Photo: Method Man cosplays as X-Men's Bishop on movieweb.com
Black Twitter goes wild after a viral post suggesting Black people gaining "powers" on December 21st creating a perfect backdrop for the story of bringing the spirit of the "W" to Macon, GA.
MACON - It's officially December 21st... Feeling like a superhero yet? In case you've been living under a rock for the past two weeks, an onslaught of memes flooded Black Twitter after a viral post describing a shift in the DNA of Black people due to a rare planetary alignment led to a running gag about Black people receiving superpowers.
For Macon's resident Hip-Hop superhero crew, The Madvocates, that doesn't sound like too huge a stretch considering the events that led to them connecting with Wu-Tang Clan to bring some major social and economic change to their hometown.
Since their inception in the Summer of 2019, The Madvocates, comic book fans themselves, have identified with the great superhero teams like The Avengers or The Justice League of America, but felt far more like Marvel's X-Men. As residents of a city with no significant presence in Hip-Hop aside from Jeezy's occasional shout-outs, The Madvocates, like the mutants in the comics, are anomalies with their unique blend of styles and departure from much of the sound that has come to be synonymous with Southern/Georgia Hip-Hop.
After discovering the similarities between where Wu-Tang Clan took Staten Island and where The Madvocates aim to take Macon, it only made sense to seek mentorship. The comic book parallel became even more solidified after Chris Wind the EMA heard RZA describe the birth of the famous Wu hand sign, holding two hands up to form the "W". According to RZA, the five fingers represent the five human families (black, white, brown, red, & yellow) coming together to form the "wings of a phoenix" that could fly over all separation and injustice.
SPOILER ALERT: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
The Phoenix force, central to one of X-Men's most memorable story arcs, makes a reappearance in Avengers vs. X-Men which finds Earth's Mightiest Heroes at odds with mutants, hero & villain alike, as X-Men leader Cyclops attempts to draw the Phoenix to Earth to inhabit a new vessel which presents itself in the form of a young mutant girl named Faith. Cyclops believes that the power of the Phoenix would help replenish the numbers of the mutants after Scarlet Witch's powers accidentally wipe out the majority of their population.
With Macon's rich music legacy, The Madvocates set out to "resurrect" the local music scene while also "awakening the mentally dead". After meeting through Instagram on what would evolve into the Mook In The Morning Show, Wu-Tang Management CEO, John "Mook" Gibbons pointed The EMA to Vega Don of Protect Ya Neck Records to discuss building a relationship between the Wu-Tang brands and Central Georgia where Macon is known as the "Heart of Georgia" and "Where Soul Lives".
The Madvocates used the comic book imagery to construct "Operation: Phoenix", a roadmap to describe the potential of a mutually beneficial relationship between Macon and Wu-Tang, further describing the Wu-Tang "W" as "the raised wings of the phoenix at the height of it's rise" and the Madvocates/Macon "M" as "the downward flap of the phoenix's wings as it rises once again".
The imagery proved effective as Chris Wind the EMA joined Mook, Wu-Tang Management, and Protect Ya Neck Records in rebuilding the infrastructure of the brand, harnessing the legacy of the Wu-Tang brand to bring life, education, and vitality to cities like Macon through the power of music and co-operative economics.
In this way, the Wu-Tang/X-Men parallels have evolved far beyond just Method Man's bid to play Bishop in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film. By bringing the Wu Phoenix (disguised as the "Phlame" in the Tour of Maconga short story) to Macon, The Madvocates are the first phase in the resurrection of Macon as a powerful force in music, and the continuation of Wu-Tang's impact on future generations.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR WU-TANG: OF MICS AND MEN
CHECK OUT AN EXCERPT FROM THE MADVOCATES: OPERATION PHOENIX
