Classic Day – The Shadow-Box Champions

Enter The 36 Chambers is one of, if not the most well known hip-hop album to date. It is still recognized for the hard spitting members dropping bar after bar, the instrumentals bringing what spawned the classic East-Coast Sound, and an interesting speedway to getting hip-hop into what it is today. The sound, attitude, and overall vibe of Enter The 36 Chambers is one that is not only stimulating to the ears, but paints a fantastic image of the early Hip-Hop music.

The Wu-Tang Sword left its mark on everyone with 36 Chambers, as it was able to flip the game on its head and create some of the best offspring albums as well. The Artists like GhostFace Killah, RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and Raekwon were able to use sampling and some bumping beats to create a whole different sound that influenced people even twenty years later. It is incredible to think that songs like “Bring Da Ruckus,” “Method Man,” and of course the legendary “C.R.E.A.M.,” that rocked stereos everywhere from New York to Los Angeles, to all over the world.

“C.R.E.A.M.” is one of those songs that will go down in history of hip-hop art, and music in a general sense. The beginning of the instrumental with the smooth and laid back jazz influence to then jumping right into a crash of cymbals and one of the most remarkable piano pieces to ever be played. It reigns in ears even still to this day and it has been a personal favorite of new coming piano players to learn, and I know it was one of the first things I ever wanted to learn on piano. The bars on “C.R.E.A.M.” just have this struggling overtone and lines like “It’s been twenty-two hard years of still struggling,” and even the hook “Cash rules everything around me,” brings a mind-state of what it was like to be surrounded by barriers and oppression.

The tone of the album then switches from being a serious and authentic true story on “C.R.E.A.M.” to the then joke style of “Method Man” and the opening lines exchanged between Method Man and Raekwon bring a smile to my face every single time I hear it. The “Stabbing your tongue with a rusty screwdriver,” and the banging of “just your nuts on the dresser” is a conversation that is just too entertaining not to laugh at.

This isn’t all what Wu-Tang Clan is about though, other tracks like “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’,” and “Can It Be All So Simple,” are the more serious tracks, bringing some great instrumental and hooks as well. The 36 Chambers just brings hit after hit, just an insanely impressive track record to start a music career with. There is not a single song that can be argued as not intelligently produced or as a subpar song. Each track brings a bumping instrumental and just some of the most rememberable verses to date.

Enter The 36 Chambers is just overall such an influential album that has the classic sound that everyone in the 90’s came to love. Even Generations later, Wu-Tang Clan is still a household name. If you mention Hip-
Hop, you must mention Wu-Tang Clan.