Wu-Tang Clan: Wu-Chronicles : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Will the Wu-Tang Clan rock, rock on, or are they falling off? The plot thickens with Uncontrolled Substance, the solo debut from Clan rhymer Inspectah Deck, and Wu-Chronicles, a compelling greatest-hits collection from the nine-man crew. Chronicles draws mostly from the Wu-Tang solo albums, mixing familiar tunes ("4th Chamber," "Wu-Gambinos"), warped remixes (D'Angelo croons a Stevie Wonder hook over shattering-glass effects on "Cold World [RZA Mix]") and new tracks ("Latunza Hit" and "'96 Recreation"). It adds up to a superlative set of RZA madness, full of the bubbling, hallucinogenic keyboard effects and clipped piano arpeggios that typify his work.

Wu-Chronicles' other strong suit is its spotlighting of talented lesser-known guest MCs such as Tha Alkaholiks, Cocoa Brovas, Ras Kass, AZ and Heltah Skeltah. Those MCs suffer commercially because of their lack of star quality, and that may ultimately be the problem with Inspectah Deck. Uncontrolled Substance wavers at answering the question of who, exactly, Deck is outside of the Wu-Tang schema. The horns girding "Grand Prix" and "Movers and Shakers" recall the more soul-inflected songs from Ghostface Killah's Ironman, but Deck wastes his considerable mike skills favoring wordplay over storytelling. Even when Deck finally zeroes in on a topic, running down his relations with women on "Loving You," the track is cut short by a freestyle rhyme.

Comparing Wu-Chronicles and Substance might lead one to believe that the Wu's best work is behind them. But as we've learned from Ol' Dirty Bastard recently, the Wu-Tang Clan is capable of anything. Like the works of Isaac Asimov, Wu-Tang lore is convoluted but captivating; you maintain faith that the twists and turns will lead somewhere in the end.