The Impact of Wu-Tang Clan

Because there's a whole another level of training to Wu-Tang. Like if you specifically put Wu-Tang on to train, like I kind of get your mentality and that internal feeling that you get. Because yeah, that's one of my, not my last fight, but the fight before I walked out to protect your neck. Yes! And like that, just that mentality, like the beat and the drums, you just feel like this, I don't know, like a badass martial artist. When we're like a street martial artist. When we drive to shows, like when we leave the hotel and then we go to the arena, whenever I'm doing comedy, we listen to protect your neck. That's the first thing we listen to, we get in the car. Either gravel pit or protect your neck. A gravel pit's crazy, right? They're like, they're like, dang, dang, dang. Check out my gravel pit. It's just, I get it. Man, that era of hip-hop to me is just like, I mean, obviously I'm old, so like that era was when I was young and it was like when I was really getting into hip-hop. But there's something about that era of hip-hop because it was, hip-hop was only a couple of decades old then. Yeah. And I really didn't, I mean, Sugarhill Gang was like what, 1979, 1978? Like when was rappers delight? I mean, way before my time, I was born 90. So like, I think it was like 78 or 79. It could have been. It could have been. Do you know? 1980. 1980. OK, so yeah. So that's when rap was essentially, modern rap was essentially born. And then, you know, 10 years later, 15 years later, you know, you got Cool G Rap and DJ Polo, you got all those 90s hip-hop guys. Yep. You know? Correct, that's officially released on September 16th, 1970. Wow. There you go. Did you get to see the Wu-Tang Saga at all on Hulu? No. Joe, we're OK. You got to watch it. Really? Oh my god. OK, I hadn't been excited about a show in a long time. And I saw the Wu-Tang Saga. And some people have certain, you know, whatever their opinions on it. But I think to be able to see the background of every single member of Wu-Tang, so it follows each character individually and how they all came together. And Ashton Sanders, Saunders, who plays the RZA. And just there is a scene in season two where he's sampling the music. And it takes him into this all-black room where the, I can't even remember the group that he was sampling. But they pop up and they're each playing their instruments. And then as he turns it down on the keyboard, or as he turns it down on the board, then the guy's still singing. But you can't hear him anymore. Apparently, he was on set for a lot of the scenes and stuff, just kind of overseeing everything or giving his input on like, you know, this is how it is. But yeah, being someone who loves to make music and produce beats and stuff, when I saw that scene, I had to rewind it. I had to replay it because I'm like, yeah, exactly. When you're listening, when you're trying to create music, and maybe if you're sampling, you might just hear the guitar. And you don't want the drums or you don't want the sing. So you like turn that down and you're like, ah, that's the feeling that I want to sample. So when I saw that, I mean, that was season two, but I was already sold on the show before, you know. How many seasons are there? I think only two and the third is coming. Yeah, the third one's coming out. The interesting thing about hip-hop is that it was the first musical genre, at least popular musical genre, that sampled stuff. Like in that, it made the songs more interesting because you heard a little bit of an old song in there. And you're like, oh, I remember that beat. But then it's all these new lyrics over that beat that changes what that beat is. And it's like, there was this, you know, there was like a lot of debate in the early days of sampling, like, is this stealing? Like, what is this? No, because the other song still exists. And it's obvious that this is a piece of that other song. But it enhances new music. Yeah, exactly. It's a totally different thing. Like taking little pieces of stuff and combining it together is an art form in and of itself. Personally, it's an appreciation. Yes. Right. It's like someone created this masterpiece already. And I took my favorite part from it and maybe just looped it or sped it up and then kind of made a version of it, not to like compete with this other song, but it's like an appreciation like, thank you. You've just made this amazing piece of music that I can now listen to on repeat or listen to in a way that, you know, translates to me in a certain way and to millions more. I don't know. I don't see a problem with it. I think it's cool. Yeah, it's not like they're pretending they didn't do that. You know what I mean? Like stealing is like there's there's been bands that have gotten in trouble because they have a riff that sounds exact like an old riff that's on a record and they don't give the other band credit. It's not a sample. They're just trying to copy it and then they wind up losing all the royalties. Well, you know, that's the business of the business. Yeah. You got to get your cut, too, though, right? You can't be mad at the other guy. The music business is a weird business. You know, like guys who are in a band together, the band could be massive, but two guys are like the head guys in the band and they make all the money. Yeah. And then the other guys get pissed, you know. Yeah, I mean, kind of going back to Wu-Tang, I feel like that there was a little a little bit of that wasn't a member's in Wu-Tang at one point in time, right? Yeah, absolutely. But I think one of the things was the guys didn't really understand the music business. RZA was like the brains behind it. He was the one who like, you know, had all of the kind of like business decisions and like, hey, I need you guys to sign this. I need you guys to sign these contracts so we can get this money to make this music. And, you know, they kind of trusted him and did it. And I guess it just it didn't end up really being like a good deal for everybody. They go over it a little bit in the show, but I think there's another documentary that kind of goes a little bit more in depth, you know, with all that stuff. But yeah, man, business is dirty. Business is dirty. It's a dirty game business. Yes, it is. With so many people and so many different, you know. Yeah, man, we all got to get paid. Yeah. That's just the fact that they brought those dudes together, though, is so interesting that the Wu-Tang Clan existed at all. And it's so iconic. You know, like Wu-Tang is probably the most iconic hip hop band of all time. Yeah, I mean, off the top of my head, I really can't think of someone else to compare. No, it doesn't. No one compares. It's a different thing. Yeah, like Wu-Tang is like a mindset. Yeah. Like when Dave Chappelle says Wu-Tang is a punchline sometimes. Yeah. Like, he'll say something and just go, Wu-Tang. You can't use any other band for that. You really can't. Yeah. You really can't. And they're, I mean, they're logo, they're symbol, they're known everywhere. Yeah. You can go to, you know, Jakarta, Indonesia, and it's like they know who Wu-Tang is or they've seen the symbol or something. And the people in it vary so wildly. You got old dirty bastard who was just fucking crazy. Yeah. And then you got the Jizzah who's like, he's an elite chess player. Yeah. And I think he's done like Ted Talks and shit. No, the guy's a genius. Yeah, like a legit genius. Like Jizzah the genius is a genius. Yeah, I think he actually, he studied and has a degree in something like very like, Yeah, like physics. Yeah. I think he has like a physics degree or something like that. Yeah. The guy, the guy's a genius. Who is his Ted Talk? See if you can find out what the Jizzah's Ted Talk is, but because I guarantee he did a Ted Talk. Yeah, look at that. The genius of science, the Jizzah and the science genius at Ted X-Teen. Yeah. I mean, what the fuck, man? That's incredible. Yeah, I mean, when you listen to some of his bars, you're like, wow, how do you put those things together? That's the other thing about 90s hip hop and like that era and Wu-Tang Clan in particular, like the lyrics were so good. There was, you would hear lyrics and you would just go, oh shit. Like how did you put those together to make that? Yeah. Scenario happened and yeah. Lyrics to me are everything. I mean, the beat is everything too. I mean, it's all together obviously, but it's like, man, just something about like sharp lyrics. It's exciting.