then started with the group on Wu-Tang Forever, the group’s second album, and shortly after became a member. The Wu-Tang Killa Bees (the artists and groups affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan) are so numerous and obscure that I won’t bother to list them here.
The albums are two very different pieces of art, partly because the artists are very different people. A Tribe Called Quest and the Wu-Tang Clan are both East Coast rap groups from NYC that released an album on November 9th, 1993, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. For example, Q-Tip, Phife, and Jarobi are all from Queens and Muhammad is from Brooklyn, while the majority of the Wu-Tang Clan is from Staten Island. Midnight Marauders is a somewhat light, profanity-free trip. This in no way discredits the quality of the album—in fact, since it’s harder to write good rap lyrics without cursing than with, it makes MM all the more impressive.
The light characteristics and lack of profanity don’t mean that the album doesn’t cover serious matters—the AIDS epidemic in the black and Hispanic community, the defense of the use of the N-word within the black community as a term of endearment, Phife’s numerous day-to-day problems and the line “I really can’t say, I guess I laugh to keep from crying/So much going on, people killing, people dying” are all on the album. But when Phife compares the length of his track record to a DC-20 aircraft and creates sounds that make my ears go numb, and Q-Tip’s got soul on the end like Jehovah’s got the witness, feeling me out from Russia to Jersey, it never gets old.
Ali Shaheed Muhammad, while he doesn’t say a word on the album, is such an incredibly amazing producer that Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Logic, Method Man, Jay-Z, and Kanye West all have at least one thing in common-they’ve all sampled a song off of MM (Logic and West more than once). And like Miss Lane in “Everything is Fair” (a song from the Tribe’s previous album The Low End Theory that is hotly compared to MM (I think it’s better than MM), MM has some funky beats.
Before I discuss the lyrical gods that the Wu-Tang Clan are, my 3 favorite producers of all time are J Dilla, Danger Mouse, and the RZA. His beats are why I bang them in Penthouse (top room in Soule) or in my room again and again. His rhymes are decent, but his production is way better. The styles vary greatly by member, as they should. Perhaps the most unique of all of them is Ghostface Killah’s, a wild sort of bouncing off the walls with an almost never-constant rhyme scheme. His second solo album, Supreme Clientele, along with Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version and the GZA’s Liquid Swords, make up the top 3 Wu-Tang Clan solo albums, and are all rap essentials.
Raekwon the Chef is responsible for the Mafioso era of rap in the late 90s with his intimidating drug war descriptions brought to greater prominence with his solo album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., another essential. Method Man’s voice is one of the best in hip-hop, so anything he raps automatically sounds sweet, made nicer by the fact he isn’t rapping just anything. Although his solo album Tical, the first solo album by any member of the Clan, is disappointingly mediocre. Ol’ Dirty Bastard is the rawest member in the entire group, vocals and lyrics. He’ll have died 14 years ago 5 days from now. The GZA, another great voice, uses more Five Percenter speak (look it up, it’s really interesting) than any other member and has the most unique similes. Inspectah Deck doesn’t have a prominent role on 36 Chambers, rapping more and better on other members’ solo albums. Likewise for U-God and Masta Killa.
For great verses of theirs, see “Cold World” for Inspectah Deck (Liquid Swords), “Knuckleheadz” for U-God (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…), and “Duel of the Iron Mic” for Masta Killa (Liquid Swords). Actually, Masta Killa’s verse on “Wu-Tang Clan Aint Nuthing ta F’ Wit” is solid.
36 Chambers is just hard, there isn’t a better adjective to describe it. 9 guys really into kung-fu movies in the front of the 7th chamber for parts I and II, bringing the ruckus, shaming those who try to run game. Can it all be so simple? Does cash really rule everything around them? Regardless of the mystery of chessboxin’, it’s no mystery that they aren’t anything to mess with. Protect your neck from Method Man; it will save you the tears from your conclusion.
Why do I like these albums so much? I grew up on the Tribe, listening to their albums for as long as I can remember, so I give credit to my parents. I don’t remember hearing 36 Chambers for the first time, but since I must have heard it 11 times since, I must have liked it a lot.
Why are the albums still relevant? Apart from samples, Logic is apparently enough of a fan of the Clan that he reunited them on “Wu-Tang Forever,” which is the best thing they’ve done as a group since 1997 (Don’t bother listening to any of their albums past Supreme Clientele, which is 2000 and a solo album). And the logo is one of the most recognizable in hip hop. Like I said before, A Tribe Called Quest released a final album in 2016 called We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service, which is worth a listen and is, of course, less dated. Their logo is also very recognizable.
But none of that really matters in the face of the fact that the albums are masterpieces. You don’t hear anything today akin to the sound of the Tribe and the Wu-Tang. Heck, you didn’t really hear anything akin to their respective sounds in November of 1993. Maybe the Pharcyde is comparable to the Tribe, but not really. I can’t think of anyone to compare to Wu-Tang. I cannot emphasize enough that there is absolutely no way that this article can do these two God-given albums enough justice.
Being an Exonian, I know that you’re never finished with everything. But if you could find the time to do so, listen to these albums. If you’re a Stan, the Tribe and the Wu-Tang Clan are on a higher plane than Eminem. If you listen to modern rap, these are the guys that rappers pay respect to, look up to, wish they could be or dislike because they’re jealous. If you haven’t had any experience with rap of any kind, I can’t really think of two better groups to start you on your journey. Happy birthday to both albums.