Anticipation for the Wu-Tang Clan's second album — released in the summer of 1997 as they prepared to hit the road with Rage Against the Machine — could not have been greater. After a string of classic solo albums, the GZA's opening boast aspired to the moment: "Reunited/Double LP, world excited." It was a measure of your Wu-devotion whether the two hours that followed sustained that excitement.

Despite a cleaner, less sample-reliant production style and much longer songs — Forever's lead single, "Triumph," was six hook-free minutes — the Clan was still in fine form on tracks like the T-La Rock-inspired "It's Yourz," the weirdly uplifting "A Better Tomorrow," "Bells of War" and the unnerving "The City." "Cash Still Rules/Scary Hours" is an absolute classic, Raekwon, Method Man and Ghostface further refining their famously detail-oriented approach to storytelling. Given its audacious length and a density that demanded patient, careful listening, Forever is that rare success: a hip-hop double-album worth listening to all the way through. It captured the Wu-Tang Clan at a turning point, in all their glorious contradictions, from the revolting "Maria" and off-putting "Black Shampoo" to the steely, unshakeable paranoia like "Impossible," when Tekitha's skyward hook… read more »