Wu-Tang Clan

“A BETTER TOMORROW”

Warner Bros. Records

Every Wu-Tang Clan album is a reunion, a measure of the power of the Wu-Tang brand to counteract all the forces pulling apart a coalition of nine rappers and at least that many agendas. Wu-Tang’s sixth studio album, “A Better Tomorrow,” arrives just over a year late to honor the 20th anniversary of its groundbreaking 1993 debut, “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).”

That album shook up hip-hop with RZA’s brooding, grimy production and with densely allusive raps: violent street tales, raunchy boasts, abstract wordplay, science jargon, philosophical musings, rude humor, nihilism, aspiration. Its ideas have rippled through hip-hop, while a prolific jumble of solo albums and spinoffs have both defined the members’ personas and diluted the Wu-Tang imprimatur. The previous gathering of Wu-Tang Clan, “8 Diagrams,” in 2007, was diffuse and halfhearted, full of fizzled experiments; this time, the group has grounded its music and rallied itself.

Self-congratulation fills “A Better Tomorrow.” The opening song, “Ruckus in B Minor” (referring to “Bring Da Ruckus,” which started the debut), has Method Man chanting, “Still number one!” Over gunshots and a measured backbeat, “Hold the Heater” insists “We keep it rugged/ We keep it rough/ We keep it real” and “We keep it raw.” The rappers still write dense, unpredictable verses with tricky rhythms, a rush of images and telegraphic narratives.

The album’s sound is instantly recognizable as Wu-Tang, with measured, minor-key tracks; multiple rappers taking turns; movie-music echoes; and snippets of dialogue from kung fu films. But the RZA’s productions have evolved through the years. He meshes live instruments with his samples, and on this album, the music can change radically from verse to verse, segueing into different tempos and textures, free-associating like Wu-Tang lyrics. He also allows more melody than he used to.

There are some misfires, and the last stretch of “A Better Tomorrow” goes into a tailspin. “Miracle,” which holds some of the album’s most topical lyrics, unfortunately opens with a male-female duet that sounds like a reject from a Disney musical. The album’s title track pours on its change-the-world message with a heavy hand. And the finale, “Wu-Tang Reunion,” has the rappers getting all buddy-buddy and sentimental atop “Family Reunion,” by the O’Jays. After two decades, the group can’t be rough, rugged and raw all the time. But even as grown-ups, Wu-Tang Clan still has sharp, startling reflexes.

— Jon Pareles, New York Times