The Wu-Tang Clan will release their fourth album, Iron Flag on December 18th, just one year after The W. The Staten Island, New York, ensemble has already released the album's first single, "Pinky Ring," to radio.

The Wu's latest, as usual, produced by the RZA, arrives amid a busy winter for the crew. The RZA released his second solo album, Digital Bullet, in August, and Ghostface Killah's Cuban Linx 2: Bulletproof Wallet, hit record store shelves last week. And Cappadonna, who released The Yin and the Yang last spring, just saw some of his hits compiled into Capadonna Hits earlier this month. And the incarcerated Ol' Dirty Bastard will release The Trials and Tribulations of Russell Jones in March, an album recorded while he was on the lam from a court-ordered drug rehab center last year. ODB's new recording hints that the troubled rapper may have recorded vocals for the Wu's latest prior to being jailed.

Meanwhile, Method Man and his frequent collaborator Redman will hit the road on December 2nd behind their soundtrack for the film How High. The movie, directed by Jesse Dylan, stars the duo as a pair of friends who smoke some magical weed that helps them ace their college entrance exams and end up at Harvard. Mary J. Blige, Cypress Hill, Limp Bizkit and DMX are among those making guest appearances on the album, which is due December 11th. The film will also be released in December.

Method Man/Redman tour dates:

12/2: Phoenix, Celebrity Theatre
12/3: Anaheim, CA, House of Blues
12/4: Las Vegas, House of Blues
12/11: Chicago, House of Blues
12/12: Minneapolis, Quest Club
12/13: Columbia, MO, Blue Note
12/14: Detroit, State Theatre
12/15: Cleveland, Agora Theatre
12/16: Columbus, OH, PromoWest Pavilion
12/17: Norfolk, VA, The Boathouse
12/19: New York, Hammerstein Ballroom
12/21: Worchester, MA, The Palladium
12/22: Philadelphia, Electric Factory
12/23: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
12/26: Myrtle Beach, SC, House of Blues
12/27: Atlanta, DeKalb Atlanta Center
12/28: Lake Buena Vista, FL, House of Blues
12/31: New Orleans, TBA

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