The Greatest American Band Debate: Wu Tang Clan

Today for the greatest American band debate, I'm nominating the Wu Tang Clan.

I love Wu Tang. They're one of, if not the best rap group of all time. People will throw out Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five or Eric B and Rakim, both I will be writing about on a later date, but Wu Tang is far superior. They have great, very memorable songs, but they get my nomination simply based on the fact that almost every single member of the band is still performing rap music and some are doing great things in acting. The fact that these guys not only have hit record after hit record while with Wu Tang, but most of them have had hit records as solo artists. That doesn't happen too often, but some of the members are more known for their solo stuff than their Wu Tang stuff.

I do want to mention some of their famous songs still, and I'll do that right now. Songs like "C.R.E.A.M.", "Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to F$&k With",  "Protect Ya Neck", "Bring Da Ruckus" and "Killer Beez". "C.R.E.A.M." Is an awesome, classic rap song with a great, great chorus. It's an acronym for cash rules everything around me and that's the epitome of a classic rap lyric. I love it so much. "Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to F$&k With" is such a cool, dirty, hard core rap song. They put themselves at the front of greatest rap group with this song. They let it be known that they were the best, and anyone coming to get the crown, step off because you don't mess with Wu Tang. "Protect Ya Neck" is grimy rap at its best. This song is filthy in all the right ways and it gave each member a chance to shine. "Bring Da Ruckus" is a cool rap song about bringing the noise to rap. It's a joyous song about the beauty that is rap. "Killer Beez", while not one of their best songs, has the coolest music video ever. Each member kind of morphs into a bee while rapping and it was very, very cool. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

But, as I said earlier, they're getting my nomination because of the members of this group. This is a murderers row of all time great rappers. Let's list them off right now, RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Ol Dirty Bastard, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Cappadonna, Masta Killa and U God. See, some of the best of all time. U God is still making solo albums, but he's probably the least famous. Masta Killa hasn't made an album since 2012, but he's still active with Wu Tang and he still performs live with the band. Cappadonna was in the first iterations of Wu Tang and he still performs with Theodore Unit, another hip hop group with Ghostface Killah. Inspectah Deck was a performer and producer for Wu Tang and received critical praise for his lyricism and way he rapped. He did some solo work, but now he's a top of the line producer, mainly doing things for Wu Tang. Raekwon is awesome. He's made a great career for himself as a solo artist, and he was an integral part of Wu Tang at their height. He's credited with creating "Mafiosi" rap. He's got one of the coolest styles of rapping that I've ever heard. We all know about Ol Dirty Bastard. He was one of the grossest, yet coolest rappers I've ever heard. His style was all his own and it will never be duplicated. His most famous lyric, "ooh baby I likes it raw", is disgusting and glorious. I loved ODB and I still miss him. Rest in peace. Ghostface Killah is my favorite member of Wu Tang. I love his style of rap, and his solo albums are the best of the bunch. His style is grimy and gritty and politically conscious. He's achieved critical acclaim for his work with Wu Tang and his solo stuff. Ghostface Killah is one of the all time greats in the world of rap music. Method Man has gained more notoriety for his acting than he ever did with his music. Now, that's not to say that he's not a great rapper, he is. Just listen to the Wu Tang song "Method Man". It's about him and he's the star on the track. But, he's taken to acting like a pro. He's been a star, a role player and a cameo guy and he always crushes. Just look at his role on "The Wire". He played "Cheese" and he was excellent as a thuggish drug dealer and, spoiler alert, when he got shot in the face, I was stunned. GZA is a genius. He wrote the majority of Wu Tang's songs and is the founding member of the band. He always seems like the most level headed guy in the room. He deserves way more praise than he gets. Without him, we never would've gotten Wu Tang. He has maintained a successful solo career as well. I love everything the GZA does. The final member, RZA has the most critical acclaim in music and acting. He's right up there with the GZA. Where the GZA started Wu Tang, the RZA produces everything they do. He's also, for most people, the first name you think of when talking about Wu Tang. He's made a ton of solo albums, he's appeared as a guest on a ton of albums and he's, hands down, one of the greatest rappers of all time. He's highly in demand. As far as the acting, not only has he done as much, if not more, than Method Man, but he's also written and directed movies. He's appeared in movies like "Ghost Dog", "Funny People" and "Coffee and Cigarettes" (ed note: Plus he was the Blind Master in the G.I. Joe: Retaliation - awesome movie). In these bit parts, he all but steals the show. He's a great actor. He's also written and directed and starred in "Man With the Iron Fists", both one and two. While these aren't the best movies, they're campy throwbacks to old school Kung Fu movies and he wrote them. That's impressive. He's right up there, influentially, with the GZA.

Wu Tang Clan is an all time great. This blog was easy for me to write because these guys are so famous and so influential to rappers today. Look at a group like Odd Future and tell me they're not striving to be the next Wu Tang. Wu Tang is awesome and they absolutely, 100 percent deserve to be in this discussion. These above reasons are why.

And remember, Wu Tang Clan ain't nothing to mess with.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He yearns for a Wu Tang Christmas sweater. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.