Most mashups aren't worth the postmodern irony. But Wugazi's blend of punk and hip-hop, fed through fabled drama The Wire's uncompromising lens in the fan-made video for "Shame On Blue" is stone-cold seamless.
Created by Minneapolis' Doomtree collective emcee Cecil Otter and local musician and producer Swiss Andy, Wugazi merges the gritty lyricism of Wu-Tang Clan's all-star roster with the principled punk of Fugazi to create a dizzying blast that capably competes with the sonic mashup's gold standard so far, Danger Mouse's infamous bleed of the Beatles and Jay-Z known as The Grey Album.
Wugazi is definitely more ambitious, given the comparatively more mainstream cultural cachet of the Fab Four and Hova, who overshadow Fugazi and Wu-Tang's otherwise bullet-proof street cred. But once you mix visuals of The Wire's stick-up man Omar Little into the mix, the layered pop-cultural vertigo intensifies.
The definitely not-safe-for-work video for "Shame On Blue" was "made with love," explained YouTube user millistair on its page. But mad love is what it is about, filled as it is with the bloodthirsty vendettas of The Wire, the activist rage of Fugazi's incendiary "Blueprint" and the violent swagger of Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Brooklyn Zoo." Let's just say it wears its bleeding heart on the outside of its shirt.
Interested parties can download Wugazi's entire mashup 13 Chambers, named for Fugazi's 1989 compilation 13 Songs and 1993's foundational Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), for free on its official site. Let us know in the comments section below if you think Wugazi's sonic sandwich tastes as good as The Grey Album, or if you've got your own mashup mindstorms to share.
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