The original run of compact discs featured an enhanced CD which allowed users to walk around the "Wu Mansion" and access additional content.

The Clan also took full advantage of the double-disc format, allowing each of the nine members a significant number of appearances, including four solo tracks: "The City" for Inspectah Deck, "Dog Shit" for Ol' Dirty Bastard, "Black Shampoo" for U-God and "Sunshower" for RZA.

"[5] Upon its release, Wu-Tang Forever received acclaim from music critics, who praised RZA's production work and the group members' lyricism.

issued double-discs cluttered with filler, Wu-Tang Forever is purposeful and surprisingly lean, illustrating the immense depth of producer RZA and the entire nine-piece crew ...

[6]Describing the album's lyrics as "hauntingly descriptive tales of ghetto hustlers and victims," Rolling Stone's Nathan Brackett stated "The whole of Wu-Tang Forever crackles with a shootout-at-midnight electricity that more than justifies the double-disc indulgence, while the back-and-forth wordfire of Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, etc.

"[13] Cheo Hodari Coker from the Los Angeles Times commented, "The Clan's beats push the limit between cutting-edge hip-hop and industrial feedback, with jugular-clutching rhymes following their own melodic dictates and insular messages running the gamut from ancient maxims of the art of war to spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding from the Islamic Five Percent Nation.

"[10] Steve Jones from USA Today wrote, "Hip-hop's most anticipated album crackles with the nine-member clan's unique hard-core rhymes and beats.

"[15] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a two-star honorable mention rating and called the Wu-Tang Clan "the five per cent nation of Oscar aspirations".

[citation needed] In 1999, Ego Trip ranked Wu-Tang Forever number three on their Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980–98 list.

Despite limited radio/TV airplay, and the nearly-six minute lead single "Triumph" which features no chorus, Wu-Tang Forever debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 612,000 copies sold in its first week.