Absolute favorite Wu-Tang Clan member

[Yami Daimao]

Inspectah Deck.

Then it's GZA.

[Dat Dude]

Sucks they never let Redman in.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

ODB to the extent that I don't even bother with their material since he 1. stopped appearing as much and 2. died.

[Mac]

RZA



... He was part of my wedding song

[Massive G]

Ghostface, then GZA.

[Yami Daimao]

Also, I know I didn't list Masta Killa and Cappadonna, but the METHOD Man style intro was just so tempting. Hence the Other option, sorry. Hell, Masta Killa is tied with Method Man as my 3rd favorite.

[Renslayer]

Does anybody like U-God?

[Massive G]

Apr 4, 2012 21:15:29 GMT -5 Yami Daimao said:

Also, I know I didn't list Masta Killa and Cappadonna, but the METHOD Man style intro was just so tempting. Hence the Other option, sorry. Hell, Masta Killa is tied with Method Man as my 3rd favorite.

Cappadonna is terrible

[chazraps]

Apr 4, 2012 21:24:34 GMT -5 Massive G said:

Apr 4, 2012 21:15:29 GMT -5 Yami Daimao said:

Also, I know I didn't list Masta Killa and Cappadonna, but the METHOD Man style intro was just so tempting. Hence the Other option, sorry. Hell, Masta Killa is tied with Method Man as my 3rd favorite.

Cappadonna is terrible

Cappadonna has exactly one and a half good verses.

For my money, the best "Wu-Tang & Friends" friend is Killa Priest.

Letting Redman in wouldn't make any sense. He's from New Jersey, was well established before the Wu took off and was already a member of Hit Squad (and later Def Squad). It would be like when Snoop joined NWA for a week and hip-hop agreed to never speak of it again.

I'm rolling with Dirty.

[Mochi Lone Wolf]

Apr 4, 2012 21:22:41 GMT -5 Renslayer said:

Does anybody like U-God?

Not really. He was OK on the mic, but he never stood out to me like everyone else did in some way. If that makes sense.

[Yami Daimao]

Apr 4, 2012 21:35:32 GMT -5 chazraps said:

Apr 4, 2012 21:24:34 GMT -5 Massive G said:

Cappadonna is terrible

Cappadonna has exactly one and a half good verses.

And that's just in Winter Warz. ;D

[triplethreatmark]

Gza. He may not be in the limelight as much as the other guys, but when he has to bring it on the mic, he usually delivers. Liquid Swords is still one of my favorite rap albums of all time.

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Apr 4, 2012 21:22:41 GMT -5 Renslayer said:

Does anybody like U-God?

I went to the big Rage Against the Machine/Wu Tang Clan tour back in 1997 before it fell apart. U-God was the surprise of the night, he was much better live than on the albums.

That said, I go with GZA. If for nothing else than "Bill Ghostbustin'-ass Murray!"

[Deleted]

Jesus, I'm rollin' with you.

[salsashark]

GZA is tops. "Liquid Swords" and "Killah Hill" are absolutely brilliant. He's also the strongest narrative teller of the bunch, next to my second choice.

Second is Ghostface Killah. I don't always understand him or agree with his POV, but so many of his lines are just brilliantly phrased. My new favorite is from "Iron Maiden": "My telephone watch leaves bartenders topless." Just WTF in a very good way. I can't wait for his collaboration with DOOM to wrap up.

Third is the very underrated Inspectah Deck. He was my first favorite member when I only knew "CREAM" and "Protect Ya Neck" in the early '00s. Again, just brilliant with his phrasing and imagery. "Steamrollin' n***as like a 18-wheeler with a drunk driver drivin'/There's no survivin." is probably my favorite. Also, his opening verse on "Triumph" is gold.

Fourth is Raekwon. He seems to come off as one of the more angry, introverted members of the WTC, but he, too, is brilliant. I love his voice. The way he says "SHAOW-LIN'S FAHNEST" on "Ice Cream" is one of my favorite Wu moments to rap along, too. Plus, his Rae nickname resembles my real name, so I have a soft spot for him.

Fifth is Method Man because he's a very entertaining presence who is unlike everyone else in the group. Not essential in the way the above three are, but he still brings great. Love "M.E.T.H.O.D. Man."

Sixth is RZA. Obviously, from a production/creation standpoint, he's the most essential, but as a rapper, he tends to slur his words and come off as unintentionally goofy pretty often. He always sounds like he's about to spit flecks of saliva onto the microphone, which sometimes endears me to him, sometimes turns me off. He's always trying hard to be such a bad ass, which can be contrived. But he has a bunch of upsides. His verse on "Tearz" shows an amount of subtlety I wouldn't expect from the Wu-Tang Clan, plus he puts so much emotion into his words.

Seventh is ODB. Great delivery, just not always coherent or intelligent enough to captivate my attention.

Eighth is Masta Killa. He's very good, but he's also only on a handful of my favorite Wu-Tang tracks, so he hasn't gotten enough time to shine and captivate me at the right moment. I wouldn't call him a poor man's GZA, but he definitely seems like GZA's brainier brother who just doesn't have his charm and swagger.

Ninth is U-God. He really isn't as bad as everyone says (Check out "Knuckleheadz" from Cuban Linx, he's great on that), but he's also got incredibly tough competition.

Tenth is Cappadonna (if we're including him), just because he tends to come off as super obnoxious and self-involved in a way that doesn't seem nearly as cool or charming as when the other Wu members talk about themselves. He's got some good lines, but I'd probably like him more if he came off as less of an asshole.

I really only started listening to Wu-Tang Clan last fall (I knew a couple of songs, but they were whatever), but now I'm a bona fide long-term addict. I sincerely love WTC overall like no other rap group or rappers and now know way too much useless s*** about these guys.

Semi-tangential story: MDogg and I communicated a while ago when I got the chance to interview GZA for work (this was pre becoming a big fan of GZA's), and I never told MDogg about my experience, but it was pretty great. We talked about a wrestling reference ("Breaking backs like Ken Patera" or something like that is somewhere on Liquid Swords), and he says that he loved it as a kid but hated it after he found out it was fake. He definitely seems like a jilted fan who would probably be into it today if it was legit. I should transcribe all his thoughts on wrestling sometime, he seemed really passionate about how pissed off he was. I also ended up correcting him about a Bruno Sammartino fact or something along those lines and he said in this great way, "Man, you know more about this stuff than I do." It was a LOLworthy moment.

Enough rambling. Let us now bask in the presence of my favorite new Wu-Tang song (Language, of course):



"Just me and you, motherf***er. Just me and you. I'll put trademarks around your f***in' eyes."

[Junkenstein]

Gonna give a vote to Raekwon. Only Built... is a masterpiece and the second one is great too.

[Hawk Hart]

GZA, Ghostface, Method Man, Deck, RZA, Raekwon, ODB, and then after that it's interchangeable really.

[skulldouggory]

Method in the lead!

[Zabel Zarock]

While Gohst is my favorite *Man is one of the best storytellers in the game* I gotta say Inspecta Deck is seriously the most underratted and best in the group.

[DragonMasterP]

I'd have to go with Ghostface, even if it's because I used him all the time in the Def Jam games.