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Forgotten No Longer: Staten Island, ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ and the Emergence of the Wu-Tang Clan

image of Forgotten No Longer: Staten Island, ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ and the Emergence of the Wu-Tang Clan

The Wu-Tang Clan diverged from traditional conceptions of hip-hop to create a new sound and business ventures that cemented them as one of the most successful hip-hop acts. Hip-hop in the 90s became cemented in American collective memory. The new styling and lyricism of 90s hip hop emulated the genres' ability to go mainstream but stay true to its roots. Among this shift was the Staten Island group, the Wu-Tang Clan. The Wu-Tang Clan was not the typical two or three-person group. It was comprised of nine MCs with various skillsets. This paper will focus on the prevalence and impact of the Wu-Tang Clan both in the hip hop community and mainstream media through an analysis of C.R.E.A.M. and their unconventional style and characterization of urban problems that ushered in a new hip-hop sound that cemented their status as one of the best acts in hip-hop.

Keywords: black culture ; hip-hop ; history ; memory ; music ; place ; popular culture ; race ; space ; urban problems ; Wu-Tang ; Wu-Tang Clan

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References

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References

  1. Anon. (1986), ‘S.I. School Trying to Ease Racial Discord’, New York Times, 27 April, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1986/04/27/457386.html?pageNumber=47. Accessed 1 September 2021, p. 47.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Ashon, Will (2019), Chamber Music: Wu-Tang and America (in 36 Pieces), London: Faber and Faber Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bachin, Robin (2015), ‘City Stories: Place-Making Narratives in the Rise and Fall of Urban America’, Journal of Urban History, 41:6, pp. 1073–76, https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144215602002.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Barclay, Gerald (2007), Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan, USA: Breaking Glass Pictures.124
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Boyd, Todd (2002), The New H.N.I.C (Head Niggas in Charge): The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop, New York: New York University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Buatta, Mario (1988), ‘Flashbacks: Staten Island Before the Bridge’, New York Times, 20 November, p. 594, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1988/11/20/558388.html?pageNumber=594. Accessed 1 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Caramianica, Jon (2019), ‘Review: A Wu-Tang Clan Documentary Captures the Group's Wild Self-Invention’, New York Times, 9 May, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/arts/television/wu-tang-clan-of-mics-and-men-review.html. Accessed 1 September 2021.
  8. Certified (2018), ‘For the Children: 25 Years of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)’, YouTube, 9 November, 17:06, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kDEAv99mv8&feature=youtu.be%29. Accessed 1 September 2021.
  9. Charnas, Dan (2010), The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, New York: Penguin Group.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Chasteen, Amy L. and Shriver, Thomas (1998), ‘Rap and Resistance: A Social Movement Analysis of the Wu-Tang Clan’, Morehouse Research Institute, 9:2, pp. 1–24.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Department of City Planning (n.d.), ‘Population-Decennial Census-Census 2000’, NYC Planning, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/planning-level/nyc-population/census-2000.page. Accessed 13 February 2022.
  12. Diehl, Matt (1996), ‘Brash Hip-Hop Entrepreneurs’, New York Times, 8 December, https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/08/arts/brash-hip-hop-entrepreneurs.html. Accessed 1 September 2021.
  13. Dyja, Thomas (2021), New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Success, Excess, and Transformation, New York: Simon & Schuster.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. French, Howard (1989), ‘Hatred and Social Isolation May Spur Acts of Racial Violence, Experts Say’, New York Times, 4 September, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1989/09/04/751989.html?pageNumber=31.Accessed 1 September 2021.
  15. Gieryn, Thomas (2000), ‘A Space for Place in Sociology’, Annual Review of Sociology, 26:1, pp. 463–96.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Jones, D. Marvin (2013), Fear of a Hip-Hop Planet: America's New Dilemma, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Kelley, Robin D. G. (1997), Yo Mama's Disfunktional: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America, Boston: Beacon Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Kun, Josh (2005), Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America, Berkeley: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Maeroff, Gene (1980), ‘Racial Outbreak Disrupts a School on Staten Island’, New York Times, 11 October, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/10/11/111805817.html?pageNumber=26. Accessed 1 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. McFadden, Robert (1980), ‘Regents Condemn “Racial Strife” at S.I's New Dorp High School’, New York Times, 24 October, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/10/24/111303814.html?pageNumber=39. Accessed 1 September 2021.125
  21. Nelson, Havelock (1996), ‘Wu-Tang Clan Shows How to Do It Right’, Billboard, 11 January, https://books.google.com/books?id=wQ4EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=wu-tang%20clan&f=false. Accessed 1 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Page, Alan (2014), Enter the Wu-Tang: How Nine Men Changed Hip-Hop Forever, Columbia: Lone Gunman Media LLC.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Rose, Tricia (1994), Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Sachs, Charles L. (2010), ‘Staten Island’, in K. Jackson (ed.), The Encyclopedia of New York, New Haven: Yale University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. The RZA (2005), The Wu-Tang Manual, New York: Riverhead Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. The Wu-Tang Clan (1993), ‘C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)’, composed by the Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), CD, USA: Loud Records.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (1980), 1980 Census of Population, New York: Bureau of the Census, https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1980/1980censusofpopu80134unse_bw.pdf. Accessed 1 October 2021.
  28. Verhovek, Sam (1988), ‘Race and a Death Dividing Two Neighborhoods on S.I.’, New York Times, 17 October, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1988/10/17/128288.html?pageNumber=23. Accessed 1 September 2021.
  29. WhoSampled, ‘C.R.E.A.M.’, https://www.whosampled.com/Wu-Tang-Clan/C.R.E.A.M./. Accessed 1 September 2021.
  30. Wu-Tang: Of Mics and Men (2019, USA: Amazon Prime).

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