Liquid Swords is the second solo studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan-member GZA, released November 7, 1995 on Geffen Records. It is considered to be one of the best Wu-Tang Clan solo albums along with Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…. The album went platinum and was critically acclaimed for its lyrically complex and musically hypnotic style. The Chicago Tribune cited Liquid Swords as "one of the most substantial lyrical journeys in hip-hop history".[11] In 1998, The Source magazine selected the album as one of its 100 Best Rap Albums.[12]
Music
It has great songs, it's not an ignorant album, it doesn't sound dated. If you listen to it and compare it to what's out now, it's timeless. I think artists should really write more. People say Wu-Tang makes you think too much. What's wrong with thinking? A lot of dudes write these street tales and they're so gory, 'cause they think
gory is visual ... they're so literal, and so street level. You know, like crack spots and whatever. I wanted to write something and take it to a level where nobody's done it. 'Cold World' was done in
RZA's house, in his basement in
Staten Island. I remember being there, and some of the beats were running for like two days nonstop. 'Cold World' was one of them. Lyrically, it's not my best work. Not at all. But the chemistry? Production? Overall, I mean, c'mon! RZA's atmospheric production? Yes. It's my best album.
[13]—GZA
Though the album was credited to GZA alone, there are numerous guest appearances from the entire Wu-Tang Clan, like all their earlier solo albums. Liquid Swords is characteristic of the Wu-Tang Clan in its minimalist, menacing and ominous beats by producer RZA, and its cinematic themes relating to Asian cinema, particularly Samurai cinema. GZA explores many motifs and lyrical themes, such as chess, crime and philosophy. The album begins with a monologue from a little boy; his monologue, and many of the other vocal samples scattered throughout the album, are from the cult film Shogun Assassin.
Promotion
The album's cover was designed by DC-Milestone Comics chief artist Denys Cowan, according to GZA's personal manager Geoffrey L. Garfield, who commissioned Cowan. Garfield, an avid comic book fan, said the cover art was supervised under the auspices of GZA GrafX, a subsidiary company of GZA Entertainment owned by Genius and Garfield. The concept of the chessboard with its sword-wielding warriors was conceived by Genius, an avid chess player. The Genius version of the Wu-Tang Clan logo, the "G" using the logo iconography, was rendered by Wu-Tang Clan DJ Mathematics who was also an accomplished graphic artist.
Genius also enjoyed a successful side career as a music video director, and with Garfield as writer and producer, created all four videos for the Liquid Swords album ("Liquid Swords", "Cold World", "Shadowboxin'/4th Chamber","I Gotcha Back"), and also did videos for Sunz of Man, Ghostface Killah's song on the Sunset Park film soundtrack, Shabazz the Disciple (Penalty Records) and Case (Def Jam). The Source magazine recognized their video "Shadowboxin'/4th Chamber" as one of the Top Five Videos of 1995.
Liquid Swords was performed in its entirety on July 13, 2007 at the Pitchfork Music Festival and again in England, on December 9 at All Tomorrow's Parties and on December 10 at KOKO (venue) in London, as part of the ATP-curated Don't Look Back series. After the cancellation of an appearance in Brooklyn, New York, the performance was rescheduled for December 13 and 14 at the Knitting Factory in New York.
Reception
Critical response was almost universally positive. Steve Huey of Allmusic remarked that Liquid Swords is often referred to as "the best Wu-Tang solo project of all" and "Liquid Swords cemented the Genius/GZA's reputation as the best pure lyricist in the group -- and one of the best of the '90s."[1] Steve Juon of RapReviews.com wrote that Liquid Swords was "the purest representation of the Wu-Tang sound and style at a time when they truly reigned over all others in hip-hop in the mid-90's". [14] Chris Rock ranked Liquid Swords 13th on his list of the Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums ever [15], but in one of his concerts, he said that is one of his top 3 favorite albums.
The public and critical reception of Wu-Tang was so positive and pervasive that the album's marketing campaign for its November 1995 release read "Finally...In the Year of the Wu" to commemorate an astounding year-long run of hit Wu-Tang Clan solo albums. The record was originally rated 4 mics in The Source in 1995.[9] In 1998, Liquid Swords was named as one of rap magazine The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums. In 2006 it was added in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die list. As of November 2009, Liquid Swords was ranked the 58th best album of all-time on Rate Your Music, as well as the 4th best album of the 1990s.[16][17]
Track listing
- All songs produced by RZA unless otherwise noted.
| # |
Title |
Time |
Performer(s) |
Sample(s)[18] |
| 1 |
"Liquid Swords" |
4:31 |
- Intro & chorus backing vocals by RZA
- Verses: GZA
|
|
| 2 |
"Duel of the Iron Mic" |
4:06 |
|
- "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over" by David Porter
- Dialogue from Shogun Assassin
|
| 3 |
"Living in the World Today" |
4:23 |
|
|
| 4 |
"Gold" |
3:57 |
|
|
| 5 |
"Cold World" |
5:31 |
|
|
| 6 |
"Labels" |
2:54 |
|
|
| 7 |
"4th Chamber" |
4:37 |
|
- "Groovin'" by Willie Mitchell
- Dialogue from Shogun Assassin
|
| 8 |
"Shadowboxin'" |
3:30 |
|
|
| 9 |
Hell's Wind Staff / Killah Hills 10304" |
5:09 |
|
| 10 |
"Investigative Reports" |
3:50 |
|
|
| 11 |
"Swordsman" |
3:21 |
|
|
| 12 |
"I Gotcha Back" |
5:01 |
- Chorus backing vocals: RZA
- Verses: GZA
|
- "As Long As I've Got You" by The Charmels
- Dialogue from Shogun Assassin
|
| 13* |
"B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth)" |
4:33 |
|
|
An asterisk (*) indicates a track originally omitted from the vinyl and cassette versions, but present on the reissue and the CD. [19][20]
Personnel
Chart history
- Album
| Year |
Album |
Chart positions |
| Billboard 200 |
Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums |
| 1995 |
Liquid Swords |
#9 |
#2 |
- Singles
Notes
- ^ a b Huey, Steve. Review: Liquid Swords. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Christgau, Robert. "Consumber Guide: Liquid Swords". The Village Voice: January 23, 1996. Archived from the original on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Walton, L. J'amal. Review: Liquid Swords. The Chronicle. Retrieved on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Ehrlich, Dimitri. Review: Liquid Swords. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Coker, Cheo H. Review: Liquids Swords. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Columnist. "Review: Liquid Swords". NME: 46. November 11, 1995.
- ^ Juon, Steve 'Flash'. Review: Liquid Swords. RapReviews. Retrieved on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Hoard, Christian. "Review: Liquid Swords. Rolling Stone: 353–354. November 2, 2004.
- ^ a b Hinds, Selwyn Seyfu. "Review: Liquid Swords". The Source: December 1995. Archived from the original on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Smith, Chris. Review: Liquid Swords. Stylus Magazine. Retrieved on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Baker, Soren. "All for One, One for All: Supergroup Wu-Tang Clan Let's Its Members Fly Solo": Chicago Tribune: 4. June 20, 1999.
- ^ Staff. "100 Best Rap Albums". The Source: Issue 100. January 1998.
- ^ Matson, Andrew. Rapper GZA Riffs on the Thinking Man's Rap Masterpiece. The Seattle Times. Retrieved on 2009-08-03.
- ^ Genius/GZA, Liquid Swords, Geffen Records
- ^ Rate Your Music
- ^ Rate Your Music's Top 100 Albums of All-Time, rateyourmusic.com, 2009-11-17, http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/all-time, retrieved 2009-11-26
- ^ Rate Your Music's Top 100 Albums of the 1990s, rateyourmusic.com, 2009-11-17, http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1990s, retrieved 2009-11-26
- ^ Hip Hop Is Read Presents: Liquid Swords The Samples December 2007
- ^ David Bertrand Wilson. "Wu-Tang Clan (and solo work)". Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews. http://www.warr.org/wutang.html#LiquidSwords. Retrieved 2008-08-30. "The CD version has a bonus track, "B.I.B.L.E.," that later turned up on [Killah] Priest's solo album."
- ^ Compare Genius/GZA* - Liquid Swords and GZA - Liquid Swords
References
External links
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GZA |
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| Solo albums |
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| Collaboration albums |
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| Singles |
"Come Do Me" · "Words from a Genius" · "Who's Your Rhymin' Hero" · "Pass the Bone" · "I Gotcha Back" · "Cold World" · "Liquid Swords" · "Shadowboxin'" · "Paper Plate"
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| Related articles |
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