Kevvy Kev's Wu-Tang Wednesdays ain't nuthin to mess with! The pioneering Bay Area hip-hop DJ, who began his career a full decade even before the famous Staten Island hip-hop collective first took the music world by storm, began his popular new WU weekly (Wednesdays at 2800 24th Street in San Francisco) back in late November out of a passion for the group and 90's classic hip-hop - specifically the Wu-Tang Clan who helped shape the decade's hip-hop sound. "It needed to be done. That’s always been the mission: Give the streets what they need," he told the Amoeblog earlier this afternoon taking a brief break from digging in his deep crates for records that include the ones in his top five below.

As for what Kev thinks makes the Wu-Tang such an important and essential music group? "At no time before, and arguably since, has that much talent been assembled in one package with that sort of game-changing production, concept, and execution. It was literally the perfect storm, and that’s why it hit the entire culture like a thermonuclear bomb,". he replied quickly adding for further emphasis, "And you know what a bomb sounds like, right? Bong bong!"

As a club and radio DJ (his long-running KZSU show "The Drum" is both highly influential and legendary  - read the Amoeblog profile on it and Kevvy Kev here) he has personally known the Wu members from their inception - even before in fact. "I met RZA first, as a solo artist when he was on Tommy Boy," he recalled, continuing. "After that record, he went solo and released "Protect Ya Neck" independently, and the streets went crazy! So when Loud picked up the group, they flew ‘em out to Cali and did a run from LA to the Bay. The [Bay Area Hip-Hop] Coalition handled the Bay Area part of the run, so we had a chance to build with the clan," he recalled pausing for a moment. "Too many stories to go into here, but you can imagine!" And as for Kevvy Kev's top five favorite Wu-Tang Clan joints of the moment - whether group, solo, or side projects? "With the caveat that this list changes frequently and for often arbitrary reasons,," he replied. "For the purposes of this list, I’m only picking songs from the Wu albums - not solo joints or collabos."

A popular album at Amoeba Music since its release four weeks ago is Ghostface Killah's latest release, 36 Seasons (Salvation/Tommy Boy), which is the Wu-Tang Clan artist's eleventh solo studio album release since he unleashed his debut solo (the RZA-produced Ironman) back in 1996. It is the artist's latest since last year's Adrian Younge-produced Twelve Reasons To Die. For 36 Seasons, Ghostface collaborated in the studio with Brooklyn-based production outfit The Revelations.

The result is an album that has met positive feedback from fans who love it, with many even considering it the artist's best solo work to date. Alternately, those who have dissed it call it unoriginal and claim that the artist is merely going through the motions and regurgitating past formulas. I see where they are coming from but I disagree. I love how Ghostface continues to demonstrate what a gifted storyteller he is. With the help of album collaborators such as Kool G Rap and AZ, he weaves intriguing tales all tied into the album's theme of a returning hip-hop superhero to his rough and rugged streets of Staten Island following beeing away for 36 seasons (nine years). 

Hip-hop and hockey converge nicely in the just released promo-only, free nine-track EP ("FreEP") Enter Tha 63 Chambahs which is a hockey themed homage appropriating the mighty Wu Tang Clan  recorded by Akrobatik upon request by Boston Bruins star Brad Marchand. The Massachusetts hip-hop artist, who hails from Boston's Dorchester neighborhood , recently recorded the EP for the ever-popular Boston Bruin's left winger Brad Marchand whose nickname is Noseface Killah and who often calls his teammates "The Bru-Tang Clan."

As fans of professional ice hockey already know in a period of just 18 months Brad Marchand has won a Stanley Cup and become quite a favorite among Boston hockey fans. These fans appreciate Marchand's often self-effacing humor and the fact that he jokingly calls himself  "Noseface Killah" - a name that has taken off and led to this hip-hop one off project which is actually a marketing tool to promote sports the sports star's new line of gear been made by the The Boston Sports Apparel Company.

The title of Enter Tha 63 Chambahs (3 skits and 6 songs with Akrobatik rhyming over Wu Tang instrumentals), is a play on both the Wu Tang album title (Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)) and the fact that Marchand's jersey number is 63.  To download for free the Enter Tha 63 Chambahs EP by Akrobatik aka The Bru-Tang Clan, which features such tracks as  “Bru-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothing To Puck Wit” and “Protect Ya Net”  click here.
 

1) Wu-Tang Legendary Weapons (Entertainment One Music)

2) Teeko Light Up the Darkness (Mellow Orange)

3. elZHi  Elmatic (2 DopeBoyz)

4) San Quinn Can't Take the Ghetto Out A Niigga (Prominent House Records)

5) MellowHype Blackenedwhite (Fat Possum Records)

The Wu-Tang's anticipated latest, Legendary Weapons, dropped last week and since has shot to the number one position on the latest Amoeba Music San Francisco hip-hop chart, which comes courtesy of Luis at the Haight Street store. So is it a great album and does it live up to the Wu-Tang (formerly Wu-Tang Clan) legacy? Yes and no. No it doesn't top 36 Chambers - but then nothing will ever surpass that timeless, pitch-perfect, hip-hop masterpiece that the Shaolin crew burst onto the scene with eighteen long years ago. But yes it is a really strong hip-hop album from the Wu who, even though they appear here minus the major player Genius/GZA and the lesser Wu warrior Masta Killa, still deliver a kick ass album with Legendary Weapons whose production is handled by the production trio of Fizzy Womack, Noah Rubin, and Andrew Kelley who keep true to the RZA formula (RZA is credited as the "executive producer" which I assume means he popped into the studio here and there to look over the trio's shoulders and make sure they delivered that unique WU flavor.)  As well as the RZA on board for this release are Wu-Tang core members Ghostface, Raekwon, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, Cappadonna, and U-God as well as cameos from a variety of talents including AZ, M.O.P., Termanology, Trife Diesel, and Killa Sin. Below is a sample track from the album; "Never Feel The Pain," that features Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Tre Williams.

1) The Madlib Medicine Show 1, Before The Verdict featuring Guilty Simpson (Stones Throw)

2) Strong Arm Steady In Search of Stoney Jackson (Stones Throw)

3) Slum Village Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 2.10  (Barak Records)

4) Mathematics Presents Return Of The Wu And Friends (Gold Dust Media)

5) DJ Green Lanern & Styles P The Green Ghost Project (Invasion Music Group)

New releases on the latest hip-hop chart from Amoeba Music Hollywood include the Slum Village reissue by Barak Records of  Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 2.10 (in a two CD set), and also the equally recommended producer DJ Green Lantern and rapper Styles P collaboration The Green Ghost Project which features cameos from Styles P's fellow D-Block cohorts Jadakiss, and Sheek Louch, as well as guest shots from M.O.P, N.O.R.E, Uncle Murda, and Junior Reid. Appearing on DJ Green Lantern's label, the renowned mix DJ, who initially built his rep as the main DJ for Eminem's Shady Records label, shares production credits here with the Alchemist, Scram Jones, and Statik Selektah, a great combination of two of the best. Also new but not recommended, unless you don't have a lot of Wu Tang in your collection already, is the Feb 16th release Mathematics Presents Return Of The Wu And Friends, which really offers little new to the true Wu fan, with re-released tracks and some slightly modified/remixed ones, as the website HipHopDX so accurately pointed out. The tracks "It’s What it Is” and “Iron God Chamber” both appeared on Masta Killa’s album Made In Brooklyn four years ago, while the songs “Strawberries & Cream” and “Rush” are scooped straight from DJ Mathematics’ very own 2005 album, The Problem. It is not that this is a bad album by any means, but rather it is slightly misleading in its presentation, which implies it is chock-a-block with fresh new material.