Wu-Tang Clan pulls plug on 2007 tour

After announcing earlier this month plans to mount a fall/winter reunion tour, hip-hop icons the Wu-Tang Clan have canceled the outing until next year.

News of the cancellation came in the form of an offhand remark included in a solo-tour announcement for Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah, who is currently in the midst of his own batch of shows.

"While the Wu-Tang Clan's tour has been canceled until spring 2008 Ghostface will be performing on stages throughout the country," reads a message posted at the group's website.

Meanwhile, according to an MTV News interview with Ghostface Killah earlier this week--during which he discussed his involvement on Wu-Tang's forthcoming album, "8 Diagrams"--it is unclear if the Wu-Tang Clan tour will actually get off the ground, or whether Ghostface will be involved in the run if it does take place.

"I got on some of them," Ghostface told MTV of his participation in recording tracks for "8 Diagrams." "A few of them. ... N---as better pay my f---ing money. Matter of fact, they can keep the money--just get me out of their life right now. They can keep that money, it's all good now. I don't even wanna talk about it no more."

Ghostface expressed his displeasure about Wu-Tang's decision to push back the release of "8 Diagrams"--which originally was due out Nov. 13--to Dec. 4, the same day that Ghostface's new solo set, "The Big Dough Rehab," is due in stores.

"I had December 4 for the longest," he told MTV. "But the Wu album, brothers was kinda late on doing whatever they were doing and pushed it back ... on my date. ... I'm not [mad at] all the members. It's not based on the members, but the hierarchy at Wu-Tang Clan is on some bullsh--. They trying to f--- around and make me push my album back and doing all this."

Without specifying who comprises the aforementioned "hierarchy," Ghostface went on to accuse that entity of holding back money that he and other Wu-Tang members are supposedly owed from Wu-Tang's summer 2007 tour with Rage Against the Machine.

"8 Diagrams" is the first Wu-Tang album to feature all of the group's members (minus the late ODB) since 2001's "Iron Flag." The album's release was pushed back from Nov. 13 "due to the magnitude of the sample and the History being made," according to the group's website, an apparent reference to the album's first single, "The Heart Gently Weeps," which contains a "compositional sample" of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

While the group originally claimed to be the first artists legally authorized to use a Beatles sample, a spokesman for Wu-Tang later told MTV News that the group's claim was slightly inaccurate, as the song contains a sample of a re-recorded version of the George Harrison composition, and not a sample of the original version.