Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is one of the most celebrated hip-hop albums, with good reason. The nine-man group of emcees, all with unique styles and voices, took the world by storm with their debut album. The combination of sharp lyricism, grimy production, and kung-fu movie themes proved to be a winning formula for the Staten Island residents, who, through the music, transformed their hometown to Shaolin (a reference and homage to the Shaolin Temple in China). Within six months of its release, 36 Chambers would earn a gold plaque (to date, it’s three times platinum). 36 Chambers would be the cornerstone Wu would build their brand on as a handful of the members would release successful solo albums, including a few classics in the mix, cementing the group’s legacy. In June of 1997, Wu-Tang would reunite, releasing Wu-Tang Forever, which would continue to grow their legacy and commercial success. By then, they had already helped launch the career of Shyheim (who by ‘97 already had two albums under his belt), and the next fruit to fall from the Wu tree would be Killarmy.

Killarmy was a six-man team comprised of 9th Prince, Killa Sin, P.R. Terrorist (aka Dom Pachino), Beretta 9, Shogun Assason, and Islord. 9th Prince is RZA’s younger brother, making the Wu-Tang affiliation easy to track. They released their debut album, Silent Weapons For Quiet Wars, in the summer of 1997, with 4th Disciple handling most of the production and RZA serving as the album’s Executive Producer (he would also get his hands dirty as an actual producer on two of the project’s tracks). The album title is based on a document William Cooper discusses in his 1991 book about conspiracy theories and The New World Order, Behold A Pale Horse (it’s an intriguing read, to say the least). Silent Weapons was the first album released on Wu-Tang Records with distribution from Priority Records. It would yield two singles and climb to thirty-four on the US Billboard 200.

I’m walking into this review completely blind. I’ve never heard a Killarmy song, but a few years back, I stumbled on a used CD copy of Silent Weapons for a few bucks and bought it strictly off affiliation. Let’s dive into it and see if it’s worthy of a Wu-Tang stamp.

Dress To Kill – After a short clip from a dramatic news report plays to introduce Killarmy and the album, Killa Sin, 9th Prince, and ShoGun Assason adorn themselves in army suits, black boots, and military gear. Killa Sin is out to shatter emcees like plexiglass (which is a horrible simile from Sin, considering plexiglass is specifically designed not to shatter), 9th Prince is strapped with a holy MAC-11 and tucking razor blades in bibles, while Shogun’s out to make POWs out of his adversaries. I wasn’t super impressed by the rhymes, but the gritty guitar licks and grimy elements in the backdrop painted a vivid warzone.

Clash Of The Titans – ShoGun Assason, 9th Prince, P.R. Terrorist, and Beretta 9 rock over 4th’s weeping violins, drunken piano keys, and frantic bass line. Long-time Wu affiliate Street Life joins in, adding a verse to this exhilarating ride of a record.

Burning Season – The track begins with predictable police sirens. Then 4th loops up Al Green’s “Light My Fire” (making this the second consecutive post to sample said record (see Atmosphere’s “Ode To The Modern Man”)), creating a soulful music bed for Killa Sin to spit two verses filled with robbery, violence, and murder. Sin’s tone and delivery remind me a bit of Raekwon. 9th Prince (whose choppy, off-beat delivery is reminiscent of his big brother’s) drops in to contribute a way too wordy hook.

Blood For Blood – P.R. Terrorist, ShoGun Assason, 9th Prince, and Beretta 9 are out for blood on this track. 4th Disciple puts the battery in their backs with a folksy chipmunk female vocal sample, backed by emotional strings that give the track a dramatic flair.

Seems It Never Fails – Islord makes his only appearance on Silent Weapons. With his distinctive puny voice (like Westside Gunn, he doesn’t sound a day over twelve), he leads things off with a cocky verse, followed by rhymes of randomness from 9th Prince. Speaking of randomness, the refrain has nothing to do with anything, but I guess they had to fill up the space between the verses with something. The relaxing, jazzy loop that makes up the instrumental is soothing and sounds even better when listened to on a gloomy, rainy day.

Universal Soldiers – Killa Sin, P.R. Terrorist, ShoGun Assason (whose verse sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom behind enemy walls and emailed over), and 9th Prince (who collects heads at The Caucasus Mountains for leisure on the weekends) continue to flex their military style over this edgy and grimy backdrop. The Ronald Isley vocal loop on the hook was well played.

Love, Hell Or Right – Killarmy uses this short interlude to talk about the once loyal soldiers in their crew who lost focus and fell by the wayside. I like the beautiful flute loop in the background.

Wake Up – 9th Prince & Killa Sin square up with a few other Wu-Tang affiliates: Hell Razah & Prodigal Sunn of Sunz Of Man. The foursome has decent chemistry on the mic, leaving you with two options during the hook. Rza gets his first production credit of the evening, giving the track a sinister feel with a darkly possessed piano riff during the verses and soft emotional key taps during the chorus. This was fire.

Fair, Love & War – 4th mixes antagonistic synth chords with a somber melody for Killa Sin, Beretta 9, P.R. Terrorist, and ShoGun Assason to trade hood tales and war stories. The news report clips were a clever way to weave the verses together, giving them cohesion.

Wu-Renegade – Haunted pianos, haughty strings, and a heartfelt female vocal snippet make up the backdrop that P.R. Terrorist, Killa Sin, 9th Prince, and Beretta 9 use to transform into the Destructions. Other than the trash hook, everything about this record worked.

Full Moon – 9th Prince spits a verse celebrating the release of his incarcerated homeboy while Killa Sin reminisces over a childhood friend who was murdered. The two verses are woven together by a soul-stirring vocal loop and melancholic chords that 4th brilliantly adds rev’d up thumping drums to during the verses, giving the record an apprehensive feel. Well played.

Under Siege – The record begins with a snippet of the classic war flick Full Metal Jacket (next to Platoon, it’s probably my favorite war movie. Wait. Did it really come out in 1987? Wow, time flies). Then, a drum beat fit for a marching army platoon and tender harp plucks surface for ShoGun Assason, P.R. Terrorist, and Beretta 9 to wield their silent weapons, preparing for verbal combat.

Shelter – Beretta 9 and ShoGun Assason discuss street hustling, hard times, and trusting God through it all. The instrumental sounds too wacky for their content, but it’s still mildly funky.

Camouflage Ninjas – ShoGun Assason, P.R. Terrorist, Beretta 9, and 9th Prince put down their guns and pick up their swords and nunchucks as they transform into the masked Avengers, aka camouflage ninjas (of course, I’m putting more sauce on it than required). I love the sample of one of my favorite Earth, Wind & Fire songs (“Mom”) for the instrumental.

Swinging Swords – 4th cleverly flips a jazzy Billie Holiday loop, turning her voice into the hook and painting a dark ambiance with the piano and bass line in the music. 9th Prince, P.R. Terrorist, and Killa Sin swing their verbal swords all over the jazzy backdrop. And if you’re like me and were wondering why Islord is listed as a roster of the army but has only shown up for active duty once (see “Seems It Never Fails”), Sin lets us know incarceration is the reason for his absence. Side note: P.R. Terrorist becomes the second rapper to use “phalanges” in a rhyme, knocking Evocalist of the B.U.M.S. off my coveted short list of rappers to exclusively use a unique word in a rhyme.

War Face – This one starts with another clip from Full Metal Jacket, setting up the song’s theme. 9th Prince, ShoGun Assason, Beretta 9, Killa Sin, and their guest, Hoffa, proceed to “run a train on Bobby Steele’s track” and ask the listener to show them their best war face during the hook. It’s not one of RZA’s best productions (with co-credit going to 4th Disciple), but it still works.

5 Stars – Sticking with the war theme, for the album’s finale, 4th turns the M.A.S.H. theme song into a somber and gully boom-bap production. 9th Prince, Beretta 9, ShoGun Assason, and P.R. Terrorist continue to do what they’ve done for the previous sixteen tracks. Masta Killa drops by to get off the album’s closing verse (making him the only Wu-Tang member to cameo on Silent Weapons), and let’s just say it isn’t a 5-star general performance.

The 7th chapter of the book of Matthew finds Jesus in the middle of preaching a sermon to his disciples in the mountains. In the previous few chapters, he gave them the Beatitudes and a plethora of other instructions required to please his Father in heaven. In chapter seven, he hits them with a parable about False prophets. He warns, “By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” This parable makes sense, but Silent Weapons left me wondering if a good tree can bear mid fruit.

As a kid, one of my favorite cartoons was G.I. Joe. Every morning before school, I’d watch Duke, Flint, Hawk, Snake Eyes, Lady J, Scarlett, Shipwreck, Bazooka, Road Block (dude was a rapper trapped in a soldier’s body), and the rest of the team battle Cobra Commander, Destro, The Baroness (with her fine ass) and the rest of the Cobra Army for a half an hour. The characters listed above were the main attraction, but in the background, supporting them were generic G.I. Joe soldiers. The main guys would flaunt their personalities and rock their own desired variations of fatigues and army boots (Scarlett was rockin’ leggings decades before they became everyday women’s attire), garnering all the spotlight. The generic G.I. Joe soldiers would remain nameless, without personalities, stuck wearing the same mundane uniform, forever playing second fiddle to the real Joes.

Killarmy aren’t terrible rappers. At certain points on Silent Weapons, 9th Prince and Killa Sin sound semi-interesting. But unlike the Wu members, who each had unique personalities and their own styles (the real G.I. Joes), Killarmy’s roster doesn’t come with charismatic voices or a variation of rhyming techniques (generic G.I. Joe soldiers). Throughout Silent Weapons’ seventeen tracks, the six-man team makes every war reference possible as they engage in an imaginary battle against devils, society, and other emcees, with pedestrian results. But far from pedestrian is 4th Disciple and RZA’s impressive production. Their formidable collection of instrumentals provides the much-needed firepower to protect these green soldiers from getting annihilated on the battlefield by the Cobra army.

My next-door neighbors have a mulberry tree in their backyard. It’s positioned right next to the fence that divides our yards, and one of the branches extends into my yard. Every once in a while, the kiddos and I will eat a few samples from the tree. You can tell by the color if they’re ripe enough to eat. If they’re dark red to purple, expect a delicious treat. If they’re pink or have a light red tint, they need more time on the tree to ripen. Maybe Killarmy isn’t mid fruit, but instead, fruit picked from the Wu tree prematurely.

-Deedub
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