WU-TANG CLAN AIN'T NUTTIN' TO %*()@ WITH

your neighborhood method man
The story goes like this: for the February 1994 issue of Rap Pages, Cheo Coker profiled the Wu-Tang Clan. This was one of the first major features done on the Wu in a national magazine and the group wasn't very well known outside of NYC yet.

Coker's story was uniformly positive but I guess either Rap Pages was unable or unwilling to spring money for a proper photo shoot (probably the latter given their relatively slim pockets back then) and so, they commissioned an illustrator - who clearly knew NOTHING about the group - to draw cartoons of each of the eight main Wu members. I didn't want to republish the whole damn thing so I cropped and combined the cartoons here:

(click for full size pic)
(for fun, match the Wu member to the cartoon)

Keep in mind: Coker had NOTHING to do with the illustrations. Writers almost never, ever have a say in art direction in a magazine (unless of course, it's Kronick where the writer is also the editor, photographer, art director, distributor, publisher, etc.). But the Wu, not really understanding the intricacies of the magazine world decided Coker was to blame and at first opportunity, punched him in the face, thus making Coker the first one of the first journalists to get physically assaulted by an angry rapper (he would not be the last. Talk to Jeru 'bout that).

I forget how this got resolved, i.e. whether Coker filed charges or sued. If someone out there knows, holla.

--O.W.