The Ninth Member

Since he died, I stopped believing for a while. There has to be nine in the Clan, and that's it. I always believed, but never openly admitted (maybe not even to myself), that none of the members could be replaced. That the magic of the Clan would dissapear if any of the original nine members died. The Clan had to stay the original nine in order to stay the Wu-Tang Clan. So when ODB passed away, I felt that they ceased to remain that group of guys I came to know and love. It's like The Beatles aren't The Beatles unless it's Paul, John, George & Ringo. But as time passed, I've come to view that kind of thinking somewhat rigid.

I can't even defend why the Clan could lose their potency from loosing a member. I can't describe or define what it means for the Clan to be the Clan. Think about it: they were never really the nine on 36 Chambers. It even says in the liner notes to that album "Wu-Tang Clan is..." and then continues to give an EIGHT member list. Masta Killa came later to fill in the 9th spot. He did rhyme the only guest feature in it though. That thought about them beginning with 8 but really having 9 from Masta's ONE verse does fuel my paranoia that the Clan is over.

Fuck it. ODB has been the member whose contributions have not counted enough to the Clan, in my eyes (Okay. To me). I accepted it over the years of his continuing disregard for them and his own life, keeping my belief in the strength of their unity just the same because he was around... but c'mon - in the end, the nigga was never there where it counted. He never spit on any of the solo albums save two of the Rza's, but everyone showed up for his first joint except for Deck and U-God (but we don't doubt their loyalty, do we?). Wait! He did make a guest appearance on Liquid Swords... to do a CHORUS. He's been their mascot more than a member, and that status doesnt appeal to me.

The more I think about it, the more a 9th member should pull his weight instead of trying to be Flava Flav. You don't see Flav putting out albums, right? Maybe Dirt would rather have starred in some reality TV shows instead of rhyming. If that's the case, then I'm just not with it. If you say you're an emcee, then Emcee!

I've brought myself to believe that the Wu-Tang Clan can keep their allure without ODB, but they need someone right to succeed him. I'm not 100% certain of who it should be, but I am 100% certain it aint WACK ASS CAPPA. I don't have to go into all that history other than if he remained as good as he was in Cuban Linx & Ironman, then no one would really doubt his inclusion as the "10th member."

Anyway, they can fill in the 9th spot by going in-house with the extended fam or go outside. My picks for the best choices in those two catagories? In-house: they gotta pick the best lyricist and that would be Killa Sin from Killarmy. He can pull off double affiliation like Rza with Gravediggaz. Sin's skills could probably begin to fill the hole left by the absence of Dirty's personality. What the Wu-Tang lost with his death probably lies at the bottom of what I really want them to have but more than likely will never encounter again. The truth is there'll never be another ODB coming with his particular brand of insanity.

Then again, the Clan can have a personality as big as Dirty's. It balances out how the Wu works their exposure: in the underground you have Gza, Deck, Masta & U-God; in the more commercial arena, there was Meth, Ghost, Rae & Dirt; Rza kinda works in the middle. The problem they face with filling that equation is that a personality doesn't exist from among the Wu extended family that's ventured anywhere near as far into pop culture as Dirty (because if you can't find someone big, in a pop culture sense, in the extended fam but you must choose from among them, you have to go with the most talented like Killa Sin). Indeed, to fill that equation, the Wu-Tang would need to venture outside the fam.

I've given it some thought. Tried to come up with a few candidates, but only came up with one emcee that kept screaming in my brain: Busta Rhymes.

Remember Got You All in Check Remix? The video for that? Also The Monument from The W album . Those two are the Wu-collaborations that stick out the most prominently in my mind. With Busta, you've got pretty much the best of both worlds - skills & pop exposure. He's closer than most emcees to the Clan. Kinda like Red & Meth.

Raekwon... is confirmed for the Busta Rhymes album and RZA
says the new Busta album is absolutely crazy... he urges all Wu fans to cop that album and support Busta who is also a very close and loved brother to the Clan.

This article from The Wu-Tang Corp site really sets the stage for what's possible from such a union. Thing is... a small downside... the only way to leave the Wu is death. I've heard it early in the group's career by a few of them (Meth, I believe said it first). I would only want Busta to contribute a verse to a few albums belonging to the solo members, and then a few versus to the group album. Like, in a 15 track LP, he would only need to put in 4 or 5 versus. I know he has a big ego (look what happend between him & Leaders). But Wu-Tang would allow him to do pretty much whatever the fuck he wants. Bottom line is, he can't leave the Clan. Ever.

I mentioned Red before, but he would never be a pick for membership in the clan - his ties to Erick Sermon runs way back and too deep. Busta, in contrast, bears no such relationships to any other artists. That could signal against his prospects as a clansman but, again, that would just be his ego getting in the way. Looking back at his long career, and looking specifically at his breaking-up The Leaders of the New School, it seems like he prefers spearheading his own group instead of working with equals. If that's really the case (I don't like to believe the worst in someone like him even though it's easy to) then he really needs to learn that old saying about following before leading.

Being a member of the Wu-Tang Clan would only help his career.

P.S. Fishscale is a fucking classic. Ghost has done it AGAIN!

Pigs are from Mars; Bitches are from Venus

One of the greatest truths ever spoken: Men think with their dicks. Women think with their emotions. NEITHER think with their BRAINS.

I searched around the internet and figured that no one has come up with the above before. but that's beside the point. What I say is true. As someone raised Christian, I believe that Christians can really relate to what I said. We, as human beings, all do a good job at pontificating. Then we fall short of the moral standards we set for ourselves (particularly those who set them for others). The Judeo/Christian/Muslims can look all the way back to Adam & Eve - she lost to her emotions when the snake seduced her into biting the fruit; Adam lost to his dick when she seduced him into doing the same. Not much has changed.

We live in what most call a "man's world." It's true, in a sense - families led by the husband, the husband providing for the family. Society molded itself that way with change to that coming slowly over the past century. But I have another simple truth that I hope people don't lose sight of when considering why society came up that way throughout history: males are, generally, physically stronger than females (it's that simple). The guys came up to take things over for everybody through an evolutionary sense of "survival of the fittest" that, to this day, we recognize on both the conscious & subconscious level.

Now that we can all recognize the equality between genders, I want to ask if women can assume accountability over some aspects. What I mean is... women used to (and still do, but to a lesser degree) play the victim to male aggression, like how they say that men are the ones who cheat all the time. But realize what actually happens now that women start doing the same: that saying "men are pigs" will really test your anger, wont it? That old adage looses its weight not only when women have come to cheat, but also (but separately) when they believe that the more sexual activity they have coincides with power. In other words, they think that the more hook-ups they can muster, aside from the sex that can follow, the more on level with men they are in terms of sexual-social prowess, or what we commonly call "game."

But let me tell you ladies something: no matter how many guys you wrangle; no matter how good you look, the game you think you have BARELY exists. All judgements on sex aside, how does a girl who sleeps around compare to a guy who sleeps around? All you do is sit there and look pretty, and then what you want comes to you. The guy does all the work - he is the hunter. I see alot of great looking women every damn day, but do any of you have game? HELL NO! Yall just have a pretty face and a great looking ass. It's not like you worked any harder for your body than some guy did for his six pack. But between you and the guy, who'll get looked at more? The girl... by guys and other girls, because girls are the fairer sex.

So if we define game as skill, then girls aint got it, by 'n' large. I know I just spoke earlier about equality and then I spent then next two paragraphs shitting on women. So allow me to equalize this: if there's some skill that the ladies can't really learn being ladies and all, then it must be true that a great skill/experience lies out of the reach of us men. You know what it is? I know what it is.

End post.

Bearing the Monster at a Glimpse

On some night way before my last post, I went with Chris out to a club. We hooked up with this chick friend of his, Monica. She brought her friend, Stephanie. We chilled and drank and then found our way to the dance floor. Chris & Mo', me and Steph. I danced with Steph for a few minutes before she moved off, inexplicably, to another guy and started dancing with him. I had to stand there for a minute and just look in order to figure out what just happend. I couldn't come up with anything, so I reached inside for the asshole in me, tapped the guy in the shoulder, and just butted my way back in. I guess he recognized me from a minute before and figured that I wanted to claim my spot back, so he patted me in respect and left.

Then she moved off again with yet another guy. "Okay" I said. Pretty obvious now that I gave it too much thought the first time she moved off. She's just a dumb bitch made dumber by the number of drinks she had. I found Chris dancing with Mo' and she apologized for Steph, calling her something like a dance freak (she seemed to leave out calling her a drunk and a whore). I left the dance floor and went up the upper level bar to sit down, chill and drink. Chris and the two girls came up and we chilled together. They ended up going back down about 15-20 minutes later after Steph asked me to look after her purse. Being the nice guy that I am, and figuring I have no chance with this girl but not wanting to hold a grudge, I agree to do it. I see her going down with this kid. "Whatever" I say. She just going down to dance and that's it.

Another 15 minutes later she comes back up with the kid and starts making out with him. And I'm still holding this bitch's purse. At this point I don't need to think. I get the fuck up and walk the 10 feet distance to them. I'm a bit curious so I ask her how long she's known him. 20 minutes, she says, all the while trying to grab her purse away from me. I pull the purse back to me in a forceful way, and then I gave it to the kid. I tell him to watch the fucking thing from now on, then I walk off. The kid's got a friend who walks towards me to confront me. I tell him that there's nothing between me and the kid and I told him to drop it. I continued to walk, though cautiously, but I heard Chris so I turned around to meet him. I heard the kid's friend a second later. I turned back around. He was ready to go. I sized him up before contact. Win or lose, I was ready to fight. Chris stopped me, and a bouncer came in time to stop the kid's friend right before we clashed.

So I had the bouncer in front of me. I told the complete story to the boucer as sincerely as I could put it across. Then Chris vouched for me, knowing the bouncer and almost everyone in that club. Aside from Chris, I felt the bouncer really felt my case, and he trusted me that I wasnt a troublemaker. I then sat back down in exactly the same spot where I had decided to come up from the dancefloor. The kid came back, but I knew he just spoke to the bouncer, so I got up respectfully to meet him. He then heard the story from me. He understood and sympathazed. Then we squashed it and agreed that bitches aint shit before sharing a hug and going our separate ways.

You know what I found out a couple days later? Monica told him that Steph had said I had turned her on with what I pulled off that night. I told you I had no chance with her! She thinks I'm some sort of bad boy. The problem is I get that way when angered, but I'm pretty slow to anger. So if we hooked up again she'll probably feel disapointed at not seeing who she expected to see.

Chris & me have spoken about that episode a few times since that night. I tell him that it wasn't even about her but about me having some steam to blow off. It's complicated - a series of long stories - but in a nutshell: I know who I am, and when I feel someone encroaching on who I am, I defend myself with an ungodly visciousness. The fire got snuffed before spreading that night... but it's still there, waiting to burn someone very hard.