When Wu Tang first came on the scene were they seen as cool or weird ?

MR. SNIFLES

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Bro, this is what made them so unique and dope. There was NEVER anything considered "weird" about them :stopitslime: The first time I heard all the kung-fu samples a nikka was :jbhmm::gladbron::ohlawd::noah: You gotta understand, a lot of black folks born in the 60's, 70's and 80's came up on kung fu flicks and black awareness. They were definitely seen as the cutting edge of hip-hop and they weren't even niche, they were considered popular rap :ld: They even sold Wu-Tang t-shirts at the beauty supply stores :ufdup: When 'Tical' came out I couldn't count how many dudes would be sitting in class with aluminum foil fronts trying to roll one eyeball up :deadmanny:

KUNG FU THEATER ON SATURDAY NIGHT. :wow:
 

FreshAIG

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I thought they were cool. I used to try to dress like Method Man. nikkas in my junior high school (Walt Whitman) had the half braid/half afro look.

Kung-Fu was always a big part of black lifestyle, especially in NYC. My father loved watching Kung Fu flicks, I had friends that did too, so I thought nothing of it. Honestly, I didn't even really notice it until later one, because it wasn't really that abnormal.
 

Art Barr

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do you mean to real bboys in hiphop?
or just rego people?
who now try to act like they were down then but were unknowing toys.
as the Incubation period for mainstream permeation for wutang started in the precursor to the information act. Meaning your regular toy noncultured ass nikka got it close to three years after the fact.

only person who even knew wtf wutang was in Chicago was strictly an hpk listener. Which was where they played the white label which was not widespread.

this whole story that everyone was into hiphop is a lie, people have made up.

your regular person did not have wu tang when they first came out.
as i know and i lived it.
plus i am waiting on toys to start talking because i know they a lie.



art barr
 

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Another interesting thing about them that let you know they were different was how they had a record deal as a group and then could separately sign as individuals. Was never done before, a group was signed to a label and if members went solo it happened on the same label. Wu came out independently with Protect Ya Neck, then quickly got signed to Loud Records which was a new major. But when Protect Ya Neck was doing well you heard Ol Dirty b*stard had a solo deal with Elektra already. It was like how?:patrice:
Then they released Method Man, shyt really blew up and you read in rap magazines there is a bidding war for his solo material and he eventually signs with Def Jam! :gladbron:
Then you hear Rae and Deck signed solo with Loud. :picard:
Ghost with Epic.:feedme:
The Genius with Geffen records. :blessed:

It was just a huge takeover of the industry that had never been done. It definitely added to the excitement.
Later The RZA himself signed to G Street and U-God to Priority but by then they were gigantic.
RZA establishing individual deals for each Clan member was a genius chess move
 

BmoreGorilla

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First I heard them was when the single for Method Man dropped. My big sister who going to Morgan State at the time was like you gotta hear this shyt

Then I saw the video:dead:

These were some of the grimiest nikkas I had ever seen make music. And not in that cartoony grimy way like Onyx. Or talking about they were so grimy they were from the sewer like Das EFX. These cats were grimy like they had just came off the block selling dimes and nicks. They were just like the nikkas in their teens and 20s who did that around my way. It was relatable

They were so unorthodox from how many nikkas were in the group. Their rhyme styles. Their beats. Even the names

Wtf is a RZA, a GZA, a Method Man?
Who is this nikka rocking stockings over his whole face?
:dahell:

But as strange as it was it felt familiar. We all came up watching Kung Fu Theater on Saturday afternoons when cartoons and wrestling went off. The beats were on some other shyt but they felt old like this is how hip hop is supposed to sound.

When that Source issue dropped that featured them and had a little write up on each other members that thing got passed around my neighborhood. Every kid had it for a few days. We were around 12-13 so these nikkas hit us different. When the original owner got it back it was tattered up. Made me beg my mother for a subscription. First issue that I got in the mail was where they gave Illmatic five mics and I copped the tape strictly off the strength of that
 
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