After more than 30 years of music, during which they created an entire martial mythology as well as some of the greatest hip-hop records of all time, Wu-Tang Clan have signalled a possible end to the group.
They have announced “the start of their final tour”, entitled Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber, which will initially visit 27 US cities, beginning 6 June in Baltimore. Bandleader RZA has alluded to later worldwide dates, saying in a statement:
This is a special moment for me and all my Wu brothers to run around the globe together one more time and spread the Wu swag, music, and culture. Most importantly to touch our fans and those who have supported us throughout the years. On this tour we’re playing songs we’ve never played before to our audience and me and our production team have designed a Wu-Tang show unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
If these do prove to be the group’s final shows, it will bring the curtain down on a wildly creative – and at times fractious – career for the nine-strong group.
They formed in Staten Island in 1992, and with production by RZA, the group delivered their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) the following year, telling gritty stories filled with references to martial arts and comic books.
Their supersized second album Wu-Tang Forever topped the charts in the US and UK, while third album The W contained some of their biggest hits including Gravel Pit and Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off). Three more studio albums followed, plus a curio release: Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, an album released as a single copy, bought for $2m by pharmaceuticals tycoon Martin Shkreli in 2015.
Some of the members’ solo albums, such as Ghostface Killah’s Supreme Clientele and Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, are also regarded as pinnacles of the hip-hop genre. They lost one of their most distinctive members in 2004, with the death of Ol’ Dirty Bastard to an accidental drug overdose, and corralling the MCs together hasn’t always been easy – there have been a number of other releases with one or more members missing.
This April brings the release of Black Samson, an album with all nine members together again, though it is not an official Wu-Tang Clan album and is instead co-credited to producer Mathematics. The group also put on a united front – for most dates at least – at a Las Vegas concert residency held in 2024.
Support on the US tour will come from Run the Jewels, the hip-hop duo of El-P and Killer Mike.
