Liquid Swords is the second solo studio album by the American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA, released on November 7, 1995, by Geffen Records. Liquid Swords received critical acclaim for its complex lyricism and hypnotic musical style. Over the years, its recognition has grown, with a number of famous publishers proclaiming it to be one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. In 2007, the Chicago Tribune cited it as "one of the most substantial lyrical journeys in hip-hop history".
Background and recording
thumb|left|250px|Producer RZA (pictured in 2009) began recording the album after finishing several other Wu-Tang projects.
Following the success of two earlier Wu-Tang Clan solo albums – Method Man's Tical and Ol' Dirty Bastard's Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version, Wu-Tang member Raekwon began recording his acclaimed debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... in early 1995. In regards to their decision to begin the album at the time they did, GZA later commented, "We (Wu-Tang) were on a roll, and it was the perfect time to get in the studio and just do it."
"I'm on a different level, trying to be cinematic," he remarked. "Like that shit in 'Killah Hill' where the kid gets his leg cut to hide the dope – that shit really happened, but I'm trying to make it more visual. Liquid Swords is a concept of being lyrically sharp, flowing like liquid metal – mercury, y'know? It comes from this flick, Legend of the Liquid Sword, where people would get their head cut off but it would still be on their shoulders. No one else would notice, because the sword was so sharp. Wu-Tang is a sword style, and this here is the sharpest. I'd rather slip on the pavement than slip on my tongue."
Similar to other early solo Wu-Tang albums, Liquid Swords was recorded in RZA's basement studio in Staten Island, with some beats playing for over two days straight while recording. When asked in a later interview about his opinion of the album's beats, GZA remarked "I loved them. A lot of them had a grimy, rock-like feel to them. I just remember absolutely loving them."
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The album's cover was designed by Milestone Media Founder/Creative Director and chief artist Denys Cowan, according to the album's liner notes. GZA's personal manager Geoffrey L. Garfield, commissioned Cowan. Garfield, an avid comic book fan, said the cover art was supervised under the auspices of GZA GrafX, a subsidiary company of GZA Entertainment owned by GZA and Garfield. The concept of the chessboard with its sword-wielding warriors was conceived by GZA, an avid chess player. The GZA version of the Wu-Tang Clan logo, the "G" using the logo iconography, was rendered by Wu-Tang Clan DJ Mathematics who was also an accomplished graphic artist.
GZA also enjoyed a successful side career as a music video director, and with Garfield as writer and producer, created all four videos for the Liquid Swords album ("Liquid Swords", "Cold World", "Shadowboxin/4th Chamber", and "I Gotcha' Back"),
The second single released for the album, was the title track "Liquid Swords", released over one year later on October 10, 1995. GZA later commented "Usually I take a beat home and write to it for a few days, but it wasn’t like that with this track. I think RZA played the beat for me and I just spit to it right there. The hook was actually a routine from around ‘84 that me RZA and Ol' Dirty would do: 'When the emcees came, to live out the name.' Just like that." GZA stated "Making '4th Chamber' was crazy because I didn’t have a rhyme ready for that one. That’s why I went last on it. Plus, Ghost killed it with his verse so I knew I had to come correct. It’s not even a GZA song to me—it’s a Wu-Tang song. And Ghost’s verse is just incredible to me. He delivered so well. I don’t know if you saw the video, I directed that too. This song, the guest verses, the video, the crowd response, all turned out perfect for this one."
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Upon its release, Liquid Swords received critical acclaim. Selwyn Seyfu Hinds from The Source called GZA "a highly focused master-graftsman" and felt that "throughout Liquid Swords he maintains a clear, precise flow, one that reflects deadly-sharp purpose and skilled execution." Hinds also praised RZA's production on the album, noting his "increasingly sophisticated style: shuffling kicks, neck snapping snares, haunting melodies via strings or vibe-like textures and penetrating bass tones." In Select, Matt Hall wrote that RZA "provides a series of austere rhythms, sparsely dotting violin stabs and plucked harps to provide the perfect backdrop to Genius' downbeat tales of New York's mean streets… Liquid Swords sneaks under the tape to qualify as Rap Album Of The Year." In his column for The Village Voice, Christgau cited "Shadowboxin and "Killah Hills 10304" as highlights and called the record "gangsta [rap] as mystery, religious and literary".
Retrospect
Liquid Swords continues to be held in high regard as one of the best releases in the Wu-Tang Clan's catalog and among the greatest hip hop albums of all time. According to AllMusic critic Steve Huey, it is "often acclaimed as the best Wu-Tang solo project of all" and "cemented the Genius/GZA's reputation as the best pure lyricist in the group—and one of the best of the '90s". Record Collectors Paul Bowler stated that Liquid Swords represented an artistic peak for the Wu-Tang Clan as a whole, noting what he found to be their subsequent creative decline from Wu-Tang Forever (1997) onward.
On October 8, 2015, the Recording Industry Association of America announced that Liquid Swords had earned a platinum certification for having sold more than 1 million copies. It became the first Wu-Tang-related album to get certified since 2004, when Method Man and Ghostface Killah both earned plaques.
Track listing
Track listing information is taken from the official liner notes and AllMusic. All tracks produced by RZA, except track 13 produced by 4th Disciple.
Notes
- "Duel of the Iron Mic" erroneously lists Dreddy Kruger as featured artist.
- "Hell's Wind Staff" erroneously lists Dreddy Kruger, Killah Priest, and Masta Killa as featured artists.
- "Swordsman" erroneously lists Killah Priest as featured artist.
Sample credits
- "Liquid Swords" contains samples from "Groovin'" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" by Willie Mitchell, and "Legend of Lone Wolf" by W. Michael Lewis & Mark Lindsay from the movie Shogun Assassin.
- "Duel of the Iron Mic" contains a sample from "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over" by David Porter, and dialogue excerpts from the films Shogun Assassin and Dragon on Fire.
- "Living in the World Today" contains samples from "I'm His Wife, You're Just a Friend" by Ann Sexton and "In The Hole" by The Bar-Kays.
- "Gold" contains a sample from "The Aries" by Cannonball Adderley.
- "Cold World" contains samples from "In The Rain" by The Dramatics and "Plastic People" by The Mothers of Invention, interpolations from "Rocket Love" by Stevie Wonder and "Love Me In A Special Way" by DeBarge, and dialogue excerpts from the film Shogun Assassin.
- "Labels" contains a sample from "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston.
- "4th Chamber" contains a dialogue excerpt from the film Shogun Assassin, and samples from "Assassin With Son" by W. Michael Lewis & Mark Lewis from the movie Shogun Assassin, "Groovin'" by Willie Mitchell and "Dharmatma Theme Music (Sad)" by Kalyanji Anandji.
- "Shadowboxin contains a dialogue excerpt from the film Shaolin vs Lama, and a sample from "Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness" by Ann Peebles.
- "Hell's Wind Staff" contains an interpolation of "Lost in Love" by New Edition and "Killah Hills 10304" contains a sample from "Soul Vibrations" by Dorothy Ashby.
- "Investigative Reports" contains a sample from "I'd Be So Happy" by Three Dog Night.
- "I Gotcha Back" contains a dialogue excerpt from the film Shogun Assassin and samples from "As Long as I've Got You" by The Charmels and "Is It Him or Me" by Jackie Jackson.
- "B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)" contains a sample from "Our Love Has Died" by the Ohio Players.
Personnel
- GZA – performer
- RZA – producer, performer
- Killah Priest – performer
- Inspectah Deck – performer
- Ghostface Killah – performer
- Method Man – performer
- Masta Killa – performer
- Raekwon – performer
- U-God – performer
- Ol' Dirty Bastard – performer
- Dreddy Kruger – vocals
- Life – vocals
- 4th Disciple – producer
- Tom Coyne – mastering
- Wendy Goldstein – A&R
- Geoffrey L. Garfield – personal management
- Cyril Gittens – art direction
- Mathematics – art concepts
- Mark A. Humphrey – photography
- Denys Cowan – cover art
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1995)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 9
|-
! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)
| 2
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
! scope="col"| Chart (2026)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)
| 77
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1996)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 183
|-
! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)
| 47
|}
Certifications
Accolades
- <small>(*) signifies unordered lists</small>
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Publication
! Country
! Accolade
! Year
! Rank
|-
|rowspan=2|About.com
|rowspan=3|United States
|100 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums
|2008
| style="text-align:center;"|62
|-
|Best Rap Albums of 1995
|2008
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|Ego Trip
|Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980–1998
|1999
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|Face
|rowspan=2|United Kingdom
|Albums of the year
|1995
| style="text-align:center;"|16
|-
|The Guardian
|1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die
|2007
| style="text-align:center;"|*
|-
|Hip-Hop Connection
|United Kingdom
|The 100 Greatest Rap Albums 1995–2005
|2006
| style="text-align:center;"|7
|-
|HUMO
|Belgium
|Albums of the Year
|1995
| style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
|Melody Maker
|rowspan=2|United Kingdom
|Albums of the Year
|1995
| style="text-align:center;"|42
|-
|NME
|Albums of the Year
|1995
| style="text-align:center;"|30
|-
|OOR
|Netherlands
|Albums of the Year
|1995
| style="text-align:center;"|24
|-
|Paste
|United States
|300 Greatest Albums of All Time
|2024
| style="text-align:center;"|174
|-
|Pitchfork
|United States
|Top 100 Albums of the 1990s
|2003
| style="text-align:center;"|87
|-
|Q
|United Kingdom
|Albums of the Year
|1995
| style="text-align:center;"|*
|-
|Robert Dimery
|rowspan=3|United States
|1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
|2005
| style="text-align:center;"|*
|-
|rowspan=2|Rolling Stone
|Top 25 Hip Hop Albums <small>(by Chris Rock)</small>
|2005
| style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
|The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
|2020
| style="text-align:center;"|347
|-
|rowspan=2|Select
|rowspan=2|United Kingdom
|The 100 Best Albums of the 90s
|1999
| style="text-align:center;"|42
|-
|Albums of the Year
|1996
| style="text-align:center;"|36
|-
|The Source
|rowspan=2|United States
|The 100 Best Rap Albums of All Time
|1998
| style="text-align:center;"|*
|-
|Stylus Magazine
|Top 101–200 Albums of All time
|2004
| style="text-align:center;"|137
|}
References
Bibliography
External links
- Liquid Swords at Discogs
- Album Review at Chicago Tribune