Wu-Tang Clan dropped some big news on fans this week with the announcement of a new album, A Better Tomorrow, which is “coming soon”. The hip hop collective broke word on Facebook, without setting an official release date.
So why is the music world not convulsing with ecstatic spasms of utopian exuberance, knowing that another dose from Hip-Hop’s most legendary crew is on its way? It may have something to do with the endless complications tied to the group. While their tour in support of the 20th anniversary of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) put them in front of massive festival audiences and took us all back to the doe-eyed pre-9/11 mindset of the nineties, the lack of full-group presence, in-fighting and absence of new material has kept the Wu in league with half-hearted nostalgia acts cashing in on a name.
We all talk about what was, with that longing spark in our eyes. Macklemore raps about it, the hipsters brag about it, and those who legitimately grew up on Wu-Tang have a depth of reverence for the wildly unpredictable rap crew that’s untouched by modern artists. But the group, for all their all-star players, have until recently been too driven on individual vehicles to feel like a fully cohesive unit.
As NME reports, late last year RZA, who serves as the outfit’s kinetic heart and visionary, promised that production on the album was nearing completion. In an interview with Associated Press in late 2013, the rapper repeated claims he made previously about Raekwon holding up the recording process. The difficulty in looping in the group’s strongest flowmaster has, understandably not been sitting well with the man pulling it all together.
“The energy that’s important is constantly pouring out,” RZA reassured fans. “But when you’ve got to go seek for the energy, it becomes a little more difficult. Wu-Tang is forever, I’ll never take back that statement. But we haven’t recorded a lot of studio albums.”
RZA continued, indicating a heightened awareness of urgency to make some real progress on wax. “This is the first album we’ve recorded in seven years, actually,” he explained. “And we can’t wait seven years for another album.”
Will we see another genuinely great Wu-Tang album in 2014, or will A Better Tomorrow be another fragmented sign of a team of legends who lost their way? Time will tell.
