HIP HOP RELEASE: Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams

Fourteen years into a remarkable career, Staten Island's finest are set to release 8 Diagrams, their first album since 2001, following the premature death of Ol' Dirty Bastard in 2004.

Overseen by the RZA, the self-proclaimed abbot of the Wu-Tang Clan, 8 Diagrams sees all members step up and remind the musical world what they've been missing for the past few years. Though the release of their seminal debut Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993 seems like a lifetime ago, the anticipation surrounding the release of 8 Diagrams illustrates that the collective talents of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, U-God and Masta Killa have lost none of their potency.

In between then and now, the Wu became the first Hip Hop group to score a simultaneous No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic with 1997's Wu-Tang Forever.

The lead single from 8 Diagrams The Heart Gently Weeps, has been generating quite a buzz. The song is based on an interpolation of The Beatles' While My Guitar Gently Weeps and features George Harrison's son, Dhani, as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist John Frusciante and soul singer Erykah Badu.

The late Ol' Dirty Bastard is very much in the groups thoughts. RZA has explained how each surviving Clansman "came on and said some lyrics, sayin' goodbye to ODB and givin' some last-minute thoughts on him" on the moving Life Changes. Dirty himself appears too on Chamber Number Nine, a past recording recently rediscovered in the Wu-Tang vaults.

You can hear it for yourself when 8 Diagrams hits shelves on Tuesday December 11 through Motown Records.