Various Artists

Yeah, yeah, the original Wu-Tang Clan were all phenomenal rhymers and most of the extended Wu-Fam members and friends featured on Unreleased are unexceptional. Fine. But do me a favour: recite a great U-God verse. Still waiting. The fact is, the core Wu have always benefited from their Voltron formation. Conversely, the extended family have been unfairly dismissed because nobody wants to see a fighting robot with seven arms. In truth, the lesser known MCs featured here are pretty solid spitters, a fact that's quite clear over Mathematics' conventional but soulful beats. Unfortunately, Unreleased's more renowned rappers (the great Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and GZA) usually show up in versions of pre-released tunes. Thankfully, however, Mathematics makes some interesting remix choices, replacing the appropriately ominous foghorn in Ghost's "Maxine" with a lighter yacht-party sound and turning the rapper's "Wu Banga 101" into a funky, horn-filled delight.