New York's Empire State Building glows gold in celebration of Wu-Tang Day

1993 Sony Music Entertainment

The New York Empire State Building is sporting a gold hue in honor of iconic '90s rap group Wu-Tang Clan.

In celebration of founding member RZA and the crew's 30th anniversary of their seminal debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Mayor Eric Adams declared November 9 Wu-Tang Day in New York City. 

In addition to highlighting the group's famous black and gold color scheme, the historic milestone is being commemorated with a host of rare collectibles, such as a limited edition box set that contains a black and yellow 7-inch vinyl collection, a black and yellow splatter color LP and a cassette tape limited to only 2000 copies. 

The city is also celebrating with a number of Wu-Tang related activations, like RZA's The 36 Chambers 30th Anniversary show at N.Y.'s Gramercy Theatre and a November 9 pop-up shop in the East Village, where attendees can obtain signed copies of RZA's graphic novel Bobby Digital and the Pit Of Snakes and other artifacts. 

On November 15, 36 Chambers ALC, the Hip-Hop Education Center and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, will present a special screening of the documentary A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Deemed one of the most influential and highly acclaimed albums in hip-hop history, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) reached RIAA-certified Platinum status within a year of its release on November 9, 1993, and is now triple-Platinum with 3 million records sold. 

Last year, the album, which cemented the pioneering rap group as one of the best ever, was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" — a feat only 25 albums a year achieve. 

Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 10:52AM by Jamia Pugh Permalink