El Michels Affair - Enter the 37th Chamber

The album consists entirely of cover versions of the Wu-Tang Clan and its members’ solo classics. Highlights include "C.R.E.A.M." (over 40 million streams on Spotify), ”Shimmy Shimmy Ya" and "Can It All Be So Simple". El Michels Affair is led by multi-instrumentalist and producer Leon Michels. After releasing other tribute albums including Return to the 37th Chamber, in the following decade, the group returned with original albums and collaborative projects with Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Liam Bailey, and Black Thought of the Roots on 2023’s LP “Glorious Game.” Originally released on Fat Beats Records in 2009, El Michels Affair’s landmark album “Enter the 37th Chamber” is celebrating its 15th Anniversary in 2024. Featuring reinterpretations of hip hop anthems from the Wu-Tang Clan, the album took stripped-down, raw hip hop bangers and flipped them into richly-arranged instrumentals. Cover versions of tracks such as “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Can It All Be So Simple” instantly sounded as vintage as the records that RZA had sampled to create the originals, with the familiar melodies and driving rhythms elevated by expertly arranged horns and strings. The gritty and bottom-heavy style of these analog recordings—dubbed “Cinematic Soul”—has been both widely celebrated and often imitated. El Michels Affair namesake Leon Michels has since gone on to produce for and collaborate with artists as diverse as Adele, Black Thought, Lana Del Rey, and The Carters (Beyonce & Jay-Z). Now 15 years from its initial release, “Enter the 37th Chamber” has proven to be one of the true classic instrumental albums of its era, every bit as enduring as the music it was meant to pay homage to