Hip-hop scholar Brian Coleman agrees with this when listing “the impact, the illness, the innovation, the size, and the longevity” of Wu-Tang, while BBC writer Kieran Nash praises the group as a “revolutionary force in hip-hop” that “changed both the sound and business of rap music forever.” Confronted with the realities of gang culture, poverty, and racist infrastructure policies present in late 20th-century New York City, Wu-Tang responded with bombastic lyricism and rhetoric which hearkened to their then-common religious affiliation: the Five Percent Nation (also known as the Five Percenters and Nation of Gods and Earths). Over 25 years after their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan maintains their legendary status. “Who is the Original Man? The original man is the Asiatic Black man the Maker the Owner the Cream of the planet Earth, Father of Civilization, God of the Universe.”-Student Enrollment Lesson no. “About 80 percent of hip-hop comes from the Five Percent … In a lot of ways, hip-hop is the Five Percent.”-RZA Surveying specific ideas, this article connects Wu-Tang Clan’s inclusion of kung fu to the Five Percenter idea of the “Asiatic Black man.” The reinforcement of this bridge between Wu-Tang and the Five Percenters gestures to the larger, undeniable impact the religious organization made on the hip-hop genre, especially in the early years of hip-hop. Drawing upon relevant scholarship in the area of hip-hop and religion studies, alongside Wu-Tang interviews and official Five Percenter websites, the ensuing analysis illuminates how the album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), maps selected Lessons and concepts of the Five Percent Nation. This project pinpoints how Wu-Tang Clan incorporates and interprets Five Percent Nation ideologies in their iconic 1993 debut album. On the other hand, the Five Percent Nation (also known as the Five Percenters or Nation of Gods and Earths), a Black nationalist religious organization based in New York City, remains enigmatic save for occasional articles which denigrate the group. Subsequent group and solo projects would refine and deepen this template, but collectively, the Wu have never been quite this tight again.Amidst other popular artists, Wu-Tang Clan is a “revolutionary force in hip-hop” that has “changed both the sound and business of rap music forever” and impacted artists like Pulitzer Prize–winning Kendrick Lamar. There was nothing like it in the hip-hop world at the time, and even after years of imitation, Enter the Wu-Tang still sounds fresh and original. Starting with a foundation of hard, gritty beats and dialogue samples from kung fu movies, RZA kept things minimalistic, but added just enough minor-key piano, strings, or muted horns to create a background ambience that works like the soundtrack to a surreal nightmare. Their off-kilter menace is really brought to life, however, by the eerie, lo-fi production, which helped bring the raw sound of the underground into mainstream hip-hop. Every track on Enter the Wu-Tang is packed with fresh, inventive rhymes, which are filled with martial arts metaphors, pop culture references (everything from Voltron to Lucky Charms cereal commercials to Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were"), bizarre threats of violence, and a truly twisted sense of humor. Some were outsized, theatrical personalities, others were cerebral storytellers and lyrical technicians, but each had his own distinctive style, which made for an album of tremendous variety and consistency. Moreover, it introduced a colorful cast of hugely talented MCs, some of whom ranked among the best and most unique individual rappers of the decade. It laid the groundwork for the rebirth of New York hip-hop in the hardcore age, paving the way for everybody from Biggie and Jay-Z to Nas and Mobb Deep. Its spare yet atmospheric production - courtesy of RZA - mapped out the sonic blueprint that countless other hardcore rappers would follow for years to come. Dre's The Chronic, the Wu-Tang Clan's debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), was one of the most influential rap albums of the '90s.