GZA

While other Wu-Tang Clan vets have seen their share of ups and downs since the group’s mid-’90s peak, GZA has spent those years working at a steady clip, putting out reliably solid (but hardly classic, save 1995’s Liquid Swords) solo albums every few years. Pro Tools, from 2008, continued the trend with formidable writing but decidedly ho-hum production. Far more interesting are his onstage collaborations, where GZA has excited/confused festival crowds by randomly teaming up with artists like Fucked Up, King Khan, and The Black Lips to try giving “rap-rock” a better name. (Not to mention his turn as the king of a drugged-up cartoon world in the video for Devendra Banhart’s “Baby.”) It’ll be interesting to see how those collusions influence GZA’s seventh album, due later this year.

Updated 03/05/2012