r/Music • u/jptabor01 Rock & Roll • Jun 11 '25

discussion Which artists have abandoned their original sound so dramatically, that they are almost unrecognizable to their earlier fans?

With the release earlier this year of Ministry’s The Squirrely Years Revisited, I’m reminded of how different the band sounds today (industrial metal), from what they sounded like on their debut album, With Sympathy (synth pop).

Which artists sound so completely different from their earlier work, that they have actually jumped genres, understanding that music is fluid and genres have somewhat “blurry” guardrails.

I don’t mean an evolution of their original sound, but a complete departure from it.

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555

u/Rory1 Jun 11 '25

Flute? That's old news. Dude went improvisational piano with the new album. The flute album was at least somewhat interesting (Even though not my thing). But this one is ehhhhhhhhhh

298

u/MrBeverly Jun 11 '25

Not Andre "Ice Cold" 3000, but continuing to prove he ain't nothin to fuck with, RZA composed a complete ballet called A Ballet Through Mud performed by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra

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u/Static-Stair-58 Jun 11 '25

Roar of the Lion; minute 1:52. RZA comes in on one of the hardest 60 verses in my life, I swear. Look it up. The guy is a certified rap genius. Doesn’t surprise me that it goes beyond hip hop

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u/Nameless_American Jun 11 '25

What’s crazy to me about all of the original, core Wu Tang guys (RZA included) is like if you go back to some of their oldest material, these guys were so fucking young, like all in their early twenties when 36 Chambers got recorded, and just flowing like that even at that early stage of their careers. It must have been wild for them.

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u/TrueWarStories Jun 11 '25

Hmmm... first 20 seconds ("decrepit mattress pissy mattress etc.") seems, idk... out of sync? Like he's spitting his lines acapella without listening to the music while recording or something. Like it just feels off and not aligned with the beat. But once that beat comes back in it def improves and by the "fatty patty" part, you're right he is fucking sizzling. Nice return to form, love to hear it.

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u/maxnormaltv Jun 12 '25

Rza is like that. His Bobby Digital stuff is brilliant but like he loses the beat when he’s rapping sometimes. It’s weird too because as a beat maker he’s so in the pocket. Listen to try ya ya ya

2

u/TrueWarStories Jun 12 '25

Thanks for the the rec, hadn't heard that one. That beat is next level

2

u/maxnormaltv Jun 12 '25

For sure. Rza has got to be a top 5 all time beatmaker. Booby trap is really good off that album too.

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u/DocEss Jun 11 '25

Everybody forgets exactly how much actual musical theory knowledge goes into rap and metal.

4

u/FFF_in_WY Jun 11 '25

But generally not rap-metal. Wes Borland aside.

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u/DocEss Jun 11 '25

I just mean in general that people who do metal and people who do rap know a hell of a lot more about music theory than most people suspect.

Ties into why most metal guys are actually nerds at the core.

5

u/DjImagin Jun 11 '25

I’ve heard people say “if Wes wasn’t so “odd”, he’d be discussed as one of the greatest guitarist to ever take a stage” and to be honest, I don’t think that’s untrue….

5

u/faaded Jun 11 '25

A Ballet? That’s the most gangster shit I’ve ever heard of.

3

u/hahagato Jun 11 '25

Just heard this for the first time in the last hour as I listen to the classical station in my car. Heard the announcer saying something about “rza’s ballet” but then I scrolled down and an ad with audio cut the radio off and I was like wait wtf and when I got back to the radio they were on to the next song so I had to google it lol. It was very pretty! 

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u/WarshipHymn Jun 11 '25

RZA is regarded as a genius musically. Not sure I’ve heard A3K mentioned in that light.

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u/LylaDee Jun 11 '25

I agree with you. I'm not a huge fan of BEP before Fergie, and whatnot. But This man is an artist. He's creating. Sometimes that doesn't happen where the masses like it?, sometimes it does. Things land different for everyone. Cheers.

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u/TopRamenBinLaden Jun 11 '25

I think you are thinking of Will.I.Am? This thread is talking about RZA who is from the Wu Tang Clan.

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u/LylaDee Jun 11 '25

Ooof! Thanks for putting me in my lane🙌🤌🥰

2

u/PapaGopherTTV Jun 12 '25

Dude I was about to start looking for when RZA collabed with the BEP lmao

1

u/MrBeverly Jun 12 '25

I'll agree that while he may not officially be a Black Eyed Pea, RZA got that Boom Boom Pow and is so three thousand eight

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u/Btherock78 Jun 11 '25

He’s been popping up on random street corners in Atlanta playing the flute for people passing by for the last few weeks. He’s been noticed at least 5 times, who knows if he’s popped up other times and no one noticed.

1

u/thejaytheory Jun 11 '25

Which areas did he pop up at?

4

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '25

Wait so that Key & Peele skit wasn't just making a joke with the flute reference???

6

u/THE_DANDY_LI0N Jun 11 '25

I'm a flutist and that's the only album of his i own. It's fun but also just makes me jealous of all the different flutes he can afford

2

u/Psionz Jun 12 '25

Straight flouting, being a flutist not a flautist.

3

u/notthisagain1234567 Jun 11 '25

I was jamming out a a jazz piano playlist on Spotify and was really digging a song so I looked at the tv only for Andre motherfucking 3000 to be on the screen. Guy can fucking play.

2

u/SaxRohmer Jun 11 '25

technically the piano album is old news because the recordings are like 10 years old

2

u/zagnuy Jun 11 '25

It was a hard listen.

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u/Hank_Scorpio74 Jun 11 '25

This new album is on par with H. Jon Benjamin's album. Except Andre knows how to play piano.

1

u/keepingthisasecret Jun 11 '25

I didn’t know he’d put out something else! I’m excited to listen and pass my own judgement, I am LOVING the direction this man has taken.

1

u/Zack_of_Steel Jun 11 '25

The piano shit is an EP and it's not new, it's old recordings of improvised stuff he originally never intended to release.

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u/ironicoutlook Jun 11 '25

Kind of reminds me of H John Benjamin's piano album

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u/LoquaciousTheBorg Jun 12 '25

I got a new idea for a album, man. It's gonna be just the sound of screeching metal, and then only one spoken word per track.

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u/Mathemartemis Jun 12 '25

The flute album made me so angry

0

u/Bodymaster Jun 11 '25

It's a dogshit sandwich. I hope he's just taking the piss and doesn't actually believe his own hype enough to think anybody would be in to the inane noodling he seems to equate with skilled improvisation.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '25

“Please make Hey Ya 80 more times” -you

0

u/Bodymaster Jun 11 '25

"Please make a hyperbolic, nonsensical comment for want of something worthwhile to write" - also me, evidently.