If there is one thing I can impart thing to my young nieces, it is that the Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nuthin to fork wit. You know, because as a wise man once said, Wu-Tang is for the children. Unfortunately their parents have yet to let me play Wu-Tang Clan for them. And I am guessing they will not let me show them the new documentary, Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men either.
Now you might ask yourself, isn’t four hour long episodes a lot for on one group. But there are ten members (including Cappadonna) and that just comes out to twenty-four minutes per member. Really, there are a couple of events in the Wu-Tang Clan history that could have warranted a full documentary, like the one copy of the Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album, or the aborted tour with Rage Against the Machine. The ODB could have carried his own documentary.
The group came together in their home of Staten Island for the first time together there in two decades to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Naturally the first episode deals with the origin story of each member on how they grew up in Staten Island and how they all ended up toward RZA to form the rap super group. We do get some debate of just how the rappers found the name Wu-Tang Clan.
The second episode naturally goes from there as their first album just explodes as Wu becomes a cultural phenomenon that even white kids from the suburbs like me are buying up the album. Of course when that many young men get a taste of the spotlight, they start going their separate ways. And then we get to the low point at the end of the third episode with the death of the ODB.
The final episode is a bit of scattershot that bounces around too much. The album auction is talked about, then they go somewhere else, come back to that album, talk about something else, and then finally came back to the album. Again, they could have spent most of that final hour on Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album, and I would have been fine with it.
I also could have gotten more of the Rage tour. I was actually working at the local ampatheater at that time and remember distinctly that tour stop. So Atari Teenage Riot (anyone actually remember them) were the opening act… and then nothing for over an hour. I learned later the reason for the delay from a buddy backstage was because the Wu members wanted to finish their basketball game. And since the delay, Rage Against the Machine literally had the plug pulled on their set because of a strict local ordinance that all concerts had to end by at least 11:00 which pretty much cut their set in half. And from MTV News stories at the time, we were one of the luckier stops on the tour. Certainly the doc does not make the tour look like all was good, but from my vantage point; they could have gone deeper on what went wrong and why. Not that I am bitter that I was not asked to participate in the doc.
Nas, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Seth Rogan. Jim Jarmush were all asked but I wonder how much of those interviews hit the cutting room floor because they are all blink and you miss them type segments. This is a shame because it is always nice to hear from people who were inspired in music documentaries. One dude we do hear a lot from is RZA’s brother who was the group’s money man. And boy does he have a lot to say, he has more new interview moments that even some of the actual Wu members for better or worse.
Like I wish we would have gotten more from the members when they were brought together for the doc. Maybe the best part of the whole thing is when they collectively start trashing Once Upon a Time in Shaolin as the camera is constantly cutting to RZA who basically put the album together in a shady way. And while I can nit-pick all I want, Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics of Men is worthy of four hours of any fan’s time. And be sure to sit down some members of the younger generation with you so they can see real rap music.
Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men airs Fridays at 9:00 on Showtime.
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