What Wu-Tang Clan On ‘Good Morning America’ Says About Their Legacy

I’ve seen an elephant fly but I never thought I’d see Wu on GMA

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A lot changes in 25 years. Duh, right? But those words take on a different meaning when Wu-Tang Clan is performing in front of a Good Morning America crowd. There are a lot of things I thought I’d never see. Near the top of that list, just under a fire-breathing dragon, is old white women dancing to “Protect Ya Neck.” After today, I can scratch that one off.

Wu is my favorite Hip-Hop group. Actually, they’re my favorite musical group, period. Since I was thirteen, they’ve pretty much influenced my outlook on the game. Wu-Tang is the measuring stick everything else is compared to. That’s for better or for worse, depending on who you ask, but I say it’s the former.

Everything I know about them through music, books, video games — this one — , and even episodes of MTV Cribs tells me this shouldn’t be. Nine guys from Staten Island who make aggressive music influenced by Kung-Fu movies and street shit shouldn’t perform in front of an audience filled with people who probably called them “thugs” back in the day. This isn’t JAY-Z in a suit and tie with a band backing him. And it’s a far cry from The Roots being The Tonight Show band. Wu may be grown men now, but they never switched to “grown and sexy.” Their fashion hasn’t changed and their music hasn’t become finely manicured. Yet somehow, there they are in front of aunties and grannies, performing the first song they recorded for their landmark debut. And barely censoring themselves while doing it. That is in-fucking-sane.

As a kid during the ’90s, it was hard to escape stories of the Wu. These dudes were basically mythical characters with tales to match. They got kicked out of clubs because they were too wild and caused fights. They swung actual swords on people they disagreed with. Oh, and the the guy who created the now dearly departed Luke Cage for Netflix? Masta Killa once slapped him because of an illustration accompanying a story he wrote about Wu when he worked for Vibe.

Oh. Sorry, Cheo.

Last but certainly not least, there’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard picking up food stamps in a stretch limo…while being filmed by MTV.

This is the energy they’ve always had and still maintain some of, even in their 40s. It’s what made their music special in their prime. That uniqueness comes in spurts these days but when it hits, it’s unmistakable and still not to be fucked with.

That’s why them performing on GMA feels so weird. GMA and its counterparts are how a lot of people start their day. Traditionally, this is where actors go to promote projects and where Al Roker tells you to get a spoon because it’s chilly outside. Even typing it, I still can’t believe it’s a thing that happened. There’s a full studio audience in Times Square decked out in Wu-Tang shirts. This is the same crowd that’s used to seeing Sting, Ne-Yo, Backstreet Boys, and Pitbull with their daily latté. You know, artists that’ll win with the minivan crowd.

But how many parents are thinking of these lines when they send their kids to school?

So if you ever try to flip go flip on the next man
’Cause I’ll grab the clip and
Hit you with 16 shots and more I got
Going to war with the melting pot hot

You know what every parent needs to hear when they boil a pot of coffee? An endorsement of PCP.

‘Nuff respect due to the one-six-ooh
I mean O, yo check out the flow
Like the Hudson or PCP when I’m dustin’

To say nothing of Method Man asking Michael Strahan where was the smoke room so he could properly celebrate Staten Island marking November 9 as Wu-Tang Clan Day. Again, this is some shit that should not be. But you know what? I’m really glad it is.

Method Man once said Wu-Tang Clan were the bad guys in the Kung-Fu movies and they wanted to be the bad guys in the industry, so the name fit. I forget when or where he said that, but I’ve listened and read so much about Wu, it all blends together in my head into one long encyclopedia.

Anyway, his point about them being the bad guys is spot on. Yes, they’ve achieved respectability in different ways, but they’re still the guys who don’t really want to get along with everyone else. They never adapted to the rest of the world or to looked for waves to ride. They’re unabashedly themselves and always have been. It’s always felt like they were dragged to stardom while kicking and screaming, so seeing them celebrated is always a great look. For The Children: 25 Years of Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) lays their legacy out in full and does it in barely 20 min.

As dope as that is, performing on GMA probably says more about their legacy and how far Hip-Hop has come than anything else ever could. When I see Method Man dancing with an old woman while she throws up a W, it just goes to show something they said twenty years ago wasn’t just a cute name for an album:

Wu-Tang truly is forever.

Marcus Benjamin is a danger to the public, an alum of American University, St. John’s University, a screenwriter, and has an intense relationship with words. Witness his tomfoolery on Twitter,@AbstractPo3tic.