8 Diagrams
| 8 Diagrams | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Wu-Tang Clan | ||||||||||
| Released | December 11, 2007 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2007 | |||||||||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||||||||
| Length | 71:05 | |||||||||
| Label | SRC/Universal Motown | |||||||||
| Producer |
RZA (also exec.) Easy Mo Bee, George Drakoulias, Mathematics |
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| Wu-Tang Clan chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 73/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Blender | |
| Robert Christgau | A− |
| Entertainment Weekly | C− |
| The New York Times | mixed |
| Pitchfork Media | (8.0/10) |
| PopMatters | (8/10) |
| Rolling Stone |  |
| Spin | (6/10) |
| USA Today | |
8 Diagrams is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, released December 11, 2007 on SRC/Universal Motown Records. The album was released three years after the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard, and six years after the group's previous LP Iron Flag.
Upon its release, 8 Diagrams debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200, and number 9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with 68,000 copies sold in the first week It has sold 202,000 copies in the United States as of April 2014. The album received generally favorable reviews from most music critics, and earned greater acclaim than the group's previous album Iron Flag, based on an aggregate score of 73/100 from Metacritic.
8 Diagrams marks the group's first full collaboration since the death of original member Ol' Dirty Bastard, who died in 2004. The album's title is derived from the kung fu film The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. The Clan, which had not released an album since 2001's Iron Flag, signed a one-album deal with Steve Rifkind's SRC Records in December 2006. The group's four previous albums were all released on Rifkind's now-defunct Loud Records.
On Sunday, August 5, 2007, at the Virgin Festival in Baltimore, RZA announced that the new release date for the album would be November 13, 2007, noting that this is the third anniversary of the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard. However, the date was pushed back to December 11, 2007.
In a released statement, group leader RZA commented on the need for the Clan's return:
This is the perfect time for us to come back; the stars are aligned. It's like when we first started with Steve. We put out real hip-hop at a time when it was turning into pop or R&B. We brought the focus back to the music in its rawest form, without studio polish or radio hooks.... People want something that gives them an adrenaline rush. We're here to supply that fix. How could hip-hop be dead if Wu-Tang is forever? We're here to revive the spirit and the economics and bring in a wave of energy that has lately dissipated.
...
Wikipedia