On this date in 1995, the head of the Wu’s “Voltron” released his first solo LP

“We form like Voltron and GZA happens to be the head.” -Method Man

After appearing as the closer on the Wu Tang’s premiere single “Protect Ya Neck” and dropping his own solo joint “Clan In The Front” on WTC’s clasic Enter The 36 Chambers LP, The Genius, who changed his name to the GZA after the formation of the Wu Tang Clan in 1992, fulfilled the expectations of a solo album with Liquid Swords, which was released 20 years ago today.

With in-house album cover art of a war-torn chessboard from Wu Tang DJ/Producer Allah Mathematics along with Milestone Media creative director Denys Cowan and released on Geffen Records, the debut album of one of WTC’s founders was recorded i nRZA’s basement, as was the rest of the early Wu projects including Meth’s Tical and OB4CL. It also featured all of the original members as well as introduced some of the supporting members of the Killa Bees including Killah Priest, Dreddy Krueger and Allah Life, whos sung the hook on “Cold World”. Other smash singles from this album include “Labels”, “4th Chamber”, “I Gotcha Back” and the timeless title track.

Salute to the entire WTC for this two decade old, Four Mic classic that sounds beter than most Hip Hop that come out last month! Peace!

-Sha Be Allah(@KingPenStatus)