The W [PA]

Rolling Stone (1/4/01, p.118) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Top 50 Albums of 2000". Rolling Stone (12/21/00, pp.169-70) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A sonic gestalt that exists somewhere between the Queensbridge projects and OutKast's STANKONIA....reaffirming Wu-world order...as the best rap group ever..." Spin (2/01, pp.105-6) - 8 out of 10 - "...Call this music what it is: Blue Urban Dread Improvised Boo Hoo Limp. Nobody Wu's it better." Entertainment Weekly (11/24/00, p.82) - "...Utterly mellow...forgoeing innovation and simply revels in [the group's] stregths....Shifting easily from stark struts...to loose R&B...they're old pros, and they know it..." - Rating: B+ Q (1/01, p.113) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...Largely a return to murky idiosyncratic form....it plays to the group's main strengths: brutal hooks and scary ambience..." The Wire (1/01, p.34) - Included in Wire's "50 Records Of The Year" [2000]. The Wire (12/00, p.65) - "...THE W feels like some unbathed, 'grit the blade in your teeth, grim and bare arms' type s***..." CMJ (11/27/00, p.4) - "...Revisits the loose grimy methods that first propelled them to stardom..." Vibe (1/01, pp.137-8) - 4.5 discs out of 5 - "...A dense, demented, 15-song opus....going against the grain of everything that's going on in rap right now. If originality, innovation, and a mastery of the fundamentals of beats and rhymes still mean something to people, then THE W stands for 'winner'." The Source (1/01, pp.193-4) - 3.5 mics out of 5 - "...A sharp effort....it will make you dust off your copy of ENTER THE WU-TANG..." Melody Maker (11/28/00, p.50) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...They still rock....if you're genuinely interested in the myriad, spiralling noises that hip-hop can make...then get down to the record shop iommediately..." NME (Magazine) (12/30/00, p.78) - Ranked #21 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year". NME (Magazine) (11/18/00, p.41) - 8 out of 10 - "...With RZA in blinding form as Maestro Of Tension, THE W wades out impressively into a Fear Zone of guns, slums, cops and the kind of paranoid anxiety you get from smoking vast quantities of hydro and walking down Crackhead St. on your own at 4am..."