Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:11:35.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Having the sceptre: Wu-Tang Clan and the aura of music in the age of digital reproduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2017

Ben Green
Ben Green*
Affiliation:
Griffith University E-mail: b.green@griffith.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan sold only one, expensive copy of their album, Once Upon A Time in Shaolin. This exemplifies recent strategies by popular music artists to establish their work as art, with what Walter Benjamin calls ‘aura’, in response to the accessibility and dematerialisation enabled by digital technology as well as longstanding cultural condescension. Critics argue that popular music should not be restricted but shared, with digital technology increasing opportunities for shared consumption. This article considers the fate of music's aura in the age of mechanical reproduction, arguing that it does not disappear but is dispersed and diversified. The digital acceleration of mass reproduction has drawn mixed responses from artists, fans and commentators, and Shaolin and similar projects show how the separation of music from its physical commodity form has brought renewed attention to perennial tensions between the popular, artistic and commercial aspects of popular music.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , October 2017 , pp. 427 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Albini, S. 2014. ‘Steve Albini on the surprisingly sturdy state of the music industry – in full’, The Guardian, 17 November. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/17/steve-albinis-keynote-address-at-face-the-music-in-full (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Anderson, B. 2004. ‘Recorded music and practices of remembering’, Social & Cultural Geography, 5/1, pp. 3–20 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anon. 2014. ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin – for Wu fans, for Wu people’, Kickstarter, 10 April. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1308696559/once-upon-a-time-in-shaolin-for-wu-fans-for-wu-peo (accessed 19 October 2015)Google Scholar
Anon. 2015. ‘The Sexual Objects album 33RPM- Marshmallow LP (2015) – exclusive rights forever’, eBay. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161560983500 (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Armstrong, E. 2004. ‘Eminem's construction of authenticity’, Popular Music and Society, 27/3, pp. 335–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aswad, J. 2014. ‘Wu-Tang Clan offered $5 million for one-of-a-kind album, says RZA’, Billboard, 2 April. http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6032592/wu-tang-clan-offered-5-million-for-one-of-a-kind-album-says-rza (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Auslander, P. 2002. Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture (Hoboken, NJ, Taylor and Francis)Google Scholar
Baker, E. 2013. ‘The 50 most outrageous rapper quotes’, Complex, 5 April. http://au.complex.com/music/2013/04/the-50-most-outrageous-rapper-quotes/ (accessed 16 September 2016)Google Scholar
Barclay, G. (Director) 2007. Wu: The story of the Wu-Tang Clan (New York, Gee-Bee Productions)Google Scholar
Barry, R. 2014. ‘Why the music business shouldn't turn into the art business’, The Quietus, 7 April. http://thequietus.com/articles/14940-wu-tang-clan-music-industry-art-world (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Bartmanski, D., and Woodward, I. 2015. ‘The vinyl: the analogue medium in the age of digital reproduction’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 15/3, pp. 3–27 Google Scholar
Beer, D. 2007. ‘Tune out: music, soundscapes and the urban mise-en-scene’, Information, Communication and Society, 10/6, pp. 846–66Google Scholar
Benjamin, W. [Translated by Zohn, H.]. 1968 [1935]. ‘The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction’, in Illuminations, ed. Arendt, H. (New York, Schocken Books)Google Scholar
Bennett, A. 2009. ‘‘Heritage rock’: rock music, representation and heritage discourse’, Poetics, 37, pp. 474–89Google Scholar
Bennett, A. 2013. Music, Style and Aging: Growing Old Disgracefully? (Philadelphia, PA, Temple University Press)Google Scholar
Bennett, A., and Peterson, R. 2004. Music Scenes: Local, Trans-local and Virtual (Nashville, TN, Vanderbilt University Press)Google Scholar
Blanco, A. 2011. The Wu-Tang Clan and RZA: A trip through hip hop's 36 chambers (Santa Barbara, CA, Praeger)Google Scholar
Bull, M. 2007. Sound Moves: iPod Culture and Urban Experience (London, Routledge)Google Scholar
Burkart, P. and McCourt, T. 2004. ‘Infrastructure for the Celestial Jukebox’, Popular Music 23/3, pp. 349–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, S. 2013. ‘Australian independent music and the experience economy’, in Music Business and the Experience Economy: The Australasian Case, ed. Tschmuck, P., Pearce, P. and Campbell, S. (Heidelberg, Springer)Google Scholar
Chapman, O. 2011. ‘The elusive allure of “aura”: sample-based music and Benjamin's practice of quotation’, Canadian Journal of Communication, 36/2, pp. 243–61Google Scholar
Cooper, N. 2015. ‘Pure original: the Sexual Objects release only one copy of new LP’, The Quietus, 13 January. http://thequietus.com/articles/16996-the-sexual-objects-marshmallow-interview (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
DeNora, T. 2000. Music in Everyday Life (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar
Devine, K. 2013. ‘Imperfect sound forever: loudness wars, listening formations and the history of sound reproduction’, Popular Music 32/2, pp.159–76Google Scholar
Frere-Jones, S. 2014. ‘The way of the Wu’, The New Yorker, 8 December. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/08/way-wu (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Frith, S. 1988. Music for Pleasure: Essays in the Sociology of Pop (Cambridge, Polity Press)Google Scholar
Frith, S. 1996. Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gracyk, T. 2001. I Wanna Be Me: Rock Music and the Politics of Identity (Philadelphia, PA, Temple University Press)Google Scholar
Green, B. 2016. ‘‘I always remember that moment’: peak music experiences as epiphanies’, Sociology 50/2, pp. 333–48Google Scholar
Greenburg, Z. 2014. ‘Unlocking the Wu-Tang Clan's secret album in Morocco’, Forbes, 6 May. http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2014/05/06/unlocking-the-wu-tang-clans-secret-album-in-morocco/ (accessed 19 October 2015)Google Scholar
Greenburg, Z. 2015. ‘Wu-Tang Clan set to release secret album – in 88 years, give or take’, Forbes, 2 March. http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2015/03/02/wu-tang-clan-set-to-release-secret-album-in-88-years-give-or-take/ (accessed 19 October 2015)Google Scholar
Havighurst, C. 2015. ‘The devaluation of music: it's worse than you think’, Medium, 11 October. https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-devaluation-of-music-it-s-worse-than-you-think-f4cf5f26a888 (accessed 19 October 2015)Google Scholar
Hesmondhalgh, D. 2009. ‘The digitalisation of music’, in Creativity, Innovation and the Cultural Economy, ed. Pratt, A. and Jeffcutt, P. (London, Routledge) pp. 57–73 Google Scholar
J., M. 2015. ‘Method Man thinks waiting 88 years to release “Once Upon A Time In Shaolin” is stupid’, XXL, 4 March. http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2015/03/method-man-wu-tang-clan-album-88-years/ (accessed 21 October 2015 Google Scholar
Jones, S. 2000. ‘Music and the Internet’, Popular Music 19/2, pp. 217–230Google Scholar
Josephs, B. 2014. ‘Nas’ Illmatic stands the test of time for 20th-anniversary reissue’, Time, 25 April. http://time.com/74539/review-nas-illmatic-20th-anniversary/ (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Kulkarni, N. 2013. ‘Wu-Tang Clan – “They changed the lexicon of word and sound”’, The Guardian, 4 September. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/04/rocks-backpages-wu-tang-clan (accessed 8 June 2017)Google Scholar
Kyles, Y. 2015. ‘Ghostface Killah talks 88 year ban on Wu-Tang Clan's “Once Upon A Time In Shaolin”’, AllHipHop.com, 3 April. http://allhiphop.com/2015/04/03/ghostface-killah-wu-tang-clans-88-year-ban-once-upon-a-time-in-shaolin-masta-killa/ (accessed 19 October 2015)Google Scholar
Leask, H. 2013. ‘20 years on: how the Wu-Tang Clan changed hip-hop’, The Independent, 15 November. http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/11/15/20-years-on-how-the-wu-tang-clan-changed-hip-hop/ (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Meyer, S. 2009. ‘Parsifal's aura’, 19th Century Music, 33/2, pp. 151–72Google Scholar
Michaels, S. 2013. ‘Jay-Z performs Picasso Baby for six hours in New York gallery’, The Guardian, 11 July. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jul/11/jay-z-picasso-baby-new-york (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Middleton, R. 1990. Studying Popular Music (Milton Keynes, Open University Press)Google Scholar
Nosnitsky, A. 2013. ‘Basquiat's “Beat Bop”: an oral history of one of the most valuable hip-hop records of all time’, Spin, 14 November. http://www.spin.com/2013/11/beat-bop-basquiat-k-rob-rammellzee-freak-freak/ (accessed 12 April 2016)Google Scholar
Potter, R. 1995. Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip hop and the Politics of Postmodernism (New York, State University of New York Press)Google Scholar
Robehmed, N. 2013. ‘Rapper Nipsey Hussle and the $100 mixtape’, Forbes, 6 November. http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2013/11/06/rapper-nipsey-hussle-and-the-100-mixtape/ (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Rose, P. 1996. Wagner: Race and Revolution (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press)Google Scholar
RZA. 2009. The Tao of Wu (New York, Riverhead Books)Google Scholar
RZA and Cilvaringz 2014. ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’. http://scluzay.com/ (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Schloss, J. 2004. Making Beats: The Art of Sample-based Hip-hop (Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University Press)Google Scholar
Schmutz, V. 2005. ‘Retrospective cultural consecration in popular music: Rolling Stone's greatest albums of all time’, American Behavioral Scientist, 48/11, pp. 1510–23Google Scholar
Shuker, R. 2001. Understanding Popular Music (London, Routledge)Google Scholar
Small, C. 1998. Musicking: the Meanings of Performing and Listening (Middletown, CT, Wesleyan)Google Scholar
Strong, C. 2011. Grunge: Music and Memory (Farnham, Ashgate)Google Scholar
Tate, G. 2003. ‘In praise of shadow boxers: the crises of originality and authority in African American visual art vs the Wu-Tang Clan’, Souls, 5/1, pp. 128–36Google Scholar
Thomas, J. 2014. ‘CAT023 Caustic Window – own the legendary record by RDJ’, Kickstarter, 11 April, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/watmmofficial/cat023-caustic-window-own-the-legendary-record-by (accessed 21 October 2015)Google Scholar
Thornton, S. 1995. Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital (Cambridge, Polity Press)Google Scholar
Twain, M. 1891. ‘Mark Twain at Bayreuth’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 6 December, http://twainquotes.com/Travel1891/Dec1891.html (accessed 19 October 2015)Google Scholar
Zak, A. 2001. The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press)Google Scholar
Zito, T. 1981. ‘Stepping to the stereo strut’, Washington Post, 12 May, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/05/12/stepping-to-the-stereo-strut/c810a6d9-c054-4b2b-b150-db330cdd08a6/ (accessed 19 October 2015)Google Scholar

Discography

Jay-Z, ‘Picasso Baby’. Magna Carta… Holy Grail. Roc-A-Fella/Universal. 2013 Google Scholar
Ol’ Dirty Bastard, ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’. Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version. Elektra. 1995 Google Scholar
Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Loud. 1993 Google Scholar