The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

It seems sometimes like every debut rap album is long-awaited, highly anticipated. We heard the usual phrases a couple weeks ago on Muja Messiah's premier release ("They said this would never get done...I made it happen. I was part-time hustlin', now I'm full-time rappin' ").

Now it can be told: When a federal judge ordered the break-up of Wu-Tang Clan Corporation back in 1993, he was acting in the interest of fair competition. The Clan had established a formidable market monopoly with its gritty, esoteric alternative to Cali gangsta funk, bundling cinematic kung fu lore together with its jagged, rubbernecking rhymes, spare beats, and crackling minor-key string samples. Some market rivals cried foul, prompting an investigation that would uncover a wealth of hostile e-mail threads stored on various Wu-Tang hard drives.