Among the projects announced as part of the Record Store Day lineup Thursday is a new album by Wu-Tang Clan and Mathematics. Mathematics, who produced the entire record, explained the inspiration for the title, Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman: From The Wu-Tang, the Saga Continues Collection.
“Well, the album has a certain feel to it,” Math tells Variety. “It’s an homage to Blaxploitation movies. You have movies like Black Samson, Black Caesar and Super Fly. Those are the type of movies that I was raised on in the 1970s. The Bastard Swordsman part of [the title] is an ode to the old karate flicks because that’s what I grew up on as well. With me as well as all of Wu-Tang, that’s something we had in common. We all loved the old karate flicks.”
With RZA busy working on other things, Math gathered the group members for the album, coming up with 11 tracks and a bonus track exclusively for vinyl. Math says it was a “long and tedious” process, but his brothers showed up for him when he called.
“It’s my brothers, when I need them, I call them,” he says. “All praises due, they show up. I’m grateful for that. It definitely takes time. We’ve been doing residencies and tours, so to sit down and lock in is kind of hard. But we’re around each other so much, when we do get in the studio, it makes it easier and the vibe is better.”
The album will be released April 12 as a Record Store Day exclusive that Method Man says “looks to be another banger for the history books!”
“You can be sure of a great body work,” Raekwon adds. “Mathematics is a top tier producer who makes music with his soul attached.”
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