The RZA gets no love.
As hip-hop spreads like a conflagration burning down the barriers separating once exclusive genres, his producing peers find themselves flooded with a demand to lend their production prowess.
Timbaland has created a world in which crisp but comfy beats propel raucous neophytes like Petey Pablo out of obscurity and into 14-year-old girls' stereos with a rapidity and precision that would make Midas blush. The mercurial Neptunes manage to lend themselves out to a clientele ranging from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Britney Spears, all while actually intensifying the fervid squeal for their elastic beats.
The RZA's phone hasn't rung in five months.
The ability to disguise a waif artist's shortcomings fuels the hype that drives the popularity of hip-hop producers and makes us believe that Fabulous has more in his repertoire than a Mase impersonation. As the mastermind of the Wu-Tang Clan empire, the RZA achieved success flouting this system. Faced with powerful but deceptively simple production, the Wu-Tang Clan has to rap with increased tenacity or the potent production drowns them out.
It's not that simple, though, because the increased volume coupled with simple production berths a responsibility for rappers to craft rhymes that actually say something.
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Accuse the RZA of plain production all you want, but the minimalism showcases the skills of his MCs better than any other producer can. His production feeds off the claustrophobia of nine MCs huddled in a basement studio, writing rhymes with the fear of being eclipsed by each other. Members of the Clan pour heated focus into each Wu-Tang song, as if he's an assassin hired to go into a song, perform his unique specialty and get out before the track goes flat.
The results are not as pretty as anything by the Neptunes, but they're every bit as captivating.
On the Wu's fourth collaboration, "Iron Flag," the RZA continues his robust production while allowing each Clan member to further chisel his position in the group with a determination absent in solo projects.
The title track is classic "Forever"-era Wu-Tang: oscillating strings accompany a rudimentary cymbal and bass-beat while classic soul and kung-fu movie samples weave in and out. On "Babies" the RZA lays down a loosely packed track with bluesy trumpet and solemn diva crooning that allows Raekwon unfold a gruesome tale of a corrupt "pale-faced" cop and a doomed resistance with a cinematic vividness.
It's not until RZA begins messing with the Wu formula that he reveals the ambition that should accompany such bold beats. The RZA introduces a hearty horn section and a swanky bass-line ("Uzi"), resurrects a retro-70s house party complete with flutes and congas ("Soul Power") and even manages to create a bittersweet paean to hood life.
In these songs, a glimmer of the RZA who changed rap a decade ago emerges.
"Iron Flag" stumbles only when the RZA woefully mars "Chrome Wheels" and "Y'all Been Warned" with the stale, quasi-futuristic beats of his Bobby Digital persona which had previously been limited to his lame solo efforts. On both songs when the RZA takes the mic, he doesn't rap as much as use his husky voice to hemorrhage raunchiness that only someone with the demented charm of ODB could get away with you.
The rest of the Clan, the ones who belong in front of the mic, delivers, as it always does, continuous spurts of free-for-all giddy wordplay rivaled commercially by only the Roots and Cannibal Ox. They're angered at all the doubters who questioned the Wu dynasty and those who copped their style. "Everyone switched their names... It was the Gods who ripped that," raps Ghostface Killah with the delusion of disoriented rabid pitbull ("Back in the Game").
Ghost needs to calm down. Obviously in hip-hop credit doesn't go to those who deserve.
Just ask the RZA.
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