Songfacts®:

• A track from Wu-Tang Clan's first album, this song finds the rappers flexing their lyrical muscles and putting other rappers on notice. Wu-Tang leader RZA explained: "The most important thing that people need to know about us? That Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin' to f--k wit. Lyrically, no-one can f--k with us. It's gonna take another generation to match our rhymes."
• The "Tiger Style" sample comes from a 1977 kung fu movie called Executioners from Shaolin, in which a man trained in the tiger style of kung fu is killed, but avenged by his son, who learns that style to defeat the killer.
  
  The group makes many references to martial arts in their songs; they are named for a 1983 movie called Shaolin and Wu Tang, and often refer to their hometown of Staten Island as "Shaolin Island."
• Method Man co-produced this track with RZA, who takes the first verse. The second verse is rapped by Inspectah Deck, and Method Man comes on for the third.
• The music video, an early offering from prolific hip-hop director Hype Williams, finds the clan wielding machetes and rapping around a fire. Williams would go on to direct some of the hottest acts of the decade, including Puff Daddy, Missy Elliott, and Tupac Shakur.