User:Venicemenace/sandbox

/dereksmart /3000 AD

concord
Concord has a remarkably rich literary history centered in the mid-nineteenth century. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), whose father Rev. William Emerson (1769–1811) grew up in Concord before becoming an eminent Boston minister, moved to the town in 1835 and became one of its leading citizens. The leader of the Transcendentalist philosophical movement, Emerson was a successful lecturer and philosopher who lured many of his like-minded contemporaries to Concord. Among them were the authors Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) and Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) and the philosopher Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), the father of Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). This substantial collection of literary talent in one small town led Henry James to dub Concord "the biggest little place in America." Emerson's many essays, including Self-Reliance (1841), Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women (1868), and Hawthorne's story collection Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) were among the products of this intellectually stimulating environment. Thoreau famously lived in a small cabin on nearby Walden Pond, where he wrote Walden (1854); after being imprisoned in the Concord jail for refusing to pay taxes in political protest, Thoreau penned the influential essay Civil Disobedience. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott are buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

wu-tang
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is the debut album by East Coast hip hop collective, Wu-Tang Clan. Released on November 9, 1993 by Loud Records and RCA, the album contains penetrating, sparse and eerie beats primarily produced by RZA. In addition, Enter the Wu-Tang contains explicit, humorous and free-associative lyrics. Today, Enter the Wu-Tang is regarded as one of the most influential rap albums of the 1990s. The album is perhaps known for laying the foundation for East Coast hip hop and hardcore rap in the mid-1990s. Specific albums that Steve Huey of All Music Guide suggested that it influenced include Illmatic, Ready to Die, The Infamous and Reasonable Doubt. It has been compared to Boogie Down Productions' Criminal Minded album for its underground feel. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was included in The Source's "100 Best Rap Albums" list as well as being a runner-up in MTV's top ten "Greatest Hip-Hop Albums Of All Time" list. It was not an immediate financial success though; its highest Billboard 200 chart ranking was #41, but by May 15, 1995, it was certified platinum by RIAA.

Wu-Tang Clan
Following the success of Enter the Wu-Tang, the individual members of the group negotiated and signed solo contracts with a variety of different labels: Method Man signed with Def Jam, Ol' Dirty Bastard with Elektra Records, GZA with Geffen Records and Ghostface Killah with Epic Records. Every member of the Wu-Tang Clan has gone on to release a solo record.

The Wu-Tang Clan have produced three subsequent group albums since Enter the Wu-Tang, including the quadruple platinum Wu-Tang Forever, a #1 record. However, none have garnered the critical accolades accorded to their debut.

Several songs from the 36 Chambers sessions later resurfaced on other Wu-Tang Clan releases. Raekwon's debut album features a remix of "Can It Be All So Simple." Method Man's debut album, Tical, contains a remix of "Method Man" as a bonus track. Later albums by Wu-Tang Clan affiliates refer to Enter the Wu-Tang in their titles: Ol' Dirty Bastard's Return to the 36 Chambers and the live release Disciples of the 36 Chambers: Chapter 1.