U-God's Resume #54, "Soul Power (Black Jungle)"

--Official Stats--
Artist: Wu-Tang Clan featuring Flava Flav
Song: "Soul Power (Black Jungle)
Producer: RZA
Album: Iron Flag
Release Date: December 18, 2001


HO-LY-SHIT. What a way to start Iron Flag - with the Flava Flav song. I know he's somehow related to someone in the Clan, but keep him off Wu Tang tracks. In fact, keep EVERYONE off. Wu Clan Only.


I like Flava Flav a lot. In fact, I think Public Enemy is a million times better because of him. But the Wu doesn't need a hypeman. They had ODB, but he was way more than a hypeman, he was one of the best MCs ever. Flava Flav is not...he is pure hypeman.


I already know that this song is torture and I hate it. But let's listen to it anyway. Why not?




"Soul Power (Black Jungle)"



We're greeted with a TERRIBLE BEAT, and I mean pure garbage with absolutely no redeeming quality. Then we have Flava's distict voice coming in loud with "Two thousand and two". So dissapointing. Then he says it like a hundred times. I get it: 2002! 2002! We'll all remember what year this piece of shit fell out of the Clan. This song is the opposite of everything that I love about the Clan. Maybe the lyrics will save it, right. Let's look past the beat and the Flav and check the content, son.


Flava Flav - Intro: Appalingly distracting.
Raekwon - talking over the intro: indistingusihable from the background noise.
Raekwon - first voice: Doesn't say anything worth listening to.
U-GOD - CHORUS -


It's soul power! (Two thousand and two!)
Soul power! (You know how we do!)
Soul power! (For you and your crew!)
Soul power! (Representin Wu!)
Soul power! (You know how we do!)
Soul power! (Two thousand and two!)
Soul power! (For you and your crew!)
Soul power! (Representin Wu!)



WHAT THE FUCK? Who in the fuck wrote that shit? FUCK! Who thinks that U-God repeating the same two words over and over makes a good chorus? Raise your stank hand! Apparently someone does becasue it keeps happening. Again and again? FUCK! Listen, first of all that's a lazy ass chorus. It's a waste of EVERYONE'S LIFE. Second, the Wu has already done the "repeat one of U-God's words" chorus a bunch of times. It's not played out becasue it never had play - it SUCKS HARD.

Seriously, a BULLSHIT chorus with amateur elementary raps over a festering shit beat? WHERE IN THE FUCK IS THE WU THAT I SIGNED UP FOR?


Well, Masta Killa is next and that guy has the talent to turn this trashit around. That's right, I combined Trash and Shit into one word. Fuck it! Nobody cares anyway.


Masta Killa - Verse Two: Thank God, a good verse. Masta Killa, I owe you one. You deserve better than this beat.
Ghostface - Verse Three: Just a normal verse, which is kind of amazing considering how bad this beat is.
U-GOD - Verse Four: (We'll look up the lyrics later). So how did our boy do (if you ignore him fucking the chorus up)? THE BOY KILLED IT. Yo. That's a dope verse. The best of the song! And It's a long one! So this is the fucking song that U decides to bring a hot verse. Fuck, it's a mixed up world. Fuck it.


"Line Cadillacs to blocks, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx
Jukebox records, flatfooted cops
Get automatic systematic jumpin in your socks
Mama's apple pie in the park hopscotch
Reunited on the radio, Wu-Tang superb
In the sprinklers girls double-dutchin on the curb
Sinatra, the pop the Jackson 5 recordings
Uptown Saturday, "Cotton Came to Harlem"
Ringmaster circus was, Bailey and Barnum
Crack a Coca-Cola, summer heat was my boredom
Dr. J before Jordan, Al Green on the organ
When Rerun did the dance, the whole world saw him
The blackout fears, Foxxy Brown, Pam Grier
Ford motor gear, your life and times queer
"Smokey the Bear", Burt Reynolds gray hair
Throw 'em some gems, throw up your fists and say yeah, it's"

METHOD MAN / FLAVA FLAV- outro: BULLSHIT. They're family. Reunited. So sweet. Vomit. I hate this so much. Hate. Dispise. Vomit.

IN CONCLUSION: Flaaavaaa Flaaaaaaav ruinnnnnnned thissssss ssoonnnnnnng. So did RZA. I say skip it forever. Maybe pull out U's verse and Masta Killa's verse, and maybe Ghost and put it on a good beat and forget that chorus and then you'd have something. Otherwisee, U-God's journey into Iron Flag territory is off to a bad start, and it's not even his fault.

Track Score: 2/10

U-God’s Score: 7/10

Impact on Rep (+,-,=): Ruins. Nobody could love this song, not even it's mother.

Next Week: Iron Flag rolls on with the last Wu song with parentheses in the title: "Uzi (Pinky Ring)". I hope it's better than this shit (it is).



About this series: “U-God’s Resume" is a series of posts which looks at each line of U-God’s entire career to determine if his status as ‘wack’ is justified (as labeled by internet morons). I think it is not. U-God is dope. We'll prove it. Leave it to the Tort Team.

Trackmasters: Yo! MTV Raps Freestyle

It goes without saying that MTV is a joke and THE WORST and nobody likes it except for a few teenage shut-ins. They should really just drop the "M" right? That's what people say, "they don't even play music SMH." Well I say they should drop the M and the TV and then off the planet.  Anyway, they're a bunch of toady posers that put on  a bunch of shows about really dumb high school pranks and being pregnant as a teenager. So they got their LOLz and OMGs covered, right? WHO CARES? NOBODY AT ALL.

Okay, so long ago they had a show about rap music and it was okay. Really? Yep. But if anyone ever tells you that their show was "great" or "awesome", they've either been blinded by nostalgia, or they've got bad taste, because it wasn't that good. Ed Lover and Dre were good....and sometimes the videos were good, but not usually. It was all hit or miss. Anyway when the show got cancelled they had a freestyle farewell and it was ten minutes long and a lot of big names spit: Rakim, KRS-One, Erick Sermon, Chubb Rock, MC Serch, Redman, Method Man, Large Professor, Special Ed, and Craig Mack. Wow! Plus DJ Scribble was on the turntables. AND Flava Flav got placed. There is nothing better than hearing a lineup like that, no matter where it's coming from.

But why am I posting this? Well, this is from 1995, shortly after "Tical" dropped. Please notice how Method Man dominates his peers and superiors .This is the Method Man we were dealing with back then. He destroys some of the biggest names in rap...in a freestyle...with Rakim and KRS One. That's incredible. Great to watch, plus Erick Sermon killing it! Redman! This is just a good video: check it out.




Oh, 1995 Method Man, please come back to us. We miss you.

As a bonus I'm also throwing up an old ODB freestyle, also from MTV. Needless to say, it's a classic. O killing it. Look at how different this is from everything else ever. RIP to the grandmaster...MUCH RESPECT:



How about a little more Meth? Sure.


I can't stop. How about the Wu spitting over one of the best beats in history:


Living in Philly freestyles like this would come up from time to time on the radio or on street mixtapes. Honestly, it was Wu-Tang at their best. My all time favorite ODB verse was one he did for some radio station in New York (Hot 97 I guess) and somehow it made it on a mixtape I bought off the street in Philly, that shit never made it to any of his albums but it was dope. It was the best. Anyway, that shit doesn't happen anymore, Method Man is making candy commercials. 

MTV Score 0/10
MTV Raps Freestyle Score 7/10
ODB Freestyle Score 10/10
Method Man Freestyle #1 Score 10/10
Wu-Tang Freestyle Score 10/10

Thanks to Village Voice for the idea of blogging about some of these vidoes!

Track Checker: Timbo King "High Ranking"

WARNING: THIS POST FEATURES A SURPRISE*

*BESIDES ALL THE GRAMMAR AND SPELLING MISTAKES

So when I see a song called High Ranking by anyone affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan I have certain expectations: military stuff, kung-fu stuff, being really serious, possibly some weird religious stuff, you know what I mean. Well, this is not that, in fact it's none of those things but it's still good. Timbo King is a vetereran MC who holds it down in the underground despite his family relationship to Flava Flav (!). You would probably know him best from the Royal Fam, but he definately makes the rounds (and Royal Fam hasn't done anything for years). Anyway, this song is from his solo album "From Babylon to T1mbuk2" and the song is mad decent.  But now for the surprise, watch the video:



Surprise! I think we'll all agree that this is a very surprising video. Mainly because what the hell is going on and I don't mean that in a bad way. This is a good video. Timbo King does realize that he is a Wu affiliate right? We have certain expectaions (listed above + be extra somber) and I'm glad to see something different that doesn't make me cringe (remember that Killarmy video where they were basically at a Taliban training camp?). Yee. So, what do I mean? I don't know. Sometimes I get sick of all the nonsense posturing and posing in videos (and songs) and I just like to see MCs doing a good job and enjoying what they do. You know, like the old Beastie Boys videos and Biz Markie songs...and even ODB stuff. These guys look like they like being MCs and have a sense of humor too. Good Job. Plus they are good at rapping. Great job. We could use a few more Timbo Kings and R.A. the Rugged Mans. But not everyone should try being lighthearted...we need a mix, so some people do one thing and some other people do another. Variety. Mix it up.

High Ranking Score 8/10