Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Tang Clan came out of Staten Island in 1992 like a kung-fu movie with the sound turned all the way up: nine members and no interest in anybody else's rules. RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and Ol' Dirty Bastard made up the original crew, with longtime affiliate Cappadonna later becoming a full member.

They signed to Steve Rifkind's Loud Records in 1992, and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) landed the next year: grimy, murky, kicked-in-the-door hip-hop where every verse sounds like a dare. "Protect Ya Neck" passes the mic down the line like a relay of switchblades, "Bring Da Ruckus" snarls, and "C.R.E.A.M." spells out its whole worldview in the title: Cash Rules Everything Around Me. It got good reviews at the time, and its reputation has only grown since; the group is credited with dragging East Coast hip-hop back to life.

Then they scattered for solo albums between 1994 and 1996 and came back with Wu-Tang Forever in 1997, which debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 and drew a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. Ol' Dirty Bastard died in 2004. Their seventh album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, existed as a single copy, which sold for $2 million, and in 2026 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame came calling.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.