How's the new GZA record?

I know it is in some record stores, but no idea how good distribution is.

"Paper Plate" then. lol.

They played Pro Tools at Easy Street today, BUT paused the CD before "Paper Plate" just so the hip-hop buyer could announce on the mic the back-story behind the track and why everyone in the record store should listen to the lyrics closely.

"Pencil" refs Ivan Koloff, which made me smile real big

No Nikita Koloff? Needs work.

what about oliver klozoff?

They played Pro Tools at Easy Street today, BUT paused the CD before "Paper Plate" just so the hip-hop buyer could announce on the mic the back-story behind the track and why everyone in the record store should listen to the lyrics closely.

--Makro Makro

0% Finance = guitar

would listen 1,000X and be okay with that

on the other hand, packaging = very sad

http://nikolai-volkoff.navajo.cz/nikolai-volkoff.jpg

he's playing here next month and its billed as "gza performing liquid swords". the short press bio in the ad was probably written by that record store clerk

The Genius, aka the GZA, was the most cerebral MC in the Wu-Tang Clan, as well as perhaps the most acclaimed. His cool, precise flow and intricate, literate rhymes weren't as theatrical as Method Man or Ol' Dirty Bastard, the two biggest commercial stars to spring from the collective. But among hip-hop aficionados, the Genius was revered for his flawless technique and lyrical dexterity, and was considered by many to be the best pure rapper in the entire Clan.

"best pure rapper alive"

"I was an MC when you were in Nutville"

"was"

I can feel the presence all around me the scene isn't funny, I got those chills
I can feel the presence all around me the scene isn't funny, it's all too real

Berlin/Missing Persons synths & chorus in Life Is a Movie are weird, but cool. Album ends strangely (not counting the live track).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ef2pnGFu0

so... how's the album then?

It's taking a while to sink in. Low key on the first pass(es), and short on pull-quote punchlines. Maybe a bit too relaxed & monochromatic, overall? Pencil leads off spectacular, with suprisingly GREAT (and long) closing verses from RZA-as-Bobby-Digital, but it makes some of what follows sound tired in comparison. Even when the energy flags, though, GZA's writing is often flat-out amazing, especially on the more cinematic/writerly stuff. Thinking particularly of the schoolyard scene-setting in 1st verse of Groundbreaking and parts of 0% Finance (which pushes the car metaphors farther than they really want to go).

On the other hand, the doomy-gritty big city storytelling on Path of Destruction, Columbian Ties and Short Race feels overly familiar and doesn't go anywhere new. Love the closing section (Cinema, Intermission and Life Is a Movie) cuz the content is kinda goofy and the concept well handled. Plus it doesn't hurt that these last couple tracks are a lot more vibrant and dynamic than most of the album's midsection. RZA's oddball new-wave production on Life Is a Movie is the album's biggest and most memorable musical curveball. Wish more of Pro Tools were as deliriously weird as the chorus here.

Anyway, it's hit and miss. Lots of good stuff, but a fair amount of dead-weight filler, too.

I got a smile that’d make the mirror crack
And I seem to stay under clouds that’s pitch black
So when it rains it pours and when it pours I’m soaked
I contracted lung cancer from third hand smoke (and um)
I’m like the frog who’s dying to be a prince
The boy who cried wolf and no woman’s convinced
The man who hit lotto and lost his ticket in a rainstorm
And struck by lightning trying to get it

Why did my copy not advertise its radio-safeness?

It's one of the weaker tracks, but the track that sample's Gary Numan's "Films" is quite fun, although GZA peeters out halfway through and lets Numan take over but not before an attempt at a chorus falsetto. Then again, "Films" is one of my favorite songs ever.

Isn't "Life Is a Movie" the track that samples "Films"?* I think it is, and it's pretty great. Love the falsetto chorus. Closest GZA's got to being Biz Markie.

* Didn't identify it as Gary Numan at first, referred instead to the "Berlin/Missing Persons synths". Yikes.

Favorite lyrics, from "Groundbreaking":

I'm in the schoolyard rhyming with my brother Jamel and Ra' Allah
Vibin to the beat and imagining how far
The sound would travel if we turned up the volume
It would shake the gravel before we heard the loud boom
It vibrated through the parking lot
And shattered a few windshields, set off a sparking shot
The local UPS cat, but we didn't stress that
He had a slow leak, front tire almost flat

I got a cousin think he slicker than the oil on the chain
But I live in an arcade surrounded by game
He used to pass me bucks, trying gas me up
He was a fast talker and he kept a flashy cut
From a spot that was on Malcolm X Boulevard
Where this magician, wishing I would pull a card
An optical illusion, and whose hands were quick
But wasn't fast enough not to reveal his trick

Pencil leads off spectacular, with suprisingly GREAT (and long) closing verses from RZA-as-Bobby-Digital, but it makes some of what follows sound tired in comparison.

This held true for me the couple times I listened to the album in full. When it works best, though, is on shuffle -- just heard "Pencil" and it sounds a LOT better followed by Radiohead's "Paperbag Writer" than anything else on the Pro Tools album.

how's the new GZA sitcom?

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2011/03/wu-tang-member-inspires-fx-comedy.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9C4-sbQISg

Neil Degrasse Tyson, physics, GZA, oceans!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303640104577436392955009490.html

"There's no parental advisory, no profanity, no nudity," he said. "The only thing that's going to be stripped bare is the planets."

i love GZA because when i see his lyrics printed out i always can imagine exactly how he'll say them right down to the last syllable:

"God put the needle on the disc of Saturn / The record he played revealed blueprints and patterns"

i think he's fond of that one - isn't it on grandmasters?

blueprints and pat-err-ins

sometimes i love the universe so much because i feel like it's planting facts in reality that were made just for me
but anyway, the classic "Luminal" by GZA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cggW3cmROs

is based on a fukkkin June of 44 sample!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCcFpWa9Bs8

this fact was also made for me

holy shit. never listened to that gza album. listened to that jo44 album an embarrassing amount.

legend of the liquid sword is very underrated IMO

I feel the same about Beneath The Surface

beneath the surface is the best non-ghostface wu tang sophomore release

nigga please is better i think but yeah gza is kind of undervalued with the obv exception of liquid swords

beneath the surface is the best non-ghostface wu tang sophomore release

― adam, Friday, February 1, 2013 2:48 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

its his third album :/

not as a wu-tang though

yeah don't come at me with that extra-wu bullshit man

gza and vangeezy working on the new one...

https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11885175_10155975795215258_2716254781766702185_n.jpg?oh=c7b6f9c7038f6b6892055acd8053e50e&oe=566ED9EF

super cool

for $250, you can play chess against him before his show on his current tour.

Can I play a round of tic-tac-toe for five bucks?

no but you can also play pool against him for $150

I wonder what his rank is

About to see him. It's outdoors and spread out which is nice. Good vibes