Episode notes

The Album: The Genius/GZA: Liquid Swords (1995)
By 1995, hip-hop was deep in the Wu era with three solo projects making their debut: Return to the 36 Chambers (which we discussed with Open Mike Eagle), Raekwon/Ghostface Killah’s famed “purple tape” album, aka Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and then album this episode centers on: Liquid Swords by the head of the Wu Voltron squad: The Genius aka GZA. In many ways, like those other two LPs, Liquid Swords feels like a debut album but technically, it was Genius’s second. His first came in 1991, during a pre-Wu, practically New Jack Swing, phase of his career. By 1994, The Genius had reinvented himself; the contrast (as we discuss) is so stark that they may have well been two different artists if not for that distinctive, authoritative baritone that GZA wields. Liquid Swords encapsulated the Wu Tang ethos in concentrated: drama-filled, cinematically vivid, braggadocio for days, all filtered through that “witty and unpredictable slang.” People are free to debate which Wu member is their favorite but there’s no debating that GZA was one half of the Wu’s leadership — The Master to RZA’s Abbot — and that his gravitas anchored the Wu ethos.
The album was the pick of the Bay Area’s Dave Ma, frequent contributor to Wax Poetics, creator of the Nerdtorious audio-blog, and part of the team that produces the Dad Bod Rap Pod.  Together, we got into the Year of the Wu in 1995, what made GZA such a potent presence, and what the ideal length of a rap skit should be.
More on Dave Ma

• Flea Market Funk profile
• Ma and Nate LeBlanc interview Del for Wax Poetics‘ podcast
• Twitter | Website

More on Liquid Swords

• GZA on the songs on Liquid Swords (as done by Ma for Wax Poetics)
• “‘Liquid Swords’: Why GZA’s Genius Still Cuts Deep” (uDiscoverMusic)
• Liquid Swords, 20th anniversary retrospective by Dart Adams

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Liquid Swords unless indicated otherwise):
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