The Popstream Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit

This has been kind of a Wu-Tang month for me. Not only did I finally get around to seeing the film that gave their classic debut its name (it being one of those odd but great kung fu movies where the training sequences are the best part of it), but I got ahold of Enter the 37th Chamber, an album by Brooklyn funk band The El Michels Affair that replicates (and kind of mutates) classic RZA productions from various famous Wu-Tang group and solo records. Throw in the recent debut of "New Wu", the first single from the long-awaited Raekwon's Only Built for Cuban Linx II (which has a release date of August 11th, thus putting the vaporware-album onus back on Dre's Detox), and it's kind of difficult not to get at least moderately geeked out. So here's a few clips to keep that going.


Here's GZA, Raekwon and Inspectah Deck collaborating with the aforementioned El Michels Affair on "Bring Da Ruckus". I've seen a few shows where various Wu-Tang solo members were backed by live bands and they never fail to be exciting; it's always something to hear a track you've heard dozens if not hundreds of times dismantled piece by breakbeat piece and reassembled by live musicians. This isn't the cleanest-sounding video, but you can still hear how raw those horns sound. Also, next time anyone gives me shit for liking Pink Floyd I'm gonna direct them to this clip and point out Raekwon's t-shirt.



One of my favorite YouTube phenomena is the homemade/DIY music video: sometimes they suck ("dude, let's pay tribute to my favorite Hollywood Undead song by combining it with footage from Naruto and that Super Mario Bros. cartoon"), but sometimes you'll get a clip inspired enough to hold its own against the lower-budget classics you might've seen at 2 AM on MTV once upon a time. Inspired by the Speed Racer-appropriating video for Ghostface Killah's 1996 single "Daytona 500", one enterprising YouTube user picked up the Tony Starks persona and ran with it for 2000's "Nutmeg", setting Ghostface's Supreme Clientele kickoff track to footage from the classic '60s Iron Man cartoon, interspersed with footage of Ghost filtered through comic book-style halftone dots.



And here's what appears to be outtakes from an MTV News interview between Ol' Dirty Bastard and John Norris. Despite the fact that it's a damn shame how ODB's life ended prematurely, watching him just Not Give A Fuck throughout the seven minutes of this clip is the reason I'm less miserable today than I was yesterday.