100 VINYLZ: #67 - Shadowboxin' 12-inch by GZA/The Genius

(1996, Geffen Records)
I have been brain-working (meaning plotting out in my mind) a screwed and chopped paranoid as fuck Wu-Tang mix lately, so this showing up on my old list seems appropriate. In making the mix, I’m not sure if to leave it strictly Wu, since I am going for the ultra-paranoid anti-Illuminati style raps that were once so popular around the mid-’90s, or to include other groups to weave in Behold a Pale Horse tracks by groups like Goodie Mobb, Jedi Mind Tricks, Binary Star, and Scienz of Life as well. But the Wu, especially B-level groups like Sunz of Man and Killarmy and especially Killah Priest were really great at that 5%-infused polysyllabic fuck the one world attitude. As for major league Wu releases, none really capture that style as well as the “4th Chamber” song, which is considered the B-side of this single, although the video made for it at the time morphed both songs into one video, so as to feature all Wu guests (Ghostface, Killah Priest, and RZA on “4th Chamber” and Method Man on “Shadowboxin’”). For me though, and as good as “Shadowboxin’” is (Liquid Swords is a white dude rap nerd with internet access staple, so I won’t expound upon that), “4th Chamber” is the shit. In fact, I would call it my shit. GZA, for me, was great, but like a role player, albeit a more solid role player than any other role player around. But he never took the highlight reel lines after I played a song, a steady Scottie Pippen on the mic. He does that here too, even from the clean-up spot on the track. RZA’s verse, third in order, is my favorite RZA verse ever, and really what I built up in my head as to what he was all about - crazy paranoid militant fuck you rich fuckers type shit. I was incredibly disillusioned after Bobby Digital times two and that Wu-Tang Manual book to realize RZA was nothing more than another salesman who conned me with a great marketing angle. I felt betrayed and hate him to this day, which is stupid, I know, but that’s how I roll through life when it comes to the pop cultures that sneak through my anti-everything contrarian nature, ahead of the curve usually in my mind, but probably not in reality. Prolo, way back, even had a really slow meandering guitar-driven song called “Shining Eyes” with the “you can see the weakness of a man right through his iris” line chopped and slow-mowed in the chorus. Killah Priest was second, and Killah Priest is always good for something really predictable and lame, as well as something amazingly ridiculous and unbelieveable that a dude even thought of, usually within four lines of each other. Me and Boogie Brown, after Guru’s single of the same name, for better or worse incorporated “loungin’” into our vocabulary much like the Smurfs used “smurf”. (I have LOUNGIN’ tattooed across my fucking beer belly.) Killah Priest drops “loungin’... between two pillars of ivory,” in this song, which of course became an immediate hit soundbite inside my brain’s electronically cluttered membranes.
And then there’s the first verse by Ghostface Killah. I had liked Ghost, especially when he had yet to stop wearing the pantyhose over his head all the time, but he never stood out beyond being another solid ass Wu-Tang guy that helped make them the Bestest Rap Group Evar at that point in my life. But in this song, it was the first time I really caught notice of his insane style, weaving high fashion, cryptic religion, and his strange self-confidence that went far beyond street style to more like a self-ordained King of some twisted sorts. I would say, even though I would’ve bought it anyways, this verse got me geeked in anticipation for Ghostface’s solo LP, Ironman, which to this day, I’d honestly consider the best solo Wu-Tang album that ever came out. I mean, Brooklyn Zoo was great too at the time, but there’s a lot of filler in there fifteen years later. And Liquid Swords, well, like I said about internet whiteboys, but I saw GZA perform live, which sucked because the most notable part of it was a fifteen minute diatribe against all sorts of shit he deemed not real hip hop, which included freestyling and other things that just drained me of any respect for him whatsoever. He went from idol to shithead in the matter of 45 minutes. But Ironman is fucking rock solid, and Ghost finding his style in full that he’s run with and expanded upon in different directions ever since.
Many of the hip hop singles I have, including the ones on this list, sometimes make it to ebay when I want to downsize or get rid of some of the clutter in my life, or just bust a quick lick online for some cell phone bill money. This single will never fucking go there, no matter how much more wack GZA and RZA end up being in their older age. This was a single snapshot from the Wu in their prime, before they lost their hunger and started infighting half the time, and splintered into a hundred different motivations. This was a bunch of awesome fucking fuckers with hollow point mindframes pointed in the same direction with a brutal yet hopeful crush. This type of shit was the soundtrack of anthems to an armageddon that never came about. I still like to pump it up though, and pretend that one day the wretched of the earth shall inherit it all, and those who have always had will finally be “out of luck, like two dogs stuck” and I can drink rum out of the Stanley Cup, like I’ve always known I deserved to.