I know you're expecting the Purple Tape. Lemons of life, and all.
I'm about to drop a big spoiler on you: Gary Grice, recently obsessed with science and Vangelis, has yet to drop a poor album. Of course you will find the odd putrid track, but the GZA's album-crafting game remains pretty solid. Eat your hearts out, all you mainstream nut-huggers out there.
The reason why many a Wu fan out there will read the previous paragraph, then look at me like I'm crazy, is simply because of their inability to disassociate GZA's works with the one said fans consider his magnum opus: Liquid Swords. This is one cherished album.
Story time: After 36 Chambers launched the entire Wu-Tang Clan into superstardom, the RZA had a plan that couldn't make any more sense: Allow each individual Wu member the freedom to sign independent solo deals with the major labels while still attached to his respective Wu-Tang Records contract. This enabled the collective to spread their reach much further than what was usually expected, and more importantly flesh out their individual personalities thereby expanding the mythos and aesthetic of the group as a whole, utilizing that comic-book factor I mentioned here. I also mentioned in that same post how the three co-founders RZA, GZA and ODB were the ones who believed in the concept the most during those beginning years, which is only natural. It would make sense that RZA's friggin' cousins would be the members most in tune with his vision, thereby having the most chemistry with him. You can't really go wrong, right? Partly.
See, Russell Jones suffered greatly from the imposed ODB character, in a very tragic downward spiral that cost him his life. RIP ODB. On a different and significantly lesser note, the character's influence on him was too destructive to yield the expected creative results, which led to very tiring and long sessions where productivity would be at an all-time low.
On the other hand, Cousin GZA's situation was quite the opposite. He played the very fitting role of the grand master figure: The one in tune with all the elements of the Wu mythos and ideals. The role model of the group, a role which he still plays to this very day. Seeing the fruits of Cousin ODB's venture yield vastly different results than expected, Cousin RZA poured all of his creative energy into Liquid Swords, leading to it being the only Wu solo besides the Purple Tape to be produced by him without any assists. Add to that GZA's newly-found complete creative freedom to do whatever the fuck he wanted on that mic (unlike that last solo album he did), they both most definitely had a recipe for success now. Many a Wu fan attribute RZA's landmark accomplishments as director of Wu solos to these two releases, but that remains to be seen here.
Speaking of which, the first solo round was beginning to exhibit a 'shifting of the stages' of sorts: Tical and ODB's debut were the 'party' stage, if you will. Now, the material was shifting back towards the 'reality' stage begun by GZA and RAGU (Raekwon and Ghostface Killah's self-coined tag team nickname) when they scored impressive appearances on the Fresh OST in 1994, way before any Wu member debuted any album of sorts.
Important to note, Liquid Swords sold five hundred thousands units within the first two months, waited twenty goddamn years then completed another five hundred thousand for its millionth sale. Such a feat is unique in the fact that the album's legacy has persevered enough to attract interest from new fans all these years. This has happened in some capacity in hip hop with Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt and fellow Wu member Ghostface's Ironman, but those three albums never passed the ten-year mark in achieving that milestone. Points for longer-lasting interest generated go to Liquid Swords.
However, you don't care about all this incoherent babble. You're here to find out if this shit sounds as good as many people (much of whom are savvier critically than myself, might I add) praise it to be.
Just so you know, I am NOT reviewing Killah Priest's Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. That was added to some versions of the album as an afterthought and was not in any way, shape or form a part of Liquid Swords' creative process. Priest, if you have a problem with what I'm saying, the comment section is there for a reason.
LIQUID SWORDS
Cue the legendary Shogun Assassin soundbites, which were (amazingly) a last-minute addition by RZA according to our host. The astounding thing about that is GZA mentions that these songs were not made as parts of a concept album. So for the songs here to come off as such for all these years is nothing short of genius on RZA's part. After the skits, RZA brings us an introduction to our host over a funky Willie Mitchell sample, then transitions to another equally funky Willie Mitchell sample for GZA to utterly destroy. And he fucking schools any MC past, present or future on how to master that mic. The lessons are all here, folk: metaphors, schemes, punchlines that'll crack your bones, the goddamn gamut. One of my favorite title tracks of any genre. The beat transitions into...
DUEL OF THE IRON MIC (FEATURING MASTA KILLA, INSPECTAH DECK & OL' DIRTY BASTARD)
The second exemplary use of Shogun Assassin interludes. RZA here leans heavily on a five-second David Porter loop, with Ennio Morricone sprinkled all across the break, and the result is nothing short of monolithic. This only adds to RZA's repertoire back then as a genius of sound, a trait that he seems to have lost in recent years. We first hear ODB (RIP) sounding absolutely thrilled to perform hook duties, and might I mention that said hook is fucking dope. Our host and his two remaining brethren launch into three brilliantly visual verses, flexing their imagery muscles very impressively. Deck even cranks it up a notch and steals the show by mixing in some poignant storytelling with said imagery. Anyone who's ever claimed to be a fan of hip hop and hates this song is lying to your face. It's OK, I grant you permission to smack the dogshit outta them.
LIVING IN THE WORLD TODAY (FEATURING METHOD MAN)
RZA gives yet another intro bigging up Cousin GZA and it feels long as fuck. Anyway, GZA jumps straight into a hook sort of bitten yet modified from an old Bronx crew him and Cousins RZA and ODB battled. The hook also features an uncredited Method Man, who also participates in a short bridge of back-n-forth with our host before the second verse. But this is the GZA show all the damn way, as he uses two incendiary verses to wax poetic about his MC skills while embroidering his rhymes with social commentary, multiple entendres and the odd funny punchline. All to the backdrop of RZA's exquisitely minimalistic beat which samples Ann Sexton with dashes of the Bar-Kays. Liquid Swords begins to hit its stride, with three out of three so far.
GOLD
I won't front, one of the samples RZA loops here immediately gives the air of inhumane tragedy. Not that one-second Nat Adderley Sextet sample of course, although said sample isn't any less ingenious. It's songs like this that show just how strong these two cousins' chemistry really was in that studio, because this is where GZA chooses to unveil the first of two hood tales dipped entirely in the grimmest of grim that also serve as lessons in MCing as well, displaying clever uses of metaphors and imagery. I mean, this aspect has practically become a GZA forte by now. The song can be summarized in the final six bars, which will invoke many conflicting emotions of sadness, pity, horror and disgust out of those who still pay attention to lyrics these days. The fourth straight home run.
COLD WORLD (FEATURING INSPECTAH DECK)
OK, RZA. BIG beef with you on one teensy weensy issue: Why in the fuck is this Life singer-type of person on this album?! He can't sing for shit, and when he chooses to interpolate fucking classics, he's so bad at doing so he makes me regret EVER listening to Stevie Wonder's Rocket Love. Fuck this guy's career. Motherfucker sounds like one of them nasty R&B dudes ripped to shreds on a certain Wu-Tang Forever skit. You'll know which one I'm talking about when I get to that album. Everything else about this song is absolute perfection. From the returning Shogun Assassin bit to RZA's masterful meshing of two Elmer Bernstein and Mothers of Invention samples respectively, sprinkled with altered Dramatics bites throughout, to the bone-chilling duet between GZA and a possessed Inspectah Deck in one of the biggest upstages in hip hop history. Both MCs, and by God have they earned that moniker, spit one harrowing verse each back-to-back that speaks on troubled hood life and its many dangerous pitfalls, with Deck once again spectacularly getting the W. And this was fucking normal for him during those years! A crying shame he didn't get the chance to flex these muscles on a full-length LP during the coveted 5-year plan. Oh well, still a brilliant choice for the third single as well as a timeless fucking song. If only that Life cat could be erased from the original mix, since I'm of the opinion that its remix doesn't really solve the problem, even with D'Angelo replacing Life. Ugh. Not a dig against D'Angelo as much as it's the beat's fault. The original is just so much more. Moving on.
The reason why many a Wu fan out there will read the previous paragraph, then look at me like I'm crazy, is simply because of their inability to disassociate GZA's works with the one said fans consider his magnum opus: Liquid Swords. This is one cherished album.
Story time: After 36 Chambers launched the entire Wu-Tang Clan into superstardom, the RZA had a plan that couldn't make any more sense: Allow each individual Wu member the freedom to sign independent solo deals with the major labels while still attached to his respective Wu-Tang Records contract. This enabled the collective to spread their reach much further than what was usually expected, and more importantly flesh out their individual personalities thereby expanding the mythos and aesthetic of the group as a whole, utilizing that comic-book factor I mentioned here. I also mentioned in that same post how the three co-founders RZA, GZA and ODB were the ones who believed in the concept the most during those beginning years, which is only natural. It would make sense that RZA's friggin' cousins would be the members most in tune with his vision, thereby having the most chemistry with him. You can't really go wrong, right? Partly.
See, Russell Jones suffered greatly from the imposed ODB character, in a very tragic downward spiral that cost him his life. RIP ODB. On a different and significantly lesser note, the character's influence on him was too destructive to yield the expected creative results, which led to very tiring and long sessions where productivity would be at an all-time low.
On the other hand, Cousin GZA's situation was quite the opposite. He played the very fitting role of the grand master figure: The one in tune with all the elements of the Wu mythos and ideals. The role model of the group, a role which he still plays to this very day. Seeing the fruits of Cousin ODB's venture yield vastly different results than expected, Cousin RZA poured all of his creative energy into Liquid Swords, leading to it being the only Wu solo besides the Purple Tape to be produced by him without any assists. Add to that GZA's newly-found complete creative freedom to do whatever the fuck he wanted on that mic (unlike that last solo album he did), they both most definitely had a recipe for success now. Many a Wu fan attribute RZA's landmark accomplishments as director of Wu solos to these two releases, but that remains to be seen here.
Speaking of which, the first solo round was beginning to exhibit a 'shifting of the stages' of sorts: Tical and ODB's debut were the 'party' stage, if you will. Now, the material was shifting back towards the 'reality' stage begun by GZA and RAGU (Raekwon and Ghostface Killah's self-coined tag team nickname) when they scored impressive appearances on the Fresh OST in 1994, way before any Wu member debuted any album of sorts.
Important to note, Liquid Swords sold five hundred thousands units within the first two months, waited twenty goddamn years then completed another five hundred thousand for its millionth sale. Such a feat is unique in the fact that the album's legacy has persevered enough to attract interest from new fans all these years. This has happened in some capacity in hip hop with Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt and fellow Wu member Ghostface's Ironman, but those three albums never passed the ten-year mark in achieving that milestone. Points for longer-lasting interest generated go to Liquid Swords.
However, you don't care about all this incoherent babble. You're here to find out if this shit sounds as good as many people (much of whom are savvier critically than myself, might I add) praise it to be.
Just so you know, I am NOT reviewing Killah Priest's Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. That was added to some versions of the album as an afterthought and was not in any way, shape or form a part of Liquid Swords' creative process. Priest, if you have a problem with what I'm saying, the comment section is there for a reason.
LIQUID SWORDS
Cue the legendary Shogun Assassin soundbites, which were (amazingly) a last-minute addition by RZA according to our host. The astounding thing about that is GZA mentions that these songs were not made as parts of a concept album. So for the songs here to come off as such for all these years is nothing short of genius on RZA's part. After the skits, RZA brings us an introduction to our host over a funky Willie Mitchell sample, then transitions to another equally funky Willie Mitchell sample for GZA to utterly destroy. And he fucking schools any MC past, present or future on how to master that mic. The lessons are all here, folk: metaphors, schemes, punchlines that'll crack your bones, the goddamn gamut. One of my favorite title tracks of any genre. The beat transitions into...
DUEL OF THE IRON MIC (FEATURING MASTA KILLA, INSPECTAH DECK & OL' DIRTY BASTARD)
The second exemplary use of Shogun Assassin interludes. RZA here leans heavily on a five-second David Porter loop, with Ennio Morricone sprinkled all across the break, and the result is nothing short of monolithic. This only adds to RZA's repertoire back then as a genius of sound, a trait that he seems to have lost in recent years. We first hear ODB (RIP) sounding absolutely thrilled to perform hook duties, and might I mention that said hook is fucking dope. Our host and his two remaining brethren launch into three brilliantly visual verses, flexing their imagery muscles very impressively. Deck even cranks it up a notch and steals the show by mixing in some poignant storytelling with said imagery. Anyone who's ever claimed to be a fan of hip hop and hates this song is lying to your face. It's OK, I grant you permission to smack the dogshit outta them.
LIVING IN THE WORLD TODAY (FEATURING METHOD MAN)
RZA gives yet another intro bigging up Cousin GZA and it feels long as fuck. Anyway, GZA jumps straight into a hook sort of bitten yet modified from an old Bronx crew him and Cousins RZA and ODB battled. The hook also features an uncredited Method Man, who also participates in a short bridge of back-n-forth with our host before the second verse. But this is the GZA show all the damn way, as he uses two incendiary verses to wax poetic about his MC skills while embroidering his rhymes with social commentary, multiple entendres and the odd funny punchline. All to the backdrop of RZA's exquisitely minimalistic beat which samples Ann Sexton with dashes of the Bar-Kays. Liquid Swords begins to hit its stride, with three out of three so far.
GOLD
I won't front, one of the samples RZA loops here immediately gives the air of inhumane tragedy. Not that one-second Nat Adderley Sextet sample of course, although said sample isn't any less ingenious. It's songs like this that show just how strong these two cousins' chemistry really was in that studio, because this is where GZA chooses to unveil the first of two hood tales dipped entirely in the grimmest of grim that also serve as lessons in MCing as well, displaying clever uses of metaphors and imagery. I mean, this aspect has practically become a GZA forte by now. The song can be summarized in the final six bars, which will invoke many conflicting emotions of sadness, pity, horror and disgust out of those who still pay attention to lyrics these days. The fourth straight home run.
COLD WORLD (FEATURING INSPECTAH DECK)
OK, RZA. BIG beef with you on one teensy weensy issue: Why in the fuck is this Life singer-type of person on this album?! He can't sing for shit, and when he chooses to interpolate fucking classics, he's so bad at doing so he makes me regret EVER listening to Stevie Wonder's Rocket Love. Fuck this guy's career. Motherfucker sounds like one of them nasty R&B dudes ripped to shreds on a certain Wu-Tang Forever skit. You'll know which one I'm talking about when I get to that album. Everything else about this song is absolute perfection. From the returning Shogun Assassin bit to RZA's masterful meshing of two Elmer Bernstein and Mothers of Invention samples respectively, sprinkled with altered Dramatics bites throughout, to the bone-chilling duet between GZA and a possessed Inspectah Deck in one of the biggest upstages in hip hop history. Both MCs, and by God have they earned that moniker, spit one harrowing verse each back-to-back that speaks on troubled hood life and its many dangerous pitfalls, with Deck once again spectacularly getting the W. And this was fucking normal for him during those years! A crying shame he didn't get the chance to flex these muscles on a full-length LP during the coveted 5-year plan. Oh well, still a brilliant choice for the third single as well as a timeless fucking song. If only that Life cat could be erased from the original mix, since I'm of the opinion that its remix doesn't really solve the problem, even with D'Angelo replacing Life. Ugh. Not a dig against D'Angelo as much as it's the beat's fault. The original is just so much more. Moving on.
LABELS
Surprise! Well, not really if you're the hip hop historian who knows what these two went through when first entering the music business. Because of course GZA and RZA were going to make a track about the various popular labels that screwed them and countless others left and right for decades. Leave it to RZA to sample a tear-jerking Thelma Houston audio byte and, by slowing it down, flipping it on its head to sound incredibly menacing. Once again reinforcing his genius. Sorry I didn't use it to describe GZA, you anal piece of shit. Speaking of whom: Do I even need to say how GZA did on this song? By now, you should know what type of MC we're dealing with here, so of course his one-verse performance is still remembered to this day for its venomous punchlines towards shady labels and wackass rappers who bow down to their lame-ass whims.
4TH CHAMBER (FEATURING GHOSTFACE KILLAH, KILLAH PRIEST & RZA)
That Shogun Assassin sample slyly serves as the calm before the storm or the initiation to the warpath that is this monster of a posse cut. On the real, this song is the perfect song to play in your head before getting into a fight. RZA appropriately speeds up another sample from one of the Willie Mitchell songs he used on title track and awesomely meshes it with a sample from the leftest of left fields by Indian music legend Kalyanji Anandji, creating a typhoon of an instrumental. This would be meaningless if the four MCs featured didn't produce a worthy performance, and boy did they ever. Ghostface whips up a lyrical storm perfectly balancing humor, Biblical references and street imagery in a colorful mix that only Ghost can pull off. Killah Priest is up next and continues the winning form of the preceding verse with him in turn mixing his usual schtick of quasi-religious rambling with some deep pictures along with pretty graphic disses to rappers fronting their toughness. And it's not like we're short of those now, is it? Our album producer is up next and he chooses to dedicate his only lyrical showing on Liquid Swords to his own mixture of government bashing, five percenter ideology and divine punishment of their enemies to excellent effect. Weirdly enoughly, GZA chooses to break away from the apocalyptic theme so far for his closing verse and bring the audience back down to the gutter with his social commentary-filled verse mixed with gambling and crime metaphors. This song accomplishes all this in just under five minutes, folks. A musical masterpiece.
SHADOWBOXIN' (FEATURING METHOD MAN)
Nothing can follow the previous track and top it, but these two sure as hell tried! GZA and Mef engage in a punchline duet out of the top fucking shelf set to various chopped-up samples of that Ann Peebles record. Mef bookends the song with two verses that showcase him in his absolute prime, rattling off punchlines with a king's confidence and showcasing noticeable growth from his Tical days, while GZA serves the middle verse with equally strong braggadocio. A battle rap classic if I ever heard one.
KILLAH HILLS 10304
Goddamn it, Life the shitty R&B singer is back. I don't care if he's barely audible in the intro, I'd hear that irritable voice any fucking where. I will say that the way GZA inquired in the intro's background about some Hell's Angels bikers and then kicked them the fuck out of the bar while demanding some soul and R&B classics is absolutely hilarious. Back to the actual song: RZA actually gets on the keyboards himself and plays a grim-yet-high-octane tune around the Dorothy Ashby sample he used to lay the canvas for GZA to deliver a one-verse revival of the Life Of A Drug Dealer concept he dabbled in on his debut. An awesome repeat of the feats displayed on the earlier Gold.
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS (FEATURING RAEKWON, GHOSTFACE KILLAH & GOLDEN ARMS)
The Chef finally makes an appearance on this album, and he's in full-on repentant gangster mode, describing his rise in the streets and his dreams of going straight. Our host follows up with a vicious crime-filled verse that's actually a metaphor for his battling skills, since he dropped variations of this verse in freestyles on various instances ranging from radio interviews to Arsenio fucking Hall. You remember the one, where a truckload of hip hop acts came to salute the talk show legend. Anyways, his verse is predictably dope as fuck. Ghostface returns to close out the song with another standout verse, this time running through a variety of topics ranging from imagery to braggadocio to crime documenting to social commentary to black unity to political criticism (!!!). *gasps for breath* Truly exemplary performances by all three MCs. I can't really say Golden Arms was wasted on the hook because of how fitting it is, a testament to how good he was at writing them. All this to the brilliantly-cut samples of the same Three Dog Night song, interwoven with various documentary dialogue bytes that fit the theme of the track. I am struggling to find a single song to dismiss so far. If this keeps up, Liquid Swords might be the most consistent Wu album, solo or otherwise, since 36 Chambers. I am not joking.
SWORDSMAN
On this song, RZA comes with, bar none, the darkest production he ever recorded. Ever. This shit sounds like the soundtrack to the best kung-fu horror movie you'll ever see in your life. And GZA marks this magnificent occasion by giving us one of his most direct songs, delving headfirst into matters of thought, belief, spirituality and hypocrisy. He also couldn't resist injecting some social commentary into the first six bars of his, and I respect him all the more for it. In my humble opinion, this is the best solo song I've ever heard from the man.
I GOTCHA BACK
The lead single, lady and/or gentleman. This song has become home to one of the saddest stories in GZA's personal journey in hip hop. As many well know, GZA directed all of his music videos from Liquid Swords starting with this one. Two of the child actors he used in this video are his real-life nephews, to whom he wrote this very song as a means to persuade them from entering the criminal life that sent their father, his brother, to jail for a long time. Sad part is, it didn't work, as those same nephews are currently doing similarly long jail times. GZA even described this track as "a sad irony now". He can take respite in the fact that he helped countless others with it, and that the one-verse performance is a timeless work of art. In said verse, GZA sums up ghetto troubles (the overarching theme of this album, now laid bare) in one fell swoop with imagery and metaphors galore. It helps that RZA took no shorts as well with his production, combining an amalgam of samples by 45 King, a flipped Mar-Keys sample, Jackie Jackson and one from the same Charmels song that birthed CREAM. Liquid Swords then concludes with the perfect Shogun Assassin audio excerpt from the final scene of the movie. And we're done.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Anybody who has heard and dissected any Wu-Tang Clan album, solo or otherwise, knows that this album is a work of art deserving of any praise it gets. I truly am baffled that anyone would say that this isn't the best solo album out of the Wu camp. After what is exhibited here, I'm also not surprised that GZA hasn't tried to top his work here yet. Liquid Swords remains, in a nutshell, a watershed moment in the Wu's career, where every member of the Clan was clicking on all cylinders and the GZA finally exorcising his debut's demons in spectacular fashion, providing numerous examples of how an MC should tackle his craft. Props also go to the RZA, and his dedication to perfecting every last facet of this album's making. No wonder people kept steadily buying this shit for 20 goddamn years. Also, props to anyone who truly respects what Liquid Swords stands for in hip hop history.
WORTH IT? What do you really think I'm gonna say here, huh? Stop wasting time looking at that goofy-ass 'lil b' picture you have as your screensaver and GET THIS ALBUM NOW.
For more Wu-ness, here, and for more GZA-tion, here