FM Spotlight
Wu-Tang Clan: An American Saga’, A Tale of Legends
The return of Wu-Tang Clan an American Saga, an epic and dramatic masterful biopic, returned on September 8th. With a story to finish and a message for the masses, the saga promised a televised journey ten episodes deep. And with more than half of the season reaching its completion the piece has been nothing less than brilliant.
Wu-Tang, a history lesson
Wu-Tang Clan the first of its collaborative kind hit the streets in the ’90s. Never had there been a group of lyricists powerful in their own right, join, to form one powerful hip hop brotherhood. There has yet to be another collaborative with the same impact on hip hop and the music industry. The world may not have been ready for a supergroup like Wu-tang at the time of their debut. However, the RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ghost Face Killah, Old Dirty Bastard, Raekwon, Masta Killah, U God, and Ol Dirty Bastard took the mic, forcing the world to stop and take notice. And they transformed the landscape. But it was RZA, visionary and founding member, who made it happen. As he said in a recent interview that things become possible when “persistence overcomes resistance.”
The Wu-Tang Saga: The life force of Hip hop
Wu-Tang Clan: An American Saga is the depiction of hip-hop in its rawest form. The show is not your average biopic. The story is much deeper than the music. Without doubt, creators RZA and Alex Tse were poetic with this piece. The Saga unearths the depths of the hip-hop lifestyle and exposes the pain, drive, heartache, and pride of the journey.
Hip Hop: More than a movement
Hip hop has been defined as a movement a blending of various artistic elements expressing the plight of the African American. According to the Icon Collective music school, “Urban despair brought rising crime, gang violence, and poverty. And the development of hip-hop reflected the negative effects of post-industrial decline, political discourse, and a rapidly changing economy.” Perhaps this is true in the figurative sense. Hip hop is more than a movement and it is deeper than the music. It flows from deep within, like blood coursing through the veins. Hip hop is a guttural drive, an instinctual desire to survive and call out hey we exist.
The RZA
The show follows RZA a visionary and his path of navigating unchartered waters to live out his calling. As Ashton Sanders, who portrays RZA, exclaims to his mother in a heart-to-heart in one of the opening episodes, he wouldn’t be deterred because his path was a calling. For sure the masses weren’t always receptive. But there was a broader vision in play. In the iconic words of RZA “Add a little bit of patience and watch what sprouts.”
Strategy
Making moves that don’t even exist isn’t easy. What is even more difficult is pulling together warriors from different sets, with different angles, and views on life. And RZA was recently asked in an interview how it was possible. How did he get those artists to form one powerful fist, as depicted on the show? RZA exclaimed,
“I think the common denominator of it all is that positivity outweighs the negativity. every member of Wu-Tang has enough knowledge of self to know that. They had to let themselves accept it, and we all accepted.”
That was the golden thread that made Wu-Tang so masterful. What pushed the group to greatness was the idea and motivation, that individually the mc’s were poised for something greater than survival. And collectively they could do so much more.
The Core of the Wu-Tang Saga
Each episode thus far has made deeper and deeper cuts to the core of hip hop and the passion that moves the culture. The saga captures the grassroots and the come-up of the emerging supergroup. And the pivotal message the cast and production crew send is that it’s not easy but if you got a story to tell and that stuff comes from somewhere deep, then there is an audience willing to listen. And that’s mostly because you are telling their story.
What is so dope about the presentation is the undercurrent or the score underlying the journey. Each element, visually and musically, tells the fundamental story and punctuates a deeper message. “… ‘Yo, I can actually persevere through this.'”
Summing it up
The Wu-Tang series is a tale of creative genius rough and unrefined but authentic. These MCs aren’t your ordinary artists. They are pieces on a chessboard, shadows against the Shaolin temple shouting to its listeners “Protect ya Neck.” Fans don’t just get to relive the music but to feel and discover where that music comes from. It’s at times all-out visceral but meaningful.
Wu-Tang: An American Saga is currently airing. There are only three episodes remaining to the awe-inspiring series so be sure to catch the rise of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan hip hop legends Wednesday’s on Hulu.
For a review on a Wu-Tang Classic “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” check out FM Hip Hop’s retrospective article.
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