A Seth Pohorence Pop-Ed: The Greatest Hip-Hop Album Ever

As you can tell by my photo, I am white. If you have met me, I'm the whitest person who's not named Jim Gaffigan. If you need to know one thing you would never guess about me, it's that I love the Wu-Tang Clan.

As a young buck in the 1990s, rap music really took off, not only a cultural but also a commercialized stand point. While people talk about Biggie or 2-Pac or even Puff Daddy, to me, rap became an art form with the debut of the Wu-Tang Clan.

November of 1993 gave us Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). The album, heavily influenced by the group's love of martial arts films, was engineered by RZA, who would score Kill Bill and other hip-hop albums. This would be the start of his legacy. Using the multi-talented ensemble group, Wu-Tang Clan's raw sound gave it a gritty yet smooth delivery garnering huge success and praise.



The strength of the band, or really, we should refer to them as a super group, helped deliver on the lyrics of the tracks. When you feature Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard (rest in peace), Method Man, U-God and Masta Killa, you're going to have a great variety of mix, flow and tone. The humorous, dark and violent nature of the lyrics helped conduct diverse rap battles in the songs, showcasing what made all these guys stars in their own right and as a group.



The album produced three singles, Method Man, C.R.E.A.M. and Can It Be All So Simple, with C.R.E.A.M. defining the attitude of the Wu. Throughout the twenty years since the album has been out, that song helped sell T-shirts, appearances on Chappelle's Show and crappy martial art video games with the band's message.



All in all, my personal love aside, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) helped influence many of today's best, including Kanye West, who I totally support as an artist. Now if only I could have been a member ... they could've called me White Honky.