Wu - Massacre

Once again, Wu-Tang Clan has renewed my love for real hip-hop music all over again with this release from 3 of its best: Method Man, Ghostface and Raekwon. Twitter has been all over this one for a couple days. Even other artists were tweeting about it, Questlove, for example. The best thing about this is that Wu-Tang is back to putting out multiple quality albums in a row. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 came out last year and was dope. Then Ghostface did his R&B album, which was a failed experiment in our opinion. (Ghost, you're the best, but we weren't feeling that one.) And now, Wu-Massacre comes out to completely crush the game.

Standout tracks include "Gunshowers," "Youngstown Heist," and "Smooth Sailing." There was some debate in our office over "Mef vs. Chef 2." The verses are hot, but there isn't the battle feel that we got on the first "Meth vs. Chef" on Method Man's first "Tical" album. "Criminology 2.5" is also good, but I have to wonder how many times you need to recycle the same beat, title and feeling of a great song. "It's That Wu S**t" is also a good track, which reworks the "Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz" hook.

Wu-Tang was once the freshest, most dynamic, different group out there with consistently great work. I remember being incredibly excited to be the first kid I knew to cop "Enter the Wu-Tang" and my friends and I used to debate which members would be the first to put out solo albums and whose would be the best. I think it's safe to say that the excitement is back.