Wugazi

Wugazi: 13 Chambers13 Chambers (2011)
self-released

Reviewer Rating: 4

User Rating:

Contributed by: thepopeofchili-townthepopeofchili-town
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on July 22nd 2011Given my usual musical proclivities, my friends are often shocked when they discover how much I love the art of the mash-up. Jaydiohead, Beastles, Danger Mouse's Grey Album...I love them all. I find that when done properly, mash-ups can not only become their own creation, but also breathe life into-.

Given my usual musical proclivities, my friends are often shocked when they discover how much I love the art of the mash-up. Jaydiohead, Beastles, Danger Mouse's Grey Album...I love them all. I find that when done properly, mash-ups can not only become their own creation, but also breathe life into-and give you a fresh perspective for-the original compositions. Leave it to Cecil Otter, a member of Doomtree, the punkest collective in hip-hop, to take this craft to another level. Together with his partner Swiss Andy they've used existing elements to create something truly new and truly great.

The songs utilized to create 13 Chambers aren't the most obvious choices. Otter and Andy picked from all over the various solo projects from Wu-Tang Clan members, as well as their collaborative albums. Songs from the soundtrack to the Fugazi documentary Instrument make a few appearances as well, notably on "Ghetto Afterthought" and opener "Sleep Rules Everything Around Me". They actually include material from all over the Wu landscape, not just their music. Ol' Dirty Bastard's infamous "Wu-Tang is for the children!" speech from when he stormed the stage at the 1998 Grammys introduces the aforementioned "Ghetto Afterthought".

It's amazing how well most of the tracks actually complement each other. I would have never thought to put them together, but "The Argument" and "Da Mysteries of Chessboxin'" sound like they were made for each other. In "Shame on Blue", Fugazi's "Blueprint" adds a new depth to "Brooklyn Zoo" that puts it in an entirely differently light. Guy Picciotto's vocals appear in the chorus, as well as in several other songs on 13 Chambers, along with Ian MacKaye. This might help break up the monotony for listeners not accustomed to hip-hop vocals.

Fugazi's most well-known track, "Waiting Room" makes a small appearance at the tail end of "Nowhere to Wait", although I suspect if Girl Talk hadn't used the song in a recent mash-up with Rihanna's "Rude Boy", it might have been featured more prominently. I didn't even notice that it was used on my first couple of listens.

This is one of the best mash-up albums of recent years-maybe ever. It really feels like the parties involved took their time to make sure the tracks they used felt right together, rather than just picking songs with similar tempos and tacking them together, which can often be the case with projects like these. 13 Chambers is a cohesive album, and a worthy listen for any fan of mash-ups, Wu-Tang, Fugazi, or beautiful music in general.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

bobbie (December 8, 2011)

Gets a little slow near the end.. good album though

devianter (August 7, 2011)

changed my mind. it's a 5 star album

test (August 2, 2011)

Album of the decade

spoon_of_grimbo (July 29, 2011)

generally speaking, there's very little rap or hip-hop i enjoy beyond the occasional listen, so i'm quite surprised by how much i'm enjoying this album!

devianter (July 27, 2011)

lostcausegiveup
open your mind pal.

tofuatomic (July 26, 2011)

It just slays. Thats all.

lostcausegiveup (July 26, 2011)

AGGGHHH! the review! the general opinion!! i din't get it!! this is TERRIBLE!!!! it took two decent (yes, decent) seperate acts, and turned it into a shit sandwich. why? WHY?!?!?!?!?! i must be wrong, because nobody seems to agree with me. *sobbing in the corner, muttering "why?"*

fox82 (July 25, 2011)

This is great, needs more of Ian MacKaye's yelling though.

bud_boomer (July 25, 2011)

this record is incredible.

OVERdefined (July 24, 2011)

I don't LISTEN to music. I just feel it dogg.

DrGunn (July 24, 2011)

i fail to see how the beats on any of the beastie's classic albums (ie the first four, but especially the first two) could be considered "generic". i mean, seriously, have you ever LISTENED to paul's boutique?

slowstupidhungry (July 24, 2011)

"Beastie Boys suck. "Cool factor" overtakes boring rapping and generic instrumentals. Keep drooling over maintained hype."

Well, as far as mainstream rap goes, I think it's gotten so devolved that at this point they sound like "accomplished wordsmiths." But really, yeah, I don't think they've made any genuinely good music for like 20 years or something. But "cool factor?" To who?

Dante3000 (July 24, 2011)

YAH, we talked about Wugazi!!

I quite enjoy this but it throws me off how a lot of the music doesn't actually sound like Fugazi ("Shame on Blue" sounds almost like Linkin Park music). However, I am excited to see all the kids who try (and are totally put off by) Fugazi because of this.

OVERdefined (July 24, 2011)

Beastie Boys suck. "Cool factor" overtakes boring rapping and generic instrumentals. Keep drooling over maintained hype.

slowstupidhungry (July 24, 2011)

"It's fun and well crafted, but it's still pretty gimmicky to me. I enjoyed it, but after a week I just wanted to listen to the originals instead."

This is how I feel about mash ups (in the best case scenario, where I don't hate them right off the bat).

usversusthem (July 23, 2011)

Man, I don't care, I love this record to death. It probably helps that I'm relatively ambivalent about most of Fugazi's catalogue, and almost all of the Wu's, for that matter—I don't have any real emotional ties to the originals, but god damn do they sound good put together like this.

MN_DrNick (July 23, 2011)

What Chadreligion said a few comments down.

thepopeofchili-town (July 23, 2011)

So nice it posted twice.

thepopeofchili-town (July 23, 2011)

This is the official site:

http://www.djbc.net/beastles/

I think he had to take the files down, but they shouldn't be hard to find.

thepopeofchili-town (July 23, 2011)

This is the official site:

http://www.djbc.net/beastles/

I think he had to take the files down, but they shouldn't be hard to find.

telegraphrocks (July 23, 2011)

Beastles?

Holy shit, where?

Chadreligion (July 23, 2011)

Its a novelty of a record that should definitely be checked out, and quite creative, but nothing worth worshipping here.

Sliced-T (July 23, 2011)

It's fun and well crafted, but it's still pretty gimmicky to me. I enjoyed it, but after a week I just wanted to listen to the originals instead.

evildeadalive (July 23, 2011)

Love it

sleepwalker (July 23, 2011)

"Sweet Release" just kills.

Rastid (July 23, 2011)

yeah, this might be album of the year. damn.

mattramone (July 22, 2011)

Tied with Napalm Dream record of the year.

Michael_Berryman (July 22, 2011)

i think i read somewhere that it took like a year. they wanted to do more and call it 36 Songs but it just took too long. i hate mash-ups, usually. i fucking love this.

damnitsderek (July 22, 2011)

Love it so far. Cecil Otter and Swiss Andy killed it with this album.

DrGunn (July 22, 2011)

i'm a wu-tang and fugazi fan-boy, but have somehow avoided this one totally. maybe i'll look into it.