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8 Diagrams Image
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 43 Ratings

  • Summary: The first album after the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard.

Top Track

The Heart Gently Weeps
Shh, shh, shh, shh, Wu, Wu, Tang, Tang (Erykah Badu) The joy the flowers bring me The pain still has me sinking All while my heart gently weeps Your... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 33
  2. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. The album belongs to the hip-hop hippie. And an album it definitely is.
  2. 80
    Despite the odds, their fifth album is arrestingly, chillingly good.
  3. 8 Diagrams is as exciting as they’ve ever been.
  4. 8 Diagrams is a paradox of track selection and pacing.
  5. Despite considerable strengths, the uneven but sometimes exhilarating 8 Diagrams nevertheless suggests that it might have made sense for one of rap's all-time greatest groups to bow out gracefully following the death of ODB.
  6. You're left with an album that's as chaotic and uneven as the circumstances surrounding its release, It's alternately great, unsatisfying and marked by the sense that not everyone in the Wu Tang Clan is pulling in the same direction.
  7. The album's dominant sound is dreary even by Wu standards: grey, bass-heavy beats for the eight living members' equally drab rhymes.

See all 33 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 16
  2. Negative: 1 out of 16
  1. HelltJ.
    Dec 11, 2007
    10
    It will grow as time passes.
  2. MitchN
    Dec 13, 2007
    10
    Let's see - legendary group goes public with internal dissension as what is unfortunately sure to be their last work is released - Let's see - legendary group goes public with internal dissension as what is unfortunately sure to be their last work is released - Beatles of Hip Hop, anyone? Its brilliance and diversity is something to savor. Worth the nearly a year of anticipation! Expand
  3. HexS
    Jan 9, 2008
    10
    Best hop-hop album I've heard this decade. Witty Wu-Tang is unpredictable!
  4. RayK.
    Dec 11, 2007
    9
    this is a dope album!, one of the best hands...don't get me wrong, its not perfect, and its not even their best, but aside from a few this is a dope album!, one of the best hands...don't get me wrong, its not perfect, and its not even their best, but aside from a few flaws this will satisfy any true hip-hop junkie. Wu-Tang Clan = Hip Hop. Expand
  5. markL
    Feb 5, 2008
    8
    Real WU lyrics and feeling, though the beats they rap on are not up to par with their lyrical talents.... how can hip hop die if wu tang is forever?
  6. ToddS
    Dec 16, 2007
    8
    RZA has done it again. If you're a true fan of the WU, tune out the haters and cop this album. It will restore your faith the Clan.
  7. EricL
    Aug 3, 2009
    0
    This album is absolutely awful.

See all 16 User Reviews