4/5
Razor Scratch.
Saturday afternoon is alright for still knowing kung-fu. In the theatre of Wu-Tang Clan leader, The RZA's mind, he's back fighting his alter-ego Bobby Digital like he was actor Bokeem Woodbine in the 'Birth Of A Prince' 'Chi-Kung' black and white classic video back in 2003 like a legendary martial arts movie. But this time in setting the scene he's backed by legendary Puff Daddy, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest collaborator DJ Scratch on the ones and twos. On 'Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theatre's' title track for its scratched up artwork in black and Lakers purple and gold for the grill, the Razor raps, "Ayo I could take a rain drop/Turn it to an icicle/Pull off in that blue escalade/You still rockin’ tricycles/Michael Myers mask on my face/Copper filtered in N-95 edition boy/I’m a virus killa/Try to quarantine me/My chi increase like Akira/Money coming in the mail/I got cheese like quesadilla/You’re generic prosthetic pathetic/Your rap is too synthetic/You can’t cope with me kiddo/This is verbal athletics/Thirty-six/Pressure points we choose/Hit that fatal Aikido blow/tae-kwon-do/Whirlwind kicks, tornadoes." Judging from today's special on the opening of this rap menu with plenty of Scratch for your itch, it may be a short fight between the Wu's head honcho and Bob Digi. But seconds out, wait for the 'Pugilism' as these two parts of the same men take to the ring like Ali and Frazier.
Foreman haymakers come across punching piano over those classic Shaolin style samples. "Shaolin kung-fu, Wu-Tang pugilist. Yellow blue diamonds, black Buddah beads circle wrist/ You attack me from the back...that was foolishness/We move together as one like a school of fish/ Poison needle shot you tried to block. It went through your wrist/18 low hand stance this is laughing Buddah fist/Butterfly knifes lighting strike like a cumulous/Overthrow your quote, trap your throat like tuberculosis/2020 quarantine I developed perfect focus." Now you know what RZA has been doing during this planets pandemic. Locking it down in the studio. The man behind 'Tearz' and eyes so heavy 'I Cant Go To Sleep' brings even more evoking emotion on the standout 'Never Love Again'. "I could choosе to lose sleep for a week for it/Like we was made to do it I'm not afraid to do it/Pssh I do it for free/She gets paid to do it but/Vinny never really spends a penny on any/Why should he when they have so many/Laverna, Sherly, Thelma, or Penny/Mork Or Mindy, Louie or Fendi? Gucci or pucci?/Genie or lucy?/Her nose twinkle like bewitch/Not a wrinkle or a glitch like Smith and James/I wanted to get hitched/But then everything switched/Marilyn Monroe the 7 year itch/Tssh life can be a bitch." Word to Nas. The scribes of raps underrated GOAT in front of its greatest group is back to his storytelling best in this moviemaking 'Kung Fu Theatre'. And the 'Fate Of The World' and a Wu-Tang is for the children training video is in his hands. "All praises due to Allah/Respect to all my Christian brothers out there/All my synagogue brothers/All my haire krishna’s/Let’s build together/Let’s go Left, right come together/Left, right come together (Let’s get ’em)/Left, right come together (Let’s bring some light to it)/Put your hands up, Wu Tang is forever." It's the new anthem.
Forever ever, as the RZA warns and heeds for change, "A thousand years of darkness/The world got struck with sorrow/Hollow be thy name/We need a better tomorrow. Fishing for one like Hemingway's 'Old Man and The Sea' or Yukio Mishima's 'Sailor Who Fell From Grace and the Sea' on the bell tolling 'Fisherman'. Looking for samples from the same sea as Larry David, or Snoop Dogg getting his 'Crip Your Enthusiasm' on as the Superbowl halftime show star pulls the switch on chairing his new Death Row ownership. "No one knows for whom the bell tolls/Or how many souls does the hell hold/You find a soul it's more precious than gold/Some get bought, some get lost, some sold," he gives as prophecy like the omen. And treat this rap God's words as gospel on these seven seals. Because tracking this monster of a first part as we await the sequel with Scratch, it all ends with the roar of a 'Kaiju' like Godzilla in the Far East of Tokyo, Japan. Robert Diggs digging in his self Godzilla versus King of New York like Kong face off in this formidable finale, with a stunning sample of a classic chorus. Singing, "mosura ya mosura/Dongan kasakuyan indo muu/Rusuto uiraandoa, hanba hanbamuyan, randa banunradan/Tounjukanraa." Curtains calling whilst one of raps best producers with the genres most prolific pugilist on the turntables behind him goes nuclear. "Horrific beings from the rim of the Pacific/Ina cave of Monster Island they found two hand sized midgets/Appeared to defy the laws of physics/But at closer observation the mathematics added to a unknown digit/Pi times Radius Square by the golden ratio/Rza rector riding the back of Monster Zero/The rise of a kaiju from a sea that's inside you." Rectifying the game, the RZA is back for the first solo (ish) time since 2008's 'Digi Snacks'. And judging from this part and the one DJ Scratch plays this weekend in this afternoon of Kung-Fu for your theatre. We can't wait for Saturday night like Elton John fighting. Try this Wu-Tang style. The chambers are loaded. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Pugilism', 'Never Love Again', 'Kaiju'.
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