Wu-Tang Clan

Primarily hailing from Staten Island, New York, the rap collective Wu-Tang Clan formed in the early 1990s around RZA, GZA, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, soon joined by Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa, and later by Cappadonna. The Wu-Tang Clan established itself on New York’s underground scene with a hardcore hip-hop sound of raw texture, built on soul samples, soundtracks from Asian films, and a universe steeped in references to martial arts and Five Percenter culture. Their debut studio album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), released in 1993, set the group’s signature: ensemble tracks in which voices trade off at a brisk pace. From the mid-1990s onward, Wu-Tang Clan developed a model in which the collective coexisted with its members’ solo careers on different labels, with records such as Method Man’s Tical (1994), Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (1995), and GZA’s Liquid Swords (1995). Subsequent albums, including Wu-Tang Forever (1997), The W (2000), Iron Flag (2001), 8 Diagrams (2007), A Better Tomorrow (2014), and the singular project Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, finalized in the 2010s, sustained an activity split between recording, international touring, and a network of affiliates orbiting the Wu-Tang aesthetic.