The Consumption

I haven’t listened all the way through the album yet, so this is presented largely without commentary, but the soundtrack to RZA’s new martial arts epic The Man with the Iron Firsts is sounding pretty phenomenal so far, and the whole thing is streaming via Bandcamp (see above). The movie itself looks halfway promising, written, directed by and starring the RZA in the culmination of a lifelong obsession with kung fu flicks. But while there’s a decent chance that it’ll end up more a curio than essential cinema, the soundtrack is sounding like one of 2012’s more essential hip hop releases.

The martial arts atmosphere is actually more subdued than it was back on 36 Chambers, say. But when you’ve got pretty much the whole Clan popping up, plus folks like Pharoahe Monch, Kool G Rap and Talib Kweli adding verses, RZA and Kanye producing a track together together, scorching soul from The Revelations, pure silk from Frank Dukes and BadBadNotGood and plus a classic Isaac Hayes-produced slow burn from Mable John for good measure, you don’t tend to complain.

H/T to Slate for this one.

1. The Black Keys / RZA – “The Baddest Man Alive” [produced by The Black Keys and The RZA]
2. Ghostface Killah / M.O.P. / Pharoahe Monch – “Black Out” [produced by Fizzy Womack]
3. Kanye West – “White Dress” [produced by Kanye West and The RZA]
4. The Revelations feat. Tre Williams – “I Forgot To Be Your Lover” [produced by Bob Perry]
5. Idol Warship [Talib Kweli / RES] – “Get Your Way” [produced by Frank Dukes and BadBadNotGood]
6. The Wu-Tang Clan / Kool G Rap – “Rivers of Blood” [produced by Frank Dukes and BadBadNotGood]
7. Method Man / Freddie Gibbs / Street Life – “Built For This” [produced by Frank Dukes]
8. Killa Sin – “The Archer” [produced by Frank Dukes]
9. RZA / Flatbush Zombies – “Just Blowin’ In The Wind” [produced by The RZA]
10. Pusha T / Raekwon / Joell Ortiz – “Tick, Tock” [produced by Frank Dukes and S-1]
11. Corrine Bailey Rae – “Chains” [produced by Steven James Brown and Corrine Bailey Rae]
12. Francis Yip – “Green Is The Mountain”
13. The Wu-Tang Clan – “Six Directions of Boxing” [produced by Frank Dukes]
14. Mable John – “Your Good Thing (Is About To Come To An End)” [produced by Isaac Hayes and David Porter]
15. Wiz Khalifa / Ghostface Killah / Boy Jones – “I Go Hard” [produced by The RZA]