Album Review: El Michels Affair- Enter The 37th Chamber

15 years ago view-show 761,904

wu-artcile_phixrFor nearly 20 years, the Wu-Tang Clan have influenced everyone from the flashiest rappers, to the JanSport backpackers, right down to the suburban kids who’s parents probably wished they listened more American Idol-types, rather than nine guys originating from Staten Island, New York.

But as history shows, that isn’t the case and the foundation they built back in the early 90’s lives on through new acts such as the El Michels Affair.

Consisting of musicians who actually play instruments (yes, real musicians still exist) the El Michels Affairs comes the stage with Enter The 37th Chamber.

Comprised of music from Wu-Tang’s group and solo catalogs, the El Michels Affair perform instrumental renditions of classic songs that helped forge Hip-Hop into the global juggernaut it is today.

With an organic sound that would make ?uestlove and The Roots tip their hats, the El Michels Affair provide instrumentation versions of songs like GZA’s ‘Duel Of The Iron Mic, Raekwon’s ‘Criminology,’ ‘Incarcerated Scarfaces,and ‘Glaciers Of Ice.

Then, they touch upon Ghostface Killah’s ‘Cherchez La Ghost,’ Ol Dirty Bastard’s ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya, to the Wu’s most powerful masterpieces like ‘C.R.E.A.M., ‘Da Mystery Of Chessboxin,’’ ‘Can It Be All So Simple,and of course ‘Protect Ya Neck,along with other memorable tunes.

With Enter The 37th Chamber, the El Michels Affair do solid job at interpreting the original music, and putting their own little spin on it with the use of live instruments.

Every track remains as-is, but from a band standpoint; while giving you the urge to dust off Raekown’s purple tape, or the Wu’s first cassette, and pop it in your old school tape deck and reminisce back to yester-year.

For the fans of the entire Wu-Tang family tree, Enter The 37th Chamber is something worth having in your collection, especially if you’re a beat junky who likes to compare and contrast.

And with this project, the El Michels Affair proves that Hip-Hop can never die, because groups like Wu-Tang Clan are “Forever.”

Rating: 3.0

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