I was watching what I believe (so far - only having seen a handful of episodes) to be the funniest Dave Chappelle skit ever, 'Racial Draft', when the Chinese representative gets up to pick his representative and he paraphrases the original Wutang introduction:
From the slums of Shaolin, Wu-Tang Clan strikes again The RZA, the GZA, Ol Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon the Chef U-God, Ghost Face Killer and the Method Man
It Gave me chills and flashbacks to a much better time in music. I remember that track (Method Man) was the only song I ever heard from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) at the time. I bought the tape (yes, back then I was rocking a tape walkman) not knowing exactly what to expect. The yellow, odd looking symbol and inset made me thing twice at the store. It ended up being one of my favorite purchases. My favorite of the clan has always been and always will be the GZA (aptly named the Genius). My favorite verse snippet (from Amplified Sample):
Guide this, strenuous as an arm wrestle Move swift as light, a thousand years in one night Inflight with insight Everything i thought of, I saw it happen Then I rose from the soil, the sun blackened Then came rap czars, left tracks in scars A pair of brightness of exploding stars Give you goods to taste No ingredients to trace You'll remain stuck trying to figure the shape of space
(I had to make some corrections to the entry on The Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive)
Dave Chappelle's musical selection for guest appearances and Hip-hop skits (anyone seen the Turn my headphones up skit? Funny!) is perhaps the most obvious indication of how grounded he is, but when the Chinese delegation picked the Wutang in Racial Draft, I almost lost it. Yeah, perhaps border-line tasteless, but very well-written comedy.