Liquid Swords
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Liquid Swords is a solo album by Wu-Tang Clan member GZA, a.k.a. The Genius, widely regarded as a masterpiece of the East Coast hip hop renaissance. It was released on November 7, 1995 through Geffen Records.
Album information
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 also explores many motifs and themes, such as chess, crime and philosophy. The album begins with a monologue from a little boy; his monologue, and many of the other skits scattered throughout the album, are from the cult film Shogun Assassin. These samples, along with eerie beats gives Liquid Swords a distinctive sound, proving influential to many subsequent East Coast hip hop artists.
Cover Art
The album is also known for its distinctive cover, designed by DC-Milestone Comics chief artist Denys Cowan who was commissioned by GZA's personal manager Geoffrey L. Garfield, an avid comic book fan under the auspices of GZA Graphics, 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.
Videos
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.
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". [10] Liquid Swords is ranked #1 for the year 1995 on RateYourMusic.com, and currently the second-highest rated hip hop album of all time on the site.
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.
In 1998, Liquid Swords was named as one of rap magazine The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums.
Chris Rock ranked Liquid Swords 13th on his list of the Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums ever [11], but in one of his concerts, he said that is one of his top 3 favorite albums.
The album 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.
Professional reviews:
- Rolling Stone (11/30/95, pp.66-67) - 3 Stars - Good - "It's probably the heaviest Wu-Tang production to date....Genius pulls you into his chamber headfirst....Liquid Swords cuts to the bone, another deadly efficient Wu-banger."
- Entertainment Weekly (12/22/95, p.70) - "...an intriguing paradox of wordplay and profanity, juvenilia and wisdom." - Rating: B+
- Q magazine (2/96, p.96) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...inventively laid-back sample collage of hip hop that offsets his biting messages...the result is dramatic and hypnotic..."
- The Wire (10/01, p.46) - "Genius trades 'romance' for 'crime'...and his icy skills certainly work better with darker scenarios."
- Option (3-4/96, pp.104-105) - "Genius' verbalistics evoke that creepy feeling you get negotiating certain inner-city neighborhoods on pitch black nights."
- Melody Maker (11/25/95, p.36) - "...the keywords...are synthetic and cinematic....the narrator of these ghostly/ghastly horrorcore tales is on the outside looking in, a voyeur...buzzing off the ghetto misery, wondering how to respond....one of the dozen or so best (G-Funk) albums of the year."
- Rap Pages (1/96, p.31) - 8 (out of 10) - "...Liquid Swords presents the Gza as sword-style rhyme originator, holding court over his young disciples....reverential guest appearances from the rest of the Clan...inject the album with some of its most memorable moments....Wu-Tang continue to challenge and confound all expectations of what their music is about..."
- NME (11/11/95, p.46) - 9 (out of 10) - "The best hip-hop album for years. Fact...The Rza's production...is spooked, creaky, incredibly dense....The tricks he's practised on previous Clan albums...reach their apogee here....Genius' quite brilliant lyrics [have] a complexity, a rush of imagery, a strangely poetic drama of brutality."
Track listing
- All songs produced by RZA unless otherwise noted.
| # | Title | Time | Performer(s) | Sample(s) |
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| 1 | "Liquid Swords" | 4:31 |
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| 2 | "Duel of the Iron Mic" | 4:06 |
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| 3 | "Living in the World Today" | 4:23 |
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| 4 | "Gold" | 3:57 |
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| 5 | "Cold World" | 5:31 |
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| 6 | "Labels" | 2:54 |
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| 7 | "4th Chamber" | 4:37 |
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| 8 | "Shadowboxin'" | 3:30 |
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| 9 | "Hell's Wind Staff/Killah Hills 10304" | 5:09 |
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| 10 | "Investigative Reports" | 3:50 |
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| 11 | "Swordsman" | 3:21 |
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| 12 | "I Gotcha Back" | 5:01 |
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| 13 | "B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)" | 4:33 |
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Personnel
- Raekwon the Chef - Performer
- Ghostface Killah - Performer
- Method Man - Performer
- Mark A. Humphrey - Photography
- GZA - Performer
- U-God - Performer
- Killah Priest - Performer
- Dreddy Kruger - Performer
- RZA - Producer & Performer
- ODB - Performer
- Masta Killa - Performer
- Inspectah Deck - Performer
Album chart positions
| Year | Album | Chart positions | ||
| Billboard 200 | Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums | |||
| 1995 | Liquid Swords | #9 | #2 | |
Singles chart positions
| Year | Song | Chart positions | |||
| Billboard Hot 100 | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | Hot Rap Singles | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | ||
| 1994 | "I Gotcha Back" | - | - | #29 | #39 |
| 1995 | "Cold World" | #97 | #57 | #8 | #8 |
| 1995 | "Liquid Swords" | #48 | #33 | #3 | #2 |
| 1995 | "Shadowboxin'" | #67 | #41 | #10 | #9 |
References
- ^ a b Huey, Steve. "Liquid Swords > Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ^ http://www.buy.com/retail/proreviews/product.asp?sku=60010370&loc=109&PageFormat=7 source
- ^ http://www.buy.com/retail/proreviews/product.asp?sku=60010370&loc=109&PageFormat=7 source
- ^ Juon, Steve. "Genius/GZA :: Liquid Swords :: Geffen Records". Rap Reviews. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ^ http://www.buy.com/retail/proreviews/product.asp?sku=60010370&loc=109&PageFormat=7 source
- ^ http://www.buy.com/retail/proreviews/product.asp?sku=60010370&loc=109&PageFormat=7 source
- ^ http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music.review.redirect&fixture_review=127268&resource=127268&fixture_artist=142388 October 2000
- ^ http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/gza-liquid-swords.htm link
- ^ http://www.buy.com/retail/proreviews/product.asp?sku=60010370&loc=109&PageFormat=7 source
- ^ Genius/GZA :: Liquid Swords :: Geffen Records
- ^ http://rateyourmusic.com/list/tha_flu/chris_rocks_top_25_hip_hop_albums
External links
- Liquid Swords ⚠ "
mbid" is missing! at MusicBrainz