Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Wu and the Wy

Music Reviews

Wyclef Jean
The Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant
Wyclef was once a wily MC in the Fugees. Today, every time a cell phone rings in Beijing, his voice can be heard chanting Shakira's name over a Latin beat. That's not a bad thing in itself, but his music is. The first post-Fugees album, The Carnival, was as great as it was visionary for the genre-blending that's become a staple of current pop music. Nearly a decade later, Vol. II is a lesson in what's wrong when you turn your albums into the musical equivalent of the UN. Sure, there’s something thrilling about seeing Akon, Norah Jones, T.I., Mary J. Blige, and Paul Simon on one record. But the buzz quickly wears off, and by the time the deluxe bonus tracks kick in – including the grating dancehall head-shaker China Wine, featuring Mandopop star Sun – it’s hard not to pine for that Shakira ringtone. Alex Pasternack

Wu-Tang Clan
8 Diagrams
The passing of Ol' Dirty Bastard in 2004, and signs of fracture amongst the remaining eight Wu-Tang members (RZA has recently fallen under public criticism from Raekwon as well as Ghostface Killah, whose new solo album is directly competing for chart space), sounded like the finishing moves for hip-hop's grimiest family. But this new album, their sixth, sounds like a return to happier times. Of course, nothing is happy about the Wu sound: Over RZA's dark, cinematic beats and kung fu flick samples, the Clan offers street-sweeping, timeless poetry to produce the most solid set of Wu bangers since 1997's Wu-Tang Forever. If the dud The Heart Gently Weeps, billed as the first song to "sample" a Beatles track, is the album's weak spot, Rushing Elephants and Wolves are its fists of fury. Alex Pasternack

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