The Inevitable LIQUID SWORDS poll

I'm just swingin swords strictly based on keyboards
Unbalanced like elephants and ants on see-saws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIDQoRuJr0c

protons electrons always cause explosions

But with knowledge of self from off the shelf
Made things seemed complicated, now small like elves

"Picture bloodbaths in elevator shafts" always made me think he wrote the line while watching "The Shining."

Damn near impossible to choose but today it's "Gold."

One of the great lyrical albums by anyone ever:

Like my man Muhammad from Afghanistan
Grew up in Iran, the nigga runs a neighborhood newsstand
A wild Middle Eastern bomb specialist
Initiated at eleven to be a terrorist
He set bombs in bottles of champagne
And when niggas popped the cork, niggas lost half they brains

My Priority is that I'm First Priority
I bone the secret out a bitch in a sorority
So look out for A&M
The Abbot and the Master
Breaking down your Pendulum

As I fiend MC's out with a blow that'll numb the a-
-ppendix, I'm holding more weight than Columbia
Index Interscope, we RCA, clan
That's coming with a plan to free a
Slave of a mental death MC don't panic
Throw that A&R nigga off the boat in the Atlantic

Adults kill for drugs plus the young bucks bust
Ducking handcuffs, throats get cut when dough rush
Out of town foes look shook but still pose
We move like real pros through the streets we stroll
Bullet holes lace the windows in one-six-oh
So control the avenues that's the dream that's sold
Building lobbies are graveyards for small-timers
Bitches caught in airports, Ki's in they vaginas
No peace, yo the police mad corrupt
You get bagged up, depending if you're passing the cut
Plus shorty's not a shorty no more, he's living heartless
Regardless of the charges, claims to be the hardest
Individual, critical thoughts, criminal minded
Blinded by illusion, finding it confusing

B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)

possibly one of the dopest Wu albums ever but GZA's acronym card is revoked forevermore!

strong disagree, great acronym

Tbf that one’s a CD-only bonus track and it’s 100% Killah Priest.

I heard that acronym at a Fundamentalist church convention long before Liquid Swords

xp its backstory is more complicated than I thought:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVy1QEulhDc

https://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/features/articles/the-making-of-liquid-swords-gza/

I am utterly baffled as to how Duel Of The Iron Mic got zero votes. It might be the best track on this album.

This is not a eighty-five affair, made clear
When the gods get on to perform storms blew up
Wu's up, causin the crowd to self-destruct
Killer bees are stingin somethin while I reveal
Science, that's heavily guarded by the culprit
Bombin your barracks, with aerodynamic
Swordplay, poison darts by the doorway
Minds that's laced with explosive doses
Damagin lyrical launcher
Lunge at the youthful offender then injure
Any contender, testin the murderous master
Could lead to disaster, dynamite thoughts
Explode through your barrier, rips the retina
Who can withstand the astonishing punishing
Stings to the sternum, shocked in the hip-hop livestock
Seekin for a serum, to cure em

And who the hell voted for BIBLE?? Because that should not have been on the CD. Should have just ended after 'to have it happen to my own neck is... ridiculous'

eeeeeeeuuuuuuurrrrrrhhhhhhhggghhhhh

lol

Cold World - Gold - Living in the World Today is the part of the album I don't really replay, it's dark and atmospheric and doesn't hit clear like the first two or 4th Chamber.
Shadowboxin' / Hell's Will / Investigative Reports (my potential vote) is the part I treasure, so inventive and fresh.
I'd say the album is stronger with BIBLE, it's welcome to have a bright track top it off, nice endless loop.

oh wow "Cold World" gets me every time. Took me years to trace the Stevie Wonder sample.

and "Shadowboxin'" is Method Man's finest moment anywhere.

There's no shame in voting for "B.I.B.L.E."

Also FWIW, I think it was meant as a "bonus track." Like GZA left it to RZA to figure out where to put it, and he didn't know where it would really fit within the album, so he just tagged it on to the end.

(I didn't vote for "B.I.B.L.E." though)

a true gem, very dark, very enjoyable

title track, duel of the iron mic, 4th chamber, shadowboxin, swordsman
^^can't choose

bible does seem tacked on

happy 28th birthday to this timeless masterpiece, released 7 november 1995

gotta read the labels

Happy birthday indeed! That really is a stacked track list when you see it laid out in poll form. Surprised that 4th Chamber did not win at the time, considering it is THE GREATEST SONG IN THE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC

Best album in history.

Aiyyo camouflage chameleon