Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever (Loud/RCA/BMG)
Generations from now, hip hop historians will write wild essays on the Wu-Tang Forever album. Their students will quote from Rza's monologues in their doctoral theses. Behind faculty doors there will be raging debates as to whether it was Ghostface Killa or the understated
Whereabouts Stony Baloney On Rye (Invisible Ink) Standing confidently astride the new wave of yesteryear and the post-grunge pop of today are locals the Whereabouts, two anglo singer/guitarists backed by a franco rhythm section. Indeed, these guys sound like they could bridge any divide they want, as they do on "Holiday Inn," with its high life/ska verse and punk 'n' power pop chorus. Andrew MacNeill's rasp evokes just enough of Psych Fur Dick Butler and a bonus bossa nova track is new wavy gravy. 7.5/10 (Chris Yurkiw) KRS-One I Got Next (Jive/BMG) If you missed the street sermon that KRS-One delivered from the Spectrum stage last month, your soul can still be saved. Download the Teacher's hip hop bible from his latest enhanced CD and while the Showbiz and Muggs beats cleanse you, you (like Redman) can join the converts to KRS' new temple of hip hop. 8/10 (Manchilde) Amon Tobin Bricolage (Ninja Tune/Cargo)
Amon Tobin's studio work bounces between the chopped and the swish. Bricolage shuffles from gliding Pink Panther-ish spine-jazz to jungle cubism and severed batucada. Those who prefer mixed tapes over albums will appreciate Tobin's impeccable flow of tracks, loosely linked without a cheesy theme and energy-peaking in the middle of the CD. His penchant for upright bass will satiate the Poricini-ists and the bird squawks and windy bells might tickle those who still crave early '90s ambio-atmospherics. 9/10 (Mireille Silcott)
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U-God who matured most as an MC. The Wu's seventh album and second collective effort is a pure triumph of production skill for the Rza. The almost medieval string samples on many of the double album's tracks have recaptured the best of the Method Man and ODB, pushing both those MCs to a lyrical depth unreached on their solo albums. The Wu have invited us to grow with them beyond the "gun-totin'-ice-rocking" world view, and have made a volume of truly classic urbania in the process. 9.5/10 (Manchilde)