Iron Flag is the fourth studio album of New York Hip-Hoppers Wu-Tang Clan and was released in December 2001. The group rose to fame in the 1990's with their debut album '36 Chambers' and they are heavily influenced by martial arts in their lyrics, especially kung-fu. The group is a rap collective including Method Man, Ghostface Killah, The Gza, The Rza, Masta Killa, Inspektah Deck, Raekwon and U-God. Also members of the group but nor featuring on this album are Cappadonna and the now deceased Ol' Dirty Bastard. ODB for short.
The group are widely respected in more than just hip-hop circles and they have had some mainstream success. Most notably with the sings 'Gravel Pit' and 'The Jump Off' from their album 'The W' and they have also spawned their own clothing line and video games.
Iron Flag is a 12 track album and runs at just short of an hour in length.
The Album
[Track 1 - In The Hood]
The album opens with an eerie beat and a sample from an old kung-fu movie, i can't find out which one despite trying. after about fifty seconds the bet tunes up to a much more lively and dramatic and charcteristic hip-hop beat. Masta Killa and Deck take the first two verses and do well and guest, 'Street
Life' raps the third. Not brilliant but still a good opening track which succeeds in making an impact.
[7/10]
[Track 2 - Rules]
The beat is immediately funky and is causing me to bounce along as I write this. Ghostface gets topical, very soon after 9/11 in the first verse. The chorus is good and simple at the same time but the beat is so complimentary to the raps that the songs works very well. the gang's nearly all here on this track Deck, Masta Killa, Street life, raekwon and then Method Man follow up on Ghostface's opening and none of them let the track down.
[8.5/10]
[Track 3 - Chrome Wheels]
A female soul vocal opens the track before a rhythmic and subtle beat takes point. The funky attitude of the last track isn't as obvious and this track has a much more raw style but taht is not necesaarily a bad thing. The quality of the emcees is so high that the verses are more than enough to focus on. The sample comes back in for the chorus and enables the track to remain fresh throughout.
Flavour Flav of 'Public enemy' (The guy with the big clock around his neck for any noobs out there) introduces the track and again a raw style is favoured on this track. Quite a simplistic showcase of a track where the emcees can just demonstrate their flows and rhymes and works quite well due to the talent on show. Ghostface's verse is probably the strongest.
[6.5/10]
[Track 5 - Uzi (Pinky Ring)]
The beat is funky, very 70's but with some hip-hop drumming, one of the best Wu beats ever, no understatement. One of The Rza's finest creations. The brass effect after every two bars is the most prominent reason for this and the rappers have a real crew mentality on this song. I can imagine it being amazing to watch them doing this one live onstage. All of eight members of Wu on the album have a verse with the highlight being Method Man and Inspectah deck's contributions being the most memorable.
[9/10]
[Track 6 - One Of These Days]
The sample is from 'I Believe To My Soul' by 1970s Grammy award winner Donny Hathaway. The beat has a very classic soulful bass and a punchy drum beat. Not the best verses but still good. Just difficult to keep up the top quality throughout each track.
[6/10]
[Track 7 - Ya'll Been Warned]
A very sinister beat on this track with carefully structured verses beginning with Method Man, then Rza, and finally U-God. An intimidating song which just emanates bad attitude.
[7.5/10]
[Track 8 - Babies]
A really smooth and soulful intro performed by Madame D and some raw vocals fitting nicely onto the low-tempo beat. This is the way a low tempo should be approached in hip-hop. No drop in quality or effort from the rappers, just less pace to the track. A good one again.
[7/10]
[Track 9 - Radioactive (Four Assassins)]
A very cool beat, with some slightly strange futuristic background sounds and an invasive beat from the drum machine. Gza opens with his typical unorthodox approach and sets the tone for the track well. these aren't the best verses if I'm honest but the beat is strong and the track is still very reasonable.
[6/10]
[Track 10 - Back In The Game]
A very typical kung-fu sample opens the track and the song's chorus is conducted by Ron Isley of 'The Isley Brothers.' The chorus is an eclectic mix of 70s and 90s as is typical of the Wu Tang. The verses are just regular if I'm honest, they fit well to the song but there are better verses on show on the other songs.
[6/10]
[Track 11 - Iron Flag]
The title track features a very atmospheric beat with some interesting scratching and violin samples over the drums. The song and its verses have quite a solemn and sombre feel and raekwon takes the lead for the most part of the track although Masta killa and Inspectah Deck also feature.
[6/10]
[Track 12 - Dashing (Reasons)]
The final track features only Inspectah Deck and The Gza and utilises a distorted version on Jingle All The Way to provide it's structure. (ie; I was dashing through the hood... Eighteens on the whip smoke grey...) The beat is a little simplistic but as this is the last track I can forgive and even understand that. Not exactly groundbreaking but a nice idea and carried off well. Skillful verses at times and an interesting way to finish the album.
[6/10]
Overall
A very good example of top quality hip-hoppers.Not the groups best album by a long shot but it has some fantastic songs on it. 'Rules' and 'Uzi' are brilliant tracks and ensure the album is well thought of. Unfortunately, the second half of the album isn't quite as good, with no bad tracks but nothing outstanding although this is no real downfall in comparison to the pitfalls of countless hip-hop albums. A good album to show to people alien to hip-hop especially, the two tracks I mentioned above.
It's a shame ODB did not feature on any of the tracks since this is the last album made by the group before his untimely demise soon after. Still, a very good album as a whole with some real high points and very few real low points. Not the Wu's best album but that's a hard feat to accomplish. If you like hip hop and you havent got this, then antoher thing you dont have is a clue.
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What would we do without the Wu-tang Clan? Not only are their individual albums superb, ... more
(Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, et al), butIron Flagshows Rza's sonic adventures behind that production desk get ever more sublime, sci-fi and sex...
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What would we do without the Wu-tang Clan? Not only are their individual albums superb, ... more
(Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, et al), but Iron Flag shows Rza's sonic adventures behind that production desk get ever more sublime, sci-fi and s...
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In The Hood Rules Chrome Wheels Soul Power (Black Jungle) - (featuring Flavor Flav) ... more
Uzi (Pinky Ring) One Of These Days Ya'll Been Warned Babies Radioactive (Four Assassins) Back In The Game - (featuring Ron Isley) Iron Flag Dashing (Reasons)
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Feb 9th, 2009
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