Today in Hip-Hop — October 13: Wu-Tang’s The Saga Continues Turns 9, and Sean Price’s Bookend Date

October 13, 2017. Wu-Tang drops The Saga Continues on 36 Chambers and eOne, and it turns 9 today. The jewel is the man behind the boards. Every beat on it comes from Mathematics, the Queens DJ who also drew the Wu-Tang W. Look at the cover credit too. It says “Wu-Tang,” not “Wu-Tang Clan,” on purpose. U-God was out over a royalties dispute, and Math put it plainly: it can’t be a complete Wu-Tang Clan album without him.

RZA took the executive producer seat and handed Math the whole canvas. He filled it the way the Clan built the house in ’93, with kung-fu flick dialogue stitched between bars and a “Famous Fighters” skit sitting right in the sequence. Redman, the honorary Wu, carries both promo singles, “People Say” and “Lesson Learn’d.” Killah Priest shows up on “Frozen” and Cappadonna on “My Only One.” Method Man runs through the record like it’s still 1997, and PopMatters called him the standout.

The heaviest track is “Pearl Harbor,” with Ghostface, Meth, RZA and Sean Price. Sean P died in his sleep in Brooklyn on August 8, 2015, so that verse reached the world two years after he was gone. It’s a Boot Camp Clik general on a Wu-Tang record, which is where the date gets eerie (see the first bullet below). The album debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Independent Albums. It’s the third record under the shortened “Wu-Tang” name, after Chamber Music and Legendary Weapons.

We made a Wu-Tang Forever neon sign for heads who know that W is a piece of design history, drawn by the same hands that produced this whole album. If “Pearl Harbor” sends you back into the Sean P catalog, the Mic Tyson tee is how we pay our respects.

Also today in hip-hop:

• Heltah Skeltah, Magnum Force (Oct 13, 1998, 28 years): 19 years to the day before “Pearl Harbor,” Sean Price, then known as Ruck, dropped the second Heltah Skeltah album with Rock on Duck Down/Priority. It went No. 34 on the Billboard 200 and No. 8 on R&B/Hip-Hop. The lead single, “I Ain’t Havin’ That,” flipped Tribe’s “Hot Sex” and Redman’s “Pick It Up.” Without Da Beatminerz on the boards, the sales came in soft, and soon after Rock left Duck Down.
• Gucci Mane, Mr. Davis (Oct 13, 2017, 9 years): it came out the same day as The Saga Continues. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 70,000 units, with beats from Metro Boomin, Zaytoven, Southside and Mike Will among others. “I Get the Bag” with Migos went Platinum.
• Ashanti turns 46: the Murder Inc. voice was born October 13, 1980. In 2002 she became the first woman to hold No. 1 and No. 2 on the Hot 100 at the same time, as the hook on Ja Rule’s “Always on Time” and Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv?” Then “Foolish” sat at No. 1 for ten weeks.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team

Jon Jones