Wu-Tang forever! / Heart Sutra recitation on new album
Just got the new Wu-Tang Clan album, 8 Diagrams. Meant to get it the moment it came out, and somehow didn't. What was I thinking? This album is great.
And as a special surprise bonus, it turns out that there's a recitation (in Mandarin) of the Heart Sutra at the end of the final track, "Life Changes." The track is a tribute to fallen Wu-Tang member -- and arguably one of the most unusual and greatest MCs ever -- Ol' Dirty Bastard.
Of course, you have to also deal with the usual language about ho's and such -- and more throughout the album that I really don't feel like typing up -- but then, that's the thing about the Wu: they make albums that mish-mash elements of spirituality and martial arts (Divine Mathematics, Buddhism, tai chi, kung fu, taoism) with all the other lyrical stuff that is almost boilerplate in East Coast rap.
Sometimes (often, really) they really nail it anyhow. Except for a couple of tracks, that's pretty much the case with 8 Diagrams.
Wu-Tang forever! ODB, R.I.P.
(You can download "Life Changes," and the rest of 8 Diagrams here.)
And as a special surprise bonus, it turns out that there's a recitation (in Mandarin) of the Heart Sutra at the end of the final track, "Life Changes." The track is a tribute to fallen Wu-Tang member -- and arguably one of the most unusual and greatest MCs ever -- Ol' Dirty Bastard.
Of course, you have to also deal with the usual language about ho's and such -- and more throughout the album that I really don't feel like typing up -- but then, that's the thing about the Wu: they make albums that mish-mash elements of spirituality and martial arts (Divine Mathematics, Buddhism, tai chi, kung fu, taoism) with all the other lyrical stuff that is almost boilerplate in East Coast rap.
Sometimes (often, really) they really nail it anyhow. Except for a couple of tracks, that's pretty much the case with 8 Diagrams.
Wu-Tang forever! ODB, R.I.P.
(You can download "Life Changes," and the rest of 8 Diagrams here.)
