![]() One version of the song told the story of Jim Crow's city-slicker cousin, who was courting a woman called, "Ol Suky Blue Skin." Another version makes liberal use of the n-word and calls watermelon "colored man's ice cream." The tune was first popularized in the 1820's, when it went by other titles replete with racial slurs. ![]() The song's popularity with children belies darker origins. Not only is melody played on ice cream trucks, but variations like "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" are still sung in nursery schools and campgrounds far and wide. "Turkey on the Straw" is instantly recognizable. "When I learned about that song's problematic history this summer, I knew I had to get involved." -RZA! August 13, 2020 But it was more of my way of rebelling against the materialistic world."I remember the days when I would hear that iconic ice cream truck jingle outside, and I would drop what I was doing to chase it down for a treat," RZA said in a press release Thursday. Still, whatever was going on at the time, Cappadonna said that his homeless cab driver stint was not determined by financial realities. Still, he did manage to reach full Wu-Tang Clan membership status, so whether you think this was a legitimate personal crisis or a particularly inspired negotiation tactic, things seem to have worked out in the end. His relationship with his wife (who was also his manager) was falling apart, and his response to the assorted crises in his life was apparently to, uh, enter a life of voluntary homelessness.Ĭappadonna took to living on the streets and even started driving an illegal $10 cab in Baltimore, while simultaneously accusing the Wu-Tang Clan of owing him money. Not only was the rapper accusing the Wu-Tang Clan of unfair treatment, but he was also going through an extremely rough patch in his personal life. The rest of the group, save for his friend Method Man, reportedly didn't even bother to support U-God in his time of crisis.Īs MTV News tells us, the year 2003 saw Cappadonna in a very strange place. The child survived but suffered permanent damage. Oh, and for a time, he was doing all this while coping with an incident where an acquaintance used his two-year-old son as a human shield during a shootout. When U-God got out, his rapping style was comparatively simple and unrefined, and his role in the group's rise remained fairly small due to both this and his repeated parole violations whisking him back behind bars at key moments.ĭespite all this, he kept churning away in the background, solving conflicts between other Wu-Tang members and doing grunt work no one else wanted to do. This happened to coincide with the rest of the group working on the first Wu-Tang album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). U-God was part of the inner circle of friends and family that would eventually morph into Wu-Tang Clan, but he was also a drug dealer who ended up behind bars after a "careless confrontation" with a rival in 1992. Let's take a look at the troubled history of the Wu-Tang Clan. From their humble beginnings at Staten Island to the many (often self-imposed) hurdles they've had to climb since then, the story of the group is riddled with difficulties. However, it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the collective. The clan and its affiliates have released over a hundred albums, its members have been involved in countless projects, and as Stereogum notes, they even have their own TV series called An American Saga and a four-part documentary, Of Mics and Men. That's success, that is. ![]() Still, even the most casual music fan should recognize the name of the collective unit these nine men were the original members of: the Wu-Tang Clan.Įasily one of the (if not the) most recognizable and famous groups of the 1990s rap scene, the Wu-Tang Clan has influenced the hip hop scene like few others. ![]() Some instinctively rise up from their chair to salute those names, while others give them a long look and wonder whether they're YouTube celebrities or new types of Pokemon.
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