The latest Wu-Tang Clan album, The Saga Continues is now being billed as an “unofficial” album in some quarters, due to the absence of U-God, who is currently mired in legal disputes with de facto team leader RZA, and GZA, who only appears on one song for unexplained reasons. Furthermore, the album was mostly produced over the course of a few years with Clan affiliate Mathematics at the helm, while RZA — who’s been making moves in other business endeavors, such as his upcoming film with Azealia Banks — executive produced. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not still a heaping helping of the kung-fu flick-influenced, hardcore hip-hop sound that made the group one of the biggest of the 1990s, and nowhere is that Clan aesthetic more visible than on their latest video for “If Time Is Money (Hood Navigation) / Hood Go Bang.”
Mathematics offers up a rather serviceable impression of RZA’s best beats here, and the technical rhyme wizardry of Clan stalwart Method Man is more than intact — with or without his cell phone, Meth is still a smooth verbal assassin. He’s joined in the latter half of the video for “Hood Go Bang” with longtime partner in crime Redman, who offers up the energetic hook, but neglects to make an appearance in the visual. That’s okay because Method Man is more than capable of holding his own, adding another worthwhile chapter to Wu-Tang’s legendary legacy.
