8 Diagrams has leaked!

What is presumably the Euro version--since by all reports the US tracklist numbers 14, the UK 16--has leaked to the internet. I wish I could put a link up here, but I don't want to step on any toes, & anyway the album shouldn't be too hard to find. I will drop my impressions after the album has had time to sink in, but one thing is clear, that the RZA delivered in a major way. Some further changes have been made to some of the leaked tracks--perhaps most notably to Wolves, so it will be interesting to catalog & keep track of these. Track it down everyone, & enjoy.

Windmill HQ + RZA Speaks on UK Radio

Though definitely not CDQ, this is the best version of Windmill yet to be released. The track is from a RZA interview on the Choice FM radio station in the UK--what follows is a loose recap of what the RZA spoke about during the conversation. If we are lucky perhaps the full feature was recorded & it will make its way 'round the internet soon...

"No platinum Wu-Tang records have come out since they stopped coming to me. Meth is a 2x plat artist guaranteed, until he stopped messing with me. ONLY ONE GOLD WU TANG RECORD CAME AFTER 2001"

"[in 1994] Busta Rhymes was the only artist who kept it real with me, other rappers wouldnt tell me how much they were making off a platinum album when 36 chambers went platinum and i wanted to know how much people are getting for selling a million"

"I got $4 million just to hand in Wu Tang Forever [not counting royalties]"

"I signed away all of their contracts with me in 2001, $23 million for free, as long as I kept the Wu Tang name"

"I paid for Wu Tang's solo managers at $70,000 a year, for each of them"

"I was at the club dancin to Soulja Boy with the ladies, but I'm not buying his album, I dont want to own it..."

"I pretty much left hip hop in 2003, I was pretty much retired, I went hollywood"

"I used to think.. yo Ghost and Meth are on Def Jam? Rae is on Universal? everything is good, I could leave..."

"The only rap albums I've bought are Jay Z (Kingdom Come and American Gangster)"

on 8 Diagrams...

"Ghostface is the only one who didn't rap on the ODB Life Changes tribute song... I was really disappointed he wouldnt give me a verse for it... aside from Gza, Ghost used to be closest to Dirty.... me and Ghost and Dirty were running partners in the streets from 89 to 92...maybe he'll do one on his album"

"U-God and Inspectah Deck said they would do it if the music is good, they didnt mention money. I was impressed by their responses compared to some of the other ones."

"Our 2007 European tour and Rock The Bells tour are some of our most successful ever"

"If you ad up Meth's 5 million sold, Wu-Tang's 10 million sold, Ghost's millions sold, Rae's million sold, Dirty's millions sold, add it up and it's easily over $300 million off raw hip hop, it only takes maybe $1 million to make a Wu-Tang member album.."

"My agents hate it when I make hip hop again, because Cali is making us rich"

Starter, Rushing Elephants, Unpredictable, More on BBC Radio

The BBC Radio show 1Xtra played 5 Wu-Tang songs on last Sunday's show, including Take It Back, Rushing Elephants, Unpredictable, Starter, & Windmill. You can listen to the entire show here, but as of now the tracks are unavailable individually. But this is only a matter of time--with the final version of 8 Diagrams in so many different people's hands at the moment, a full retail leak cannot be too far off. For now, enjoy the new tracks.

Starter reuses the main sample from Certified Samurai off of the Afro Samurai soundtrack, & does feature some unnecessary singing between INS, GZA, U-God, & Streetlife's leadoff. Nonetheless, the song is full of wit & the beat is on par with the excellent work we've heard so far from the RZA.

Windmill is longer here than we've heard before, featuring Meth & Cappadonna verses, & it remains a great track. Rushing Elephants has a light, almost cartoony sample, but that is not a bad thing. Yet again Rae appears on the track. For all the vetoes he handed out against the RZA, perhaps the Abbot should've returned the favor, as Rae seems like he's on every song. GZA follows Rae, & then RZA has a verse. Finally comes Masta Killa. The best thing about these tracks is that there are plenty of members per song.

Unpredictable, formerly Thug World, ends the broadcast. The quality of the broadcast seems to fade in & out, yet the track seems more interesting mastered, with some added elements in the beat, & a fairly weird hook. The beat switches up for the RZA's verse, then the horn stabs come back in--there is plenty guitar added to the track, but in an aggressive way.

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Update!


Starter


Rushing Elephants


Unpredictable


Windmill

Wake Up Show: New Tracks!

Check out this mp3 of yesterday's Wake Up Show debuts from the forthcoming 8 Diagrams. This is a single 12 minute 30 second file containing all 3 tracks. The first is a longer version of Stick Me For My Riches--containing a verse from INS (tho he doesn't sound entirely like himself) after Meth's now-familiar leadoff. 2nd comes an amazing track--probably the best produced song we've yet heard--that starts with Rae, follows with the GZA, Masta Killa & INS. There are elements of everything in this, western sounds, guitars, even a few Gravediggaz throwback touches, beautifully rhythmic drums--it is an utter hit.

The 3rd track has me about to take back what I just said about the previous song, because this is insane. Presumably this is Wolves, as it features U-God leading off & the production is utter beauty drenched in funk. Meth follows U-ey, then the beat changes up for Masta Killa's verse--the track is nothing short of wonderful.

New Version of Life Changes

A longer version of Life Changes has just been leaked, with a new ODB intro & outro & a U-God verse. With hope, this is not the final product, as we still lack RZA & Ghost verses--certainly RZA wouldn't fail to appear on Dirty's tribute song. Today marks the 3rd anniversary of Dirty's death.

Also, MissInfo had another interesting tidbit today:

NOTE: one interesting thing….in a Wu Tang press statement, it says:

“The [8 Diagrams] tracklisting that was floating out there isn’t necessarily the FINAL version…there has been changes to the album in a few ways since Ghost and Rae spoke.”

Word? What kind of changes? I’ll let you know if/when I find out.

Though I obviously side with the RZA over Ghost & Rae, & continually don't think it was a good look for them to go public with their opinions, I suppose as long as the record comes out on time, that is the most important thing for Wu fans at this point.

Ghostface: Disgustin' + New Track "Campfire"

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Ghost recently participated in a radio interview with Peter Parker, where he continued his recent campaign against the RZA. Ghost reiterated that he originally didn't plan to be on the album, he cosigned Rae's recent comments against the production on the album, & the word is that some beats may be replaced causing a delay in the release of 8 Diagrams. Until we hear this from RZA or Rifkind I wouldn't take this as gospel or even close to being true--but overall Ghost's ego seems overblown. His upcoming album Big Doe Rehab does seem promising in the fledgling stages, as it will heavily feautre Raekwon, though the single is the standard Ghost first single fare, a halfhearted stab at a radio-friendly track that is somewhat enjoyable. It will be interesting to see if the two release dates hold firm--Ghost's on Dec 4, 8 Diagrams on the 11th--without a doubt the two albums will be heavily compared both sales & quality-wise, which may give a bit of finality to the dispute between Ghost & Rae vs RZA.

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* * *

Billboard recently published an article on Raekwon's recent denounciations, with a short comment from RZA at the end:

Although he declined to address specific gripes, RZA talked to Billboard yesterday about the inherent difficulties of blending his sensibilities with those of his group mates.

"My idea with this album was to have an hour of your day be different -- you go into this other world of beats, hardcore lyrics and imagery of hip-hop," he said. "I wanted the listener to be stimulated by the music. I don't know if everybody agreed with it. Everybody has their own opinion. This is in my vision at the end of the day."

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* * *

RZA very recently appeared on The Wake Up Show, & debuted a portion of Campfire, which is, in short, incredible upon first listen. It features Meth & Ghost preceded by a long, quintessential sample from an old kung fu flick, the contents of which are pretty ironic given the current tension within the Clan. Meth can't resist referencing Justin Timberlake along with other stars, & his verse ends, then Ghost's begins, referencing their loyalty to the RZA. If we were to simply judge from the music alone, hype for 8 Diagrams would be reaching peak status--all of the tracks sound great, the chemistry within the Clan seems decent enough on record--but of course we all know better. RZA's interview on the Wake Up Show is excellent, recapping the history of the Clan, from the demo eras, to 36 Chambers, Forever, & beyond. He has a finished copy of 8 Diagrams in hand, & plays part of the first track, Campfire, which is linked by itself above. Then, Take it Back is played &, interestingly, is referred to as the first single. RZA goes on to answer some random questions about current events & general hip hop--& he even goes on to say that Ghostface is the illest current MC.

Definitely looks like Ghost & Rae's hope for some beats to be replaced is pretty futile, since The Abbot had a copy of the finished product in hand.

At the very end of the Wake Up Show interview, they go to play Stick Me For My Riches, & though the track gets cut off for lack of editing, RZA mentions that the full track features Meth, INS, RZA & GZA--which is unequivocally great news.

Ready on the Firing Line

After the deluge of today's new tracks, Weak Spot, Thug World, Stick Me For My Riches, & Life Changes--I thought I'd make a survey of what we've got so far.

There were 8 tracks previewed to journalists awhile back--& to date we've now heard 7 of them. The only one waiting to leak is Wolves, which has received much hype as a U-God showcase featuring gritty production. Per Ghost, an interesting note comes with the fact that while he appeared on the first three leaked songs, he's yet to show up on any of the other tracks.

It seems safe to assume that Watch Your Mouth will probably not appear on the album, as no recent tracklists feature this song. The word is that sample clearance will keep this track from appearing. Which is a shame, because it's a more-than-solid track, featuring all the remaining members. It seems like most other songs feature about 3 or so members, but this sense could be stemming from the fact that in some cases we are dealing with partial tracks.

The other track that is in doubt given the most recent tracklist is Thug World. This track was previewed at Wu-Tang shows throughout the world, with rough audio versions showing up online several months ago. Today we finally received at least a portion of that song, featuring INS in good form & a classic semi-sensible RZA performance. All I can say is that RZA is at his most appealing when operating in this mode & this track will be missed if it doesn't in fact appear on the final product. Perhaps it will be renamed, as it really feels too good to exclude. The production is from RZA & DJ King Tech.

Take It Back & Weak Spot are similar tracks to Thug World--all dark, excellent productions. I've written about Take It Back in other posts. It is definitely one of the best new tracks we've heard. Weak Spot is just as good--RZA truly shines on this track, on both the beat & the microphone. The beat stabs, though perhaps somewhat less than on Thug World. Raekwon has yet another appearance, yet he has enough energy to augment the track. The best part of this song is the slight beat changes throughout the GZA's verse, which can be enjoyed while the beat slightly adds & drops elements. This will undoubtedly be a highlight of the album.

Stick Me For My Riches is a structurally unorthodox track. Meth is the only rapper on the track so far, per the version we have & all descriptions from the media & the RZA. The song is co-produced with Mathematics. Both the drums & the singing are initially strange choices, but it is of high enough quality, & the production is interesting enough to more than retain the attention of the listener. Meth & the singer play off each other well as the track progresses. It sounds like there will be more track, hopefully featuring rapping, beyond what we have heard to this point. Whether more Meth or another member, either way, this track is also a winner, though fans wanting only straightforward music from the Wu (a strange request) might be put off. Thankfully, the RZA is making music for Wu-Tang, & not reverting to formula.

The Heart Gently Weeps is the unexpected winner of the leaks so far. It works in a way that no other Wu track ever has. Along with Life Changes, the Rainy Days, I Can't Go To Sleep, Tearz type track is doubly covered, but The Heart Gently Weeps is unlike any of the aforementioned songs, even the just as fresh Life Changes, the ODB tribute song which will hopefully feature verses from all members in final form. Perhaps it is the production technique that truly separates The Heart Gently Weeps from the rest of the pack--whatever it is, now that we have a greater sense of the album, hearing roughly half of the tracks that will be on the final product, not much can be said beyond the fact that things are shaping up very nicely for this album. If the product is as consistently good as we've been hearing so far, it's going to be the type of album that sequencing can either really augment or really hinder. Since the RZA is in full control & also in top form, I can't really fathom that the album will be structured poorly.

I Was Born On The Same Day As Dr Seuss

Here is a quick update:

Thug World

http://www.zshare.net/audio/4717260a722743/

Weak Spot

http://www.zshare.net/audio/471738403854d6/

Life Changes (which is also streaming here)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/47174763ad9e5d/

Stick Me For My Riches

http://www.zshare.net/audio/472078123b3529/

Loud has just released a mixtape featuring portions of several 8 Diagrams tracks along with other recent Wu activity, including the most recent Meth album, the most recent Masta Killa album & tracks from several of Mathematics projects, along with some Ghost & ODB tracks. The tracklisting for the mixtape is as follows:

Tracklisting:

01 - Intro (Featuring Method Man)
02 - Watch Your Mouf (Wu-Tang Exclusive)
03 - State of Grace (Raekwon Exclusive)
04 - Break that Break (Unreleased)
05 - Wu Banga 101 Remix (Unreleased)
06 - My Corner (Raekwon Exclusive)
07 - Stick Me 4 My Riches (Wu-Tang Exclusive)
08 - Thug World (Wu-Tang Exclusive)
09 - Maxine Remix (Unreleased)
10 - King Toast Queen (Unreleased)
11 - Strawberries & Cream Remix
12 - Weak Spot (Wu-Tang Exclusive)
13 - Intoxicated (Featuring Macy Gray) (ODB Exclusive)
14 - Crooklyn Dodgers (Ghostface Exclusive)
15 - The W Remix (Unreleased)
16 - Real Nillaz
17 - Ghost Is Back
18 - Don't Go Breaking My Heart (ODB Featuring Macy Gray)
19 - Violent Skit
20 - Life Changes (Wu-Tang Exclusive)
21 - Treez (Unreleased)
22 - The Abduction
23 - John 3:16
24 - Good
25 - Da Destroyer (Raekwon Freestyle)
26 - Iron God Chamber
27 - 4:20
28 - Wise (Unreleased)
29 - Presidential MC

The entire mixtape can be directly downloaded here or here, or streamed here.

Weak Spot is probably the best of the new tracks. Stick Me For My Riches will polarize fans, as the track features a ton of singing & only one verse from Meth. For what it's worth I think it's pretty good, but each song released so far could probably use another verse or two, besides the obvious posse cuts. Wu's strength lies in numbers & they shouldn't forget to use this to their advantage. The thing to remember is that these don't seem like full versions of the songs; pretty much every track that's leaked so far has first been in a rough, incomplete version followed by a much better sounding final take. The mixtape on the whole is pretty great.

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Also, a potential tracklist for 8 Diagrams surfaced on Amazon.co.uk a few days ago:

1. Campfire

2. Take It Back

3. Get Them Out Ya Way Pa

4. Face The Problems

5. The Heart Gently Weeps

6. Wolves

7. Gun Will Go

8. Sunlight

9. Stick Me For My Riches

10. Windmill

11. Starter

12. Weak Spot

13. Life Changes

14. Tar Pit feat George Clinton

15. 16th Chamber (ODB Special)

The interesting thing to note here is that there is no "Watch Your Mouth" as was rumored a while back. Then again, RZA had recently mentioned that a vintage ODB appearance was probably not going to happen, but the last song on the album seems to indicate otherwise. Also, is the just-leaked "Thug World" not included or simply renamed? Where is the other track featuring John Frusciante, "You Can't Stop Me Now"? Time will tell, but in the meantime, enjoy the new tracks.

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And finally, another 8 Diagrams cover has been revealed:

The Heart Gently Weeps -- The Dirty Version

Now we have the distinct pleasure of enjoying the announced first single in all it's unedited glory--this is, for all intents & purposes, probably most likely the final version.

The track, while many other things, absolutely bodes well for the level of musicality that the album will contain. RZA talks a lot about equipment & his myriad production techniques in the current Remix magazine.




RZA is also featured in WIRED magazine, in an audio interview covering the history of the use of Kung-fu movie samples on Wu-Tang albums--from the first Wu song on the first Wu album, "Bring da Ruckus," to the yet-to-be-heard "Wolves," scheduled to be included on 8 Diagrams.


The complete single of "The Heart Gently Weeps" is now available here--featuring clean, dirty, & instrumental versions.

Take it Back

Take it Back [right click, save as]

Produced by Easy Mo Bee & RZA. This is the best of the leaked songs so far.

Rae sounds more animated than he has elsewhere, though he yet again leads off the track. He's certainly not the most lively of all the members of late, so it's still curious that he's leading things off. I really wish they'd go back to having INS leadoff the posse cuts. Even U-God on "Pinky Ring" was a better choice.

The fact that Ghost is also on this track is interesting. So far he's surfaced on all three songs. From the early-album conjecture that he wasn't even going to be on the project, then to him being fully on board, followed by his recent fury against RZA & denunciation of the "Wu-Hierarchy"--well all this hasn't kept him from rhyming on every track that's leaked so far. Whole albums go by & you'll barely hear that many GZA or Masta Killa verses.

Another Easy Mo Bee appearance with the Wu is welcome, as their affiliation actually predates the formation of the Clan. He produced RZA's first ever single, "Ooh We Love You Rakeem," from when RZA was known as Prince Rakeem, along with a large portion of GZA's first album Words from the Genius, from when GZA was known only as The Genius. Other pairings with the Wu & Mo can be found on the first Wu-Chronicles album, on the Method Man/Notorious BIG track "The What" & also on the Ras Kass/RZA track "The End." Outside of working with the Wu, Mo Bee has been around, producing most famously for Big Daddy Kane & Biggie, but also putting in work with people from Craig Mack to Alicia Keys.

The Heart Gently Weeps

This track, which features an interpolation of the famous Beatles/George Harrison song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," has the most complicated history of any of the 8 Diagrams tracks to leak thus far.

There was a report in XXL in early October that cited the delay of the release of 8 Diagrams from November 13 to December 4th. Of course, an entire Ghost-related fiasco would follow from this, but at the time, the delay was attributed to the fact that the Wu had to clear the first Beatles sample in history, & well, that takes time. It turns out this wasn't entirely true, though it was reported on MTV as well as other places, & in the end they just got the rights to interpolate the song.

So, on Wu's Myspace, an announcement comes that the Wu's version of the song will soon be featured on Loud's website. But the version that they put up doesn't seem to match the descriptions that the RZA has been giving about the track--that it features George's son Dhani Harrison playing acoustic guitar (a gift from Russel Crowe for wrapping American Gangster), John Frusciante on electric & Erykah Badu on the hook. The instrumental for this track seemed to simply be a straight sample of Jimmy Ponder's cover of the song--the same version that, incidentally, Ghostface had used on a particularly captivating unreleased track from somewhere around the Pretty Toney era.

Video of RZA speaking about the track:



About a week or so passes, in mass confusion, & then the actual version of the song surfaces. It's a dynamic & powerful track, & probably lives up to all the hype that surrounded it. It's so good that it's worth all the confusion that surrounded it. Yes, it would have probably been better if Meth's verse was longer, but there's very little to complain about on the whole. Ghost rekindles the spirit of his outlandish solo version from a few years ago, & Raekwon continues with his authoritative, subdued style. But the question remains, why release that dummy, demo version?

Watch Your Motherfuckin Mouth

"Watch Your Mouth" was the first song to leak from the album, & is a traditional posse cut in the vein of Protect Ya Neck, Triumph, Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off), & Uzi (Pinky Ring), the lead tracks to each of the previous Clan albums.

The track is produced by DJ Scratch & RZA.

All eight surviving members make an appearance, with Raekwon leading the way. Rae's performance is subdued but tough, almost arrogantly calm. Masta Killa, who has truly shined in the past few years when backed by Wu production, is excellent here, & should've been considered for the lead-off position. Meth & Ghost follow & both deliver animated, enjoyable performances. Inspectah Deck is next, sounding much better than he has of late on his mixtape projects. Here's to hoping he returns to the Wu-Tang fold instead of churning out more half-hearted, "accessible" styles.

U-God, who RZA recently described as particularly shining on the album, comes next with his verse, followed by RZA & GZA who finishes the track. Each verse is relatively short & highly enjoyable, though the beat is a little more subdued than what a lot of people might have expected from a lead-off Wu track.

The sample is similar to a track on a recent De La Soul project, & features elements from a Mission:Impossible track. There has been recent conjecture that this track might be cut from the album due to sample clearance issues, but there's no confirmed information in that regard. It is a bit underwhelming as a leadoff single, but I think it will work especially well in the context of an album. Also, the leaked version I've heard is apparantly unmixed. There has been a better sounding version playing on XM radio that sounded great. But the fact that they've gone in a grimey, unflashy direction for the first song instead of the radio-friendliness of the first singles from The W is especially heartening & bodes well for the overall scope of the project.

Also, the initial reports from the listening sessions, where journalists got to hear parts of 8 songs, indicate that this is the least interesting of all the tracks that were previewed. So, if this is the least dynamic track on the project, that is a good indication that 8 Diagrams may turn out to be a great album after all.

There is a slightly different, better-mixed version of the track on Wu-Tang's Myspace page. This version has a Cappadonna intro & omits the RZA & U-God verses. With hope, this isn't an indication of what the final version of the track might be like--those verses need to be on the song. If I remember correctly, both verses were on the XM version.