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Wu-Tang Clan’s Double-Album Opus ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ Turns 25 Today

RELEASE SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION & MORE

On June 3, 1997, 25 years ago TODAY, Wu-Tang Clan unleashed their history-making GRAMMY® Award-nominated double-disc opus, Wu-Tang Forever and changed the face of hip-hop forever. 

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Wu-Tang Clan’s Wu-Tang Forever, Get On Down and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, have released an anniversary collection which includes the album with a lyric booklet, a silver colored 7-inch single of “Triumph” with “Heaterz” on the b-side in a picture sleeve, and a reissue of the double cassette in a slip case. Available HERE.

Continuing this celebration, Wu-Tang have shared a new installment series of newly-unearthed video interviews from 1997 conducted on the set of the iconic “Triumph” video shoot.  They took a break from the 5 day shoot in 1997 to talk about their history, their lives, their inspiration, who they were listening to and what Triumph & the Wu-Tang meant to them. Tune in HERE

In an ode to New York City, the group has shared a “New York Is Home” visual playlist on YouTube.

This video playlist pays homage to Wu-Tang with cinematic location-based shots throughout their borough of Staten Island and the rest of New York City. Treated footage with gritty textures and colors, resulting in a whole new way to watch, listen and experience the album. Watch HERE.

The group has also unveiled a new Wu-Niverse, documentary-style profile series on Certified, the digital destination platform celebrating SMEs R&B and Hip-Hop catalogs. These mini-documentaries follow fans from around the world and spend a day with them as they show us their love for Wu-Tang. From the eccentric to the unexpected, these profiles uncover the power of Wu-Tang and their lasting effect on so many fans’ lives. Watch HERE.

Wu-Tang clan kicked off the celebration last month with a series of special releases. They unveiled three digital EPs – Reunited – The Remixes, It’s Yourz, and Triumph (Available now HERE), and joined forces with remixer SLATER to present slowed + reverb versions of “Protect Ya Neck”, “Uzi” (Pinky Ring), “Gravel Pit” and “Triumph”(Listen HERE). Plus, Wu-Tang Clan also opened a Forever & Ever giveaway through their official fan newsletter. Join the swarm HERE.

25 years onward, Wu-Tang Forever stands out as canonical. It reached quadruple-platinum status in the United States and made history as “the first hip-hop album to capture #1 in the United States and the UK following its release. Not to mention, it earned a GRAMMY® Award nod in the category of “Best Rap Album.” It has also gathered hundreds of millions of streams as well. Receiving widespread critical plaudits in retrospect, Vibe proclaimed, Wu-Tang Forever’ stamped the Wu-Tang Clan as rap icons,” and christened it “one of the greatest rap albums of its time. The Quietus noted, “It was the culmination of the brilliant five-year plan conceived by the group’s de facto leader The Rza, which not only turned the Clan into one of the biggest and most important groups in hip hop history but changed the way the music industry worked. From any of these perspectives, the album was a significant achievement.” HIGHSNOBIETY declared, “their sophomore album remains a triumph; one that more than lived up to its expectations and has aged extremely well in the two decades since.” 

Wu-Tang Clan is still and will always be Forever.