''CASH RULES everything around me.'' So goes the refrain to
''C.R.E.A.M.,'' a hit by the rap supergroup Wu-Tang Clan. A
haunting fable of ghetto economics, the song depicts a grim
world of ''stick-up kids, corrupt cops and crack rocks,'' where
''drug loot'' is the only way for the young black men that haunt
its street corners to earn a living. While ''C.R.E.A.M.''
reflects the rough-and-tumble life that the group's members had
growing up in housing projects on Staten Island, its money-
obsessed chorus takes on new meaning in the wake of Wu-Tang's
success.   The group's 1993 debut album, ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36
Chambers),'' sold well over a million copies, paving the way for
a string of hit solo records by its members Method Man, Ol'
Dirty Bastard, Raekwon and, most recently, Ghostface Killah,
whose first solo album , ''Ironman,'' has sold nearly 500,000
copies since its release in October. The group's forthcoming
album will be one of the most anticipated rap releases of the
new year. Two of the group's 10 memb