Logic has long considered himself a hip-hop traditionalist, and today he put his appreciation for rap legends on full display with the release of his new song “Wu Tang Forever.” The track features every living member of the Wu-Tang Clan, as well as Jackpot Scotty Wotty, an early associate of the group who never officially joined. The only rapper missing is Ol' Dirty Bastard, who died of a drug overdose in 2004. In a clip shared by Def Jam, Logic explained that RZA helped him organize the track:
Although the entirety of the Wu-Tang Clan (except U-God) appeared on the group’s 2017 album The Saga Continues, they haven’t all been featured on a song together since 2014’s “Ruckus In B Minor.”
The song, which is produced by Logic’s frequent collaborator 6ix, kicks off with a pair of samples from kung fu films. The first kung fu sample comes from the 1983 film Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang and uses a clip that Wu-Tang previously used on their 1993 song “Bring Da Ruckus.”
Shaolin shadowboxing and the Wu tang sword style
If what you say is true, the Shaolin and the Wu Tang could be dangerous
Do you think your Wu Tang sword can defeat me?
The second sample comes from 1979’s Ten Tigers From Kwangtung. Although a portion of the sample is featured on “Bring Da Ruckus,” only the second line also appears on Method Man’s 1994 song “Tical”:
En garde, I’ll let you try my Wu tang style
I’d like to try your Wu Tang style, let’s begin, then
Logic kicks off the song by dropping references to several classic Wu-Tang tropes, and even takes a shot at the popular rap sound of the moment:
Aye yo, Wu-Tang forever
Who rhyme better?
We too clever, the boom bap’s back, harder than ever
R.I.P. O.D.B
Comin' through like Killa Bee
Ever since I heard Enter the 36 in ‘93
You cannot defeat my Wu-Tang style, I leave 'em all dismembered
Fuck a mumble rap, that shit won’t never be remembered
Method Man also reserves a few bars for his displeasure with modern-day rappers:
Go back, homie, back when rappers used to be lyrical
When nine out of ten of his friends used to be criminal
The stats, homie, all these killas usin' subliminals
Y'all don’t even smile in your pictures, you dudes is miserable
“Wu Tang Forever” shares a name with Drake’s Nothing Was the Same track from 2013, which didn’t feature any members of the Wu-Tang Clan but did sample the group’s 1997 song “It'z Yours.”
Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to Logic’s “Wu Tang Forever” on Genius now.
