Choked by Ironman 'til we crush your vocal cords GZA – Paper Plate
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References to Wu-Tang solo projects. Liquid Swords, of course, is GZA’s most famous solo album. Raekwon’s most successful album was Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…
That album takes it’s name from a cuban link, which also happens to be a strong gold chain worn by many rappers.
Also a reference to Ghostface Killah’s Iron Man) album.
So, to reiterate the damage from this and the last line…
Stung by a thousand (or maybe five hundred) of these…
Whipped with this…
Cut with this…
Choked by this…
(or knowing Ghostface’s love of Silver Age Marvel, this)
DAMN, GZA!!
Too many cuts on it, cokeheads they won't snort it GZA – Paper Plate
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And if those your soldiers, give 'em bigger guns to hold GZA – Paper Plate
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What is this?
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Another 50 reference, as he has been on the cover of GQ before
“Vogue” seems to be a reference to Madonna’s “strike a pose” ethos, rather than a reference to Vogue magazine – “voguing” was a popular dance among gay males in the late 1980s, and the association is not meant to be flattering.
Bite off this one, steal from your enemy GZA – Paper Plate
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What is this?
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What is this?
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Double entendre. Pagan rituals (except for the ones that end with the participants “skyclad”) have people with their heads in hoods. Apathy has more “heads” (homies) in THE hood than a pagan ritual would
Wake your sister, make your sister, take it in the face Army of the Pharaohs – Battle Cry
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A reference to the 1960’s television series Mission: Impossible, which would become a movie franchise with the first film’s release in 1996, soon after Liquid Swords dropped.
He was the greatest samurai in the empire
And he was the Shogun's decapitator
He cut off the heads of 131 lords
It was a bad time for the empire
The Shogun just stayed inside his castle and he never came out
People said his brain was infected by devils
My father would come home, he would forget about the killings
He wasn't scared of the Shogun, but the Shogun was scared of him
Maybe that was the problem
Then, one night, the Shogun sent his ninja spies to our house
They were supposed to kill my father but they didn't
*Woman screaming*
That was the night everything changed GZA – Liquid Swords
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This is an excerpt from 1980’s Shogun Assassin, a martial arts movie released in Japan based on the classic manga Lone Wolf and Cub. This particular piece of narration is spoken right before the opening title sequence
The sample sets the mood for Liquid Swords: gritty, violent and dark
Fun fact: RZA’s 36 Chambers studio was flooded out just as production of Liquid Swords was finishing, and although the album was mostly completed, all studio equipment was more or less destroyed. In his 2nd book The Tao of Wu, RZA speaks on how this sample set the tone, not just for the Liquid Swords album, but for the Wu-Tang Clan as a whole after that flood.
The monologue also appears in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 2, when Bill and Beatrix’s daughter BB is lulled to sleep by watching Shogun Assassin before her mom lays her dad to waste.
As Tarantino’s friend RZA composed the soundtrack to the film, this is undoubtedly a nod to “Liquid Swords.”
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