Despite being the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan and having handled all the production duties on the unmatched sequence of classic albums between '93 and '97, The RZA hadn't taken centre stage as a solo artist until this video. He'd always shone on group songs as well as features (4th Chamber a particular standout) with one of the most unique voices in hip hop so he had a lot to live up to.
Luckily with Tragedy he totally delivered with some of the best verses of his career over a stunning oriental beat and a haunting rendition of a Eurythmics classic for the hook. The opening lines of the first verse are a great example of that iconic Wu-Tang style that made them such a force in Hip Hop:
Yo, yo, assassination, vaccination, poor education
Infatuation with Satan with global nataion taxation
Fiberoptic microscopic biological germ
Mad Cow burger on the market, Captain of your starship
Yo, yo, assassination, vaccination, poor education
Infatuation with Satan with global nataion taxation
Fiberoptic microscopic biological germ
Mad Cow burger on the market, Captain of your starship
The song really set down a marker for 1997 and whet the appetite of the masses for the Clan's second album Wu-Tang Forever that would be released a few months later.
The video was something special in itself and if you watch it back now, you can see how much it influenced The Man With The Iron Fists - the movie that he directed 15 years later.
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