Released in May 1993 on Loud Records after a DIY pressing the previous year earned the crew a Killa Bee buzz, the Wu’s opening salvo – featured on their instant classic album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) – was the perfect east coast antidote to Dre and Snoop’s crisp G-funk or, as GZA would put it, “the dirtiest thing in sight”. With eight distinctive voices (an incarcerated Masta Killa had yet to sign up) ravaging an RZA track powered by that trusty trumpet glissando from the JB’s The Grunt, quotable lines abound, from Method Man’s playful Irene Cara impression to GZA’s bitter takedown of his unappreciative former label Cold Chillin’ and the wider music industry henceforth “a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar” was the de facto stereotype of the clueless A&R. From the second Inspectah Deck attacks his opening verse ( “I smoke on the mic like smokin’ Joe Frazier/ The hellraiser, raising hell with the flavour”), it’s easy to see why the clued-up radio caller at the song’s start is desperate for a repeat fix of the debut single from the mysterious, kung fu-crazy Staten Island crew.

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