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Just for the hell of it, I'm posting 36 Chambers videos. If you wasn't around back then, you don't really understand how different their shit was at the time. They look grimey and low budget, but that was so different from what was out at the time. Shit was like a slap to the face. Niggas came out raw as hell.










I was too young to remember this but when folks say nothing was like it when it came out care to explain what was out at the time? I thought stuff like Naughty by nature, cypress hill, onyx, etc were bringing the rawness to the screen? Please school this younging
 
I was too young to remember this but when folks say nothing was like it when it came out care to explain what was out at the time? I thought stuff like Naughty by nature, cypress hill, onyx, etc were bringing the rawness to the screen? Please school this younging

They kinda touch on it a little the show, but West Coast music was still really popular. Deathrow still had the radio on lock in most places. You mention Cypress Hill. They were around and they made raw music, but the sound an feel of it was way different than the Wu. For example, Black Sunday dropped a little bit before Enter the 36. They had Insane in the Brain and Illusions in rotation. Both are dope songs, but nothing that would prepare you for the Wu.



The game was starting to shift back east, so there were popular NYC acts at the time, but again, you have to take account for the sound.

You mentioned Naughty By Nature and Onyx. They did have songs poppin around the same time as the Wu came out.





So from a rap standpoint, Naughty was bringing heat with the rapping but their music sound polished not raw. Onyx had the energy, and that defined them more than anything else. You also had other groups like the Boot Camp Click acts that made good East Coast rap but it just didn't bowl you over. The show actually mentioned some other stuff too.







So those are posse cuts. They are pretty raw, and they came out around the same time as the Wu stuff. So it's not to say that the Wu was unlike anything at the time. That said they kinda combined everything that's good about all those other acts and took it to a level that no one else was doing it. I mean you could compare Scenario to Protect Your Neck in terms of posse cuts, but you have to acknowledge that Scenario was a collab between two groups. You wasn't going to buy a Tribe album and hear a bunch of songs like that. Same thing with Headbanger. The Hit Squad was a crew, but they weren't making albums together. You wasn't going to be an EPMD album and get that same feeling from half the songs on it. Wu basically combine everything that all those other groups were bringing to the table. They had the energy. They had a raw sound. They had a group of niggas that could rip the mic. They also had things that no one else had like Rza production and a gimmick that stood out and made them unique. When you put all that together, it just made them feel like something new even among a bunch of other good East Coast acts.
 
I was too young to remember this but when folks say nothing was like it when it came out care to explain what was out at the time? I thought stuff like Naughty by nature, cypress hill, onyx, etc were bringing the rawness to the screen? Please school this younging

Wu changed the game on multiple levels,their production was more underground than other mainstream acts that were out at the time. There were more than 4 of them which was rare,rap groups are usually 2-4/5 members,they were the first to have group AND solo deals and also have deals at separate labels,Meth at Def Jam,Rae at Loud etc.. That opens the door for collab albums and artists being allowed the flexibility to record group albums outside of their original contract,examples: Junior Mafia,The Firm,Durk/Baby,Drake/Future. I think they were also the first to have like 30 + people on stage,they also had their own clothing line AND clothing stores. Basically Wu paved the way for most of the things you see in hip-hop from branding deals,clothing,contract structure,rolling deep,slang etc.
 
Man the last episode was so fucking dope!! I loved how they went into each member’s mind. The dope and cash and guns on Rae’s table was perfect.

This show has to at least go on through the Wu Tang Forever album. I’ve got to see a sequence similar to this for Triumph.
 
I watched the protect ya neck episode again,did U-God say "pause" when Ethan said "it's hard" ? They weren't saying "pause" in the early 90's. Still great episode,everything from the crate-digging (producers going to different record stores to get vinyl) and being secretive about what samples you're using to the whole creative process. And that first beat he made was fire too.
 
Man this is my favorite show right now! I be hype the entire episode!

Love the Easter eggs they drop. Ghost asking how the Avengers going to assemble without Iron Man. Mentioning to his girl that he always read comic books.

ODB calling the girl he holla’d at Chocolate Deluxe which is what they used in Ice Cream.

Loved seeing Rae and Ghost forming that bond. The scene in Ghost house was powerful.

Yo, was that Das Efx at the first table RZA walked up to? I don’t know why that’s who I thought of when I saw those dudes.

And who was the West Coast artists in line in front of Divine?
 
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