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Comment by gtaylor | Hacker News Reader

I don't even listen to Wu-Tang, but I think this is awesome. This is creative and interesting. People like myself who would otherwise never read or think about Wu-Tang are pondering how this will work and what the implications (if any) will be. That's awesome.

> and is a piece of performance art in its own right

Very much so. Excellent point.

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If you're unfamiliar with Wu-Tang you may enjoy this video which is GZA rhyming about the big bang. Wu-Tang is pretty much the opposite of what the stereotype about rap culture is. They are intelligent and try to spread positivity in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajs48XRlOqc

"Wu Tang is for the children."

Also, aint nuthing ta fuck wit

>Wu-Tang is pretty much the opposite of what the stereotype about rap culture is

As a die hard rap and Wu fan I would just like to say that very few artists actually fall into that stereotype. There's no "rap culture". Rap is about expression, and it happens to express different things when made by different people.

As a die hard rap fan as well, I would say the vast majority of artists fall into that stereotype.

I love rap, but even I have to admit that a lot of rap lyrics are dumb and offensive, and definitely play into the hands of those who talk about "rap culture" (I think Boondocks does a pretty good job of showing this by the way).

IMO the majority of artists that are positioning themselves as "rappers" are actually pop artists, coming straight from the assembly line of the big music publishers. (also truhead speaking here)

Not a big Wu fan, but I'm die hard hip hop fan also.

Pretty much everyone in the mainstream falls into exactly that category. Macklemore probably the exception to the rule at the moment.

Compare with the underground artists like Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Immortal Technique, Shad, Jurassic 5, Blackalicious etc.

They are worlds apart! It's such a shame that hip hop has ben positioned as an almost antithesis of intelligent music in the public eye, when it started out as music with a message (much of the underground still has that ethos). It's so bad that I usually have to justify my music choices to people who know no better "why would you listen to that shit? - nothing but bitches and ho's".

That's why I consider "rap" (bad, commercial) and "hip hop" (good, art) to be two completely different types of music even though they're extremely closely related.

Compare Kanye West and Brother Ali to see one example of the difference.

EDIT: Switched to a better example of hip hop. Also, someone downvoted me for making a distinction? Strange.

I certainly remember hearing tons of intelligent, political, and not particularly "commercial" stuff called "rap" on the radio in the early '80s....

I'm surprised at the fixed sale price.

They should have Dutch auctioned it if there was sufficient interest from the big labels.

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