The Wu, perhaps a little hungry to stay ahead of the hype in any way possible, continues on the quest for the marketer’s new edge on the music industry. With all the buzz about the one-album-only concept surrounding their upcoming release of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, it’s not surprising A Better Tomorrow, their twentieth anniversary album, would have a twist as well. According to the RZA, these new spins on the record are deliberate efforts to combine music and technology to finally get ahead of bootleggers (although our money might still ride on the bootleggers over boomboxes in that epic battle). A Better Tomorrow is set for release on Black Friday, the biggest shopper’s shit-show of the year, with a sound said to harken back to the Wu’s analog years. Expect contributions from all the Clan’s original living members, plus a copy of the RZA’s written manifesto about man’s “quest for fire.” What the content is of said manifesto is, is as elusive as the boombox sounds themselves, although admittedly a bit less exciting. The whole idea behind the boombox is fastened to the memory of music as a tangible item  — this one being portably playable, an update on the walkman of old. But don’t stress — this is more than just a limited Wu Tang delivery mechanism: the boom box also serves as a standard bluetooth player with a 10-hour battery life and a one-year warranty. Pre-0rder now for $80.

Tracklist for Wu Tang Clan’s “A Better Tomorrow” after the Jump…

A Better Tomorrow [Boombotix Edition]: 

01 Ruckus in B Minor
02 Ron O’Neal
03 Mistaken Identity
04 Keep Watch
05 Never Let Go
06 Mistaken Identity (Instrumental)
07 Never Let Go (Instrumental)
08 Big Horn [Exclusive]