Each video was a new missive that helped to spread the influence of the Wu and prepare the world for the impending invasion. RZA had mapped out his strategy back in 1992 and informed the newly formed Clan in a meeting that if they put everything into his hands, in five years they’d be the largest thing in rap and they could then control their own individual destinies. This was merely stage one being executed.
The deal RZA signed with Steve Rifkind was a landmark one as well. Loud/RCA received the Clan for short money up front ($60,000 for all nine members) but the MCs were free to sign as solo artists with any record label they wanted. The Wu-Tang Clan signing soon became a sort of a coup for Loud, a label that was acquiring many of the best groups and individual MC’s in rap music. Enter The Wu-Tang somehow managed to capture both the imagination of Hip-Hop fans and the cultural zeitgeist simultaneously.
This album spoke directly to a new generation of rap fans, capitalized off of the climate of the rap game at that particular time then caused a sea change that affected the way rap music sounded for the remainder of the second Golden Era. The next November, Method Man released his Def Jam debut, Tical, and the Wu-Tang saga continued. Bring da ruckus.
One.
