GZA - Beneath The Surface (June 29, 1999)

Throughout hip hop history, one can come across certain acts that produce a work so strong it forever attaches them to it. So much so that it becomes a standard that all future works of said act are held to, many times to the detriment of said works' actual legacy. However while Raekwon experienced this with  RAGU simply because he's too stubborn to revisit the reasons why they soared above his actual solo discography, some of Nas' albums, namely It Was Written and (to a lesser extent) Life Is Good, remain unfairly shitted on by many of his fans simply because they love Illmatic too damn much. Now granted, this practice might not mean a big deal when talking about Nas, because lord knows he has released his fair share of stinker albums, but when we're talking about an artist like Gary Grice bka the Genius aka Wu-Tang Clan co-founder the GZA, whom I've previously stated to have never dropped a bad album, this shit starts to become insulting.

Because, let there be no mistake about it, GZA's sophomore album Liquid Swords is one of the most acclaimed albums in musical history. In my book, it stands as the absolute pinnacle of his entire Clan's solo output. As such, you seriously might endanger your life in some circles if you talk shit about this album. Good thing this internet anonymity comes in handy during these blasphemy urges you get from time to time, eh? The simple fact of the matter remains, though, that the vast majority of his fans haven't checked for anything else from him because they're too fucking butthurt that he didn't make Liquid Swords again.

Which brings me to my subject for this post. See, I too was once a firm believer in the saying: 'If it ain't Liquid Swords, it ain't worth my time.' But as time went, I naturally started getting bored of the status quo I childishly imposed upon myself. So, I went searching for more quality in Mr. Grice' catalog. I'd get surprised almost every time I chose to explore an album of his, because the man's lyrical sword has remained satisfyingly sharp, with no signs of dulling anytime soon. He may've lost some flow points in recent years, but by God his bars are still addictive.

Interesting thing is, my journey into GZA's remaining war chest did not start with this album, but with Grandmasters, since it's yet another collaboration of his with another producer who's worthy of his rhymes not named RZA: DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill, following  the electric chemistry they've exhibited together on songs like Muggs' Third World. I'll leave talking about Grandmasters for another time, but the key factor here is that I was driven away from this particular album simply because of all the bile it gathered from critics and fans, similar to what happened with Method Man's Tical 2000. Hell, said attention to album reviews drove me further away from GZA's actual debut, Words From The Genius, an album many hip hop heads who claim to love his work have not even heard to this day. You can gather what I'm trying to point out here.

With that we arrive at Beneath The Surface, the only album in GZA's discography aside from his sophomore to sell more than five hundred thousand copies Stateside alone. Granted, most of those were looking for another Liquid Swords, but still. Since Gary had total creative control of this project now that the acclaimed 5-year plan ended, it says a lot that he mostly split the album's production duties between Ronald Bean aka Wu-Element DJ Mathematics and new recruit Suleyman Ansari bka Arabian Knight, with a few obligatory additions. If you're anything like yours truly, then the curiosity has tormented you enough to disregard all the negative feedback this album accumulated throughout the years and keep searching for an unbiased, objective & detailed retrospective regarding this album.

Well, too bad you came here then. Read on.

INTRO
Since it's widely reported that The Power 105.1 Breakfast Club's Angela Yee wrote all the skits to this album, I'd like to issue an extended middle finger to her ass for this pretentious bullshit. The beat by Arabian Knight shows promise, though. If only someone would rhyme on it, it could be something.

AMPLIFIED SAMPLE
DJ Mathematics debuts his first beat on Beneath The Surface, and you can hear the myriad of samples meshing together to create a banger worthy of GZA's first performance on this album. GZA makes the controversial choice to spit a verse, then repeat it immediately afterwards. Now, I'm very half-n-half with the practice of repeating verses on the same song: One one hand I find it a very lazy practice when the verse in question is just some random piffle. One the other though, I love it when the verse is dope as shit, a la Large Professor's Mad Scientist. Since we are talking about Gary Grice after all, I'm of the second opinion with this particular song. Nice start!

BENEATH THE SURFACE (FEATURING KILLAH PRIEST & RES)
Inspectah Deck, the forgotten Wu-Element, submits a beat that cements his status as one worthy of such a branding. He chops up a 7-second Jean Plum loop and manipulates it in a legitimate full-blown instrumental that was dying for the Rebel to destroy. So of course, he gives it to GZA to use as his second single, even though no video treatment came its way at all. Now while I love the lyrics Gary and Sunz Of Man co-founder Killah Priest laid on this beat, I still think Deck could've made better use of it. So much so that I mashed this beat to an acapella of his Show N Prove single and did whatever I could to remove that song's chorus.(100% true story,) The end result is still the absolute worst hip hop-related mashup you'll ever hear in life, given the embarrassing fact that I miserably failed at removing all traces of said hook. Don't believe it's that bad? Check for yourself. You have been warned. Back to this song, though: I've came across a statement that Res' hook here was sampled, but I can't find any significant proof to back up said claim for the life of me. Song's still the shit, by the way.

SKIT #1
Fuck you, Angela Yee.

SKIT #2
While the sentiment is appreciated, this most certainly does not fit the context of the album whatsoever. So again: Fuck you, Angela Yee.

CRASH YOUR CREW (FEATURING OL' DIRTY BASTARD)
Even though Gary shouts out DJ Math on the lyrics, it's actually fresh Wu-Elememt recruit John The Baptist who handled production here. The beat is jarring at first, given the off-kilter Willie Hutch sample. The choir sample that comes in after GZA's finished rhyming yet another lyrical challenge of a verse is the reason this song eventually grew on me, because now I just can't disassociate it with the rest of the instrumental. Oh, and Cousin ODB's hook really makes you miss the man: Russell Jones was an entertainer like no other, without a doubt. Very nonplussing is the fact that this song got the video treatment despite it not being a single. Furthermore, the video version featured an added verse by Sunz Of Man member Hell Razah, a verse that neither adds nor detracts from the song: It's just there, which is to be expected from my least favorite member of said collective. Also, the album version credits RZA on the song when he only provides a minuscule opening ad-lib. That shit pisses me off. Other than that, this was pretty OK.

BREAKER, BREAKER
The project's lead single, and a good representation of what this album was supposed to be at that. Arabian Knight made this beat from scratch and I must say I'm a fan of the result: Dude comes across as a real musician. Probably why RZA added him into the Wu-Element ranks in the first place, duh. Anyways, GZA continues his mission to school prospect MCs in this artform, as he litters his two verses with quotes from the Art of Worldly Wisdom by Balthasar Gracian and still finds a way to flip them in a way that keeps him relevant to said quotes. Truly an awesome song.

HIGH PRICE, SMALL REWIND (FEATURING MASTA KILLA)
DJ Math is back and this time, he keeps his piano-laden instrumental, complete with hard-hitting drums, short and sweet. Read: This shit will knock you the fuck out. The bass slowly coming into the beat is what does it for me every time. Oh and I absolutely love how Masta Killa completely steals GZA's thunder here. No, he really blacks the fuck out on the beat, ripping it apart worse than a hungry carnivore, then pissing on its carcass. GZA's verse was still battleworthy, though. Pity this shit is only slightly less than two minutes long.

HIP HOP FURY (FEATURING HELL RAZAH, TIMBO KING, DREDDY KRUGER & RZA)
Another tag-in by Arabian Knight who provides a dope key-plodding instrumental for GZA and friends to lay to waste. And I must say: Props to everyone for pulling a decent performance outta Hell Razah, who sets shit off nicely, although he bigs up RZA's putrid-ass hook. GZA's up next and he predictably steals the show from his guests with some more addictive lyrical challenges. Royal Fam's two leaders Timbo King and Dreddy Kruger (yay!) step up next and, it must be noted, Timbo's verse was hella disappointing. If y'all Wu stans know your shit, then the Soul In The Hole OST title track should be burnt into your memory. There Timbo lyrically bested a very in-top-form Killa Sin from Killarmy. That alone should let you know what Timbo's capable of. Dreddy sounds a bit winded compared to his awesome showing on Graveyard Chamber by the Gravediggaz, but his battle rhymes still click. Overall, this was an awesome song, even though RZA and Timbo could've done a lot better.

SKIT #3
FUCK YOU, ANGELA YEE!!!

1112 (FEATURING MASTA KILLA, KILLAH PRIEST & NJERI EARTH)
The lone production by Cousin RZA, who gives a slept-on digital beat from his repertoire. The beat here is supposed to get the fuck outta the way as GZA and his three guests compete in an imagery stand-off. And despite it being painstakingly close (as all four turned in timeless performances) I'm delighted to say that Masta Killa edged everyone else out by a quark. (Thanks for that, Snizzy) Why MK? Because dude straight up refused to use the word 'like' in his descriptions. Consistently coming up with verses that are that dense takes a very notable amount of skill and, best believe, MK got that in droves. This was awesome.

SKIT #4
OK, props Angie. This was very heartfelt. However, it still doesn't fit into the album.

VICTIM (FEATURING NJERI EARTH & JOAN DAVIS)
Arabian Knight gives you a dramatic musical composition intended to capitalize on the seriousness of the previous skit and to that end, it does alright. Guest crooner Joan Davis goes against the status quo of Wu crooners and actually delivers an on-key performance that helps guide the track in the intended direction, even if what she's actually saying doesn't really come across as genuine enough. However, all is forgiven when you hear the somber lyrical duet of GZA and Njeri Earth. Both MCs give you one hell of a thesis each, as GZA is prone to do from time to time, on ghetto pitfalls. (I understand if someone reading this blog consistently is bored of this particular topic by now, but come on: You should be examining whatever caused a million of these human beings to continuously find new relevant ways to talk about this subject.) Each verse complimented its writer's attributes very well and, in Njeri's case, continued alongside her earlier showing on this album in establishing her as a lyrical force to be reckoned with. Because we can't have nice things though, homegirl decided to translate this momentum of critical praise into a lengthy hiatus from the game, only to return at a time when most of her fans forgot about her very existence. Well, aside from her on-screen appearance in a cypher on the Eminem vehicle 8 Mile. Yep, she's the head-garmented one in the parking lot. (Although that too didn't really translate into anything, either. Groan.) All in all, a must hear.

PUBLICITY

DJ Math is back to prove that he is not to be overshadowed on this album through chopping up a Terry Knight loop and focusing on the violins in a confrontational manner, thereby allowing Gary to unleash another one of his metaphorical displays similar to what he did on Labels. Only this time, his aim is locked on mainstream media magazines. I choose to believe he's dissing them all for the role they collectively played in perpetuating the East Coast/West Coast conflict of the mid-90s. If that's not really the case, I like disses aimed at those culture vultures, anyway. I'm sorry, but ain't no way I'm respecting the dumbing down of an entire artistic movement. It's just not happening here. More power to you, Gary.

FEEL LIKE AN ENEMY (SUNZ OF MAN FEATURING TRIGGA)

Sunz Of Man's presence on this album has been fairly notable, so far. So it's only right that the Wu traditional obligatory handaway track where our host cedes his spotlight to an act of his choosing goes to the foursome. Only one caveat though: 62nd Assassin is nowhere to be found on the entire album. So the remaining trio make do with guest Trigga. (Truly original, that moniker.) The team wreck shop over a dope-ass DJ Math beat in a satisfying manner. Yes, even Hell Razah. I know, right?! Shoutout to GZA for actually helping them out on the hook.

STRINGPLAY (LIKE THIS, LIKE THAT) (FEATURING METHOD MAN)

Arabian Knight works with GZA for the final time for this album, and it's a duet with Method Man. The anal fucktards bashing this album without properly listening to it claim that this song is the sequel to their first team up Shadowboxin' when in fact, the real sequel was As High As Wu-Tang Get off what I consider to be the Clan's best material ever. And as such, I feel that this song is pretty tight for what it is: A simple exercise in punchlines. Even Arabian Knight's beat is simple and minimalistic fun. GZA and Mef reflect this playfulness effectively, and while their previous two collaborations are light years ahead of this, this ain't bad at all. Moving on.

MIC TRIPPIN

GZA bows out with the final Mathematics beat of the album, a magnificent classical music display. This is where GZA drops all pretenses aside: Dude just straight raps for two glorious verses. And you know what? I'm perfectly fine with his final showing on this album being a trademark MCing lesson. This was nice!

OUTRO (LA THE DARKMAN & TIMBO KING)

Aha! So Arabian Knight's beat from the intro chooses to close out the album, huh? I wonder what pretentious horse dung Angela Yee cooked up for us here?! Pardon? This isn't a skit? La The Darkman is on this?! And he's teaming up with Timbo King?! Sign me the fuck up! This time, even though the whole song is barely a minute and a half, you can properly listen to what made this Timbo cat so dope on that Soul In The Hole OST title track. Translation: He and La tear shit up. End album.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Listen boy/girl (pick one): The Mic Trippin song actually offers the best illustration of this album as a whole. See, everyone's problem with Beneath The Surface (aside from, we get it, 'it's not Liquid Swords') is that it wasn't some sort of statement, when in actuality it never should've been. This album, even with Angela Yee’s abhorrent skits, is simply GZA letting loose: Every single song houses a beat dope in and of itself, yet savvy enough to not get in the way of what GZA's been all about all along: Lyricism lessons. And as expected, son delivers. In droves. The guests, especially Masta Killa and Njeri Earth, step up their game accordingly. As I said, the beats, guided by DJ Mathematics and Arabian Knight, are very effective. This is the Wu-Elements we're talking about here, after all. All in all, this album further proves my argument that GZA never dropped a subpar album. Pull ya bottom lip over ya head and swallow. (Thanks, Mef!)

WORTH IT? Don't let the bad talk fool you like it fooled me: Everybody badmouthing Beneath The Surface doesn't know what the bloody hell they're havering about.

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
BREAKER, BREAKER (REMIX) (FEATURING MASTA KILLA & INSPECTAH DECK)
This remix definitely should've made the proper release, as it houses the immortal Duel of the Iron Mic trio: GZA, MK & INS. Literally, every time these three got together on a song till this very day has been amazing, and this hidden gem is most certainly no exception. By the way, the hook is the lone tie to the original. Literally everything else is vastly different, which is a great thing in this case. In fact, this beat has nothing to do with the original, instead being a direct tribute to the classic Warm It Up, Kane, a fact furthered by GZA's opening verse, a tribute to said song in and of itself. Let it not be confused, though: All three MCs disintegrate their respective contributions, no survivors. Nuff said. 

Need some more Gary Grice? Happy to oblige.

GZA - Liquid Swords (November 7, 1995)

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.

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. GFK whips up a lyrical storm perfectly balancing humor, Biblical references and street imagery in a colorful mix that only GFK 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. GFK 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

The Genius - Words From The Genius (February 19, 1991)

I'm ending the Easy Mo Bee run on this blog with a rather unpopular choice. Not to say reviews of Osten's work won't pop up here again but, to my knowledge, he only has one album directly credited to his name: Now Or Never: Odyssey 2000. And trust me: While it really isn't that bad of an album, it's just not review material to me. So, the only choice left to me is the lone album he fully collaborated on with another artist. And that artist just so happens to be a founding member of one of the greatest and most long lasting hip hop acts of all time. (Furthermore, just don't ask about Rappin' Is Fundamental, as that would be wasting everyone's time. Most importantly mine.)

You see, Gary Grice (Not to be mean or anything, but that last name really sounds like a licorice brand or something.) is one of the very few MCs who've lived long enough to properly experience the very birth of this hip hop thing we obsess over so much. Hell, he was fucking twenty-five when this album dropped. And as such, he's also part of an even fewer group of MCs who wasn't really influenced by anybody. Yes, he had the ability to form his very own style from the jump, which would serve him very well in the future. As a resident of Brooklyn neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant, bka Bedstuy, Gary is a true believer in it's Do Or Die attitude. And it truly shows in his career that began as a founding member of battle rap group Force of The Imperial Masters, later redubbed the All In Together Now Crew, along with his two cousins Russell Jones and Robert Diggs. Gary called himself The Specialist while Russell and Robert took The Professor and The Scientist as their respective pseudonyms.

Said career would finally catch a break when Gary was recruited by Cold Chillin' Records, home of the famed Juice Crew, of which fellow Brooklynites Big Daddy Kane and Masta Ace were members. Now, at this stage, Gary probably thought that his skills as an MC would guarantee him instant promotion. Alas, if only he learned from fellow former Cold Chilla Kool G Rap's career woes with the infamous label before signing with them, as they only pushed Kane on that label. Everybody else was basically thrown to the wolves when it came to marketing.

Speaking of which, this album here had a very curious crafting process: Gary, who now renamed himself the Genius, (because he's smart, you see.) brought fellow Bedstuy alumni Osten Harvey Jr., who dragged his younger brother Patrick along for better or worse. Patrick Harvey, aka LG aka LG Experience, was a young upstart who wanted to follow in his older brother's footsteps, as Osten had already made an impact with his two Big Daddy Kane productions on It's A Big Daddy Thing. We'll see just how he fares in his first work sessions in the review.

Now, the true reason for me choosing this particular album is because of the unanimous flak it gets from hip hop heads who are diehard fans of Gary's ventures as the GZA from another group he co-founded: The Wu-Tang Clan. (That, and the fact that this album has absolutely zero guest appearances. Which would make it a true insight into Gary's ability to hold an album by his very lonesome) Hands down one of the most long-lasting hip hop supergroups of all time, its members are still releasing albums under the Wu banner to this very day. Now, understandably, GZA did follow this solo outing with Liquid Swords, one of the greatest albums in music history. An album that completed its one millionth sale twenty goddamn years after its five hundred thousandth, accomplishing the latter feat in merely two months. That has to tell you something about said album's legacy in this art form. As such, many people heard Liquid Swords first, and were considerably underwhelmed when they finally heard this album and thought it wasn't as good, and just so we're clear: I consider my past self Exhibit A. My current opinion is that this outlook I had was not even remotely fair to Words From The Genius, as it was crafted with a mindset that had not yet understood what it takes to make an album of Liquid Swords' caliber. Furthermore, Robert Diggs bka the RZA, who is once again co-founder of the Wu with Gary and, you guessed it, Russell Jones bka the late great Ol' Dirty Bastard (RIP), hadn't even begun producing professionally at this point in their respective careers. And given that he is the sonic director of Liquid Swords, the unfairness of this argument has really reared its hairy, warty ass. All one needs to do is clear his head from such lofty expectations and imagine you live in a world where there is no Wu-Tang Clan to speak of.  Only then will one be able to unbiasedly judge this album's merit or lack thereof.

In 2006, Traffic Entertainment, having acquired the entire Cold Chillin' catalog, issued a re-release that included tracks produced by the RZA back when he called himself Prince Rakeem that were done immediately after the original album dropped and were thrown away after it tanked, but mysteriously found and branded as "smash hits" in a 1994 re-release. You know, because Cold Chillin' would never try to capitalize on the Wu-Tang's sudden rise at the time, right? So yeah, basically, that's the version I'm reviewing.

So, is the shit any fucking good?

COME DO ME
I present to you the lead single aka the main reason people despise the entire album aka one of the absolute worst contractual obligations of all time. It really is no wonder why this album tanked, given that this is its leading single. You just know that any attempt at pushing Gary as a ladies man will blow up in your face in the worst way possible. I'm sorry, Gary but I saw the fucking video for this thing. (Mainly to catch a glimpse of ODB & Wu debutant Raekwon the Chef in their very first appearances to the public as extras.) My dude, when you repeated that ridiculous hook to the camera you looked like Witch fucking Hazel. The producer of this steaming pile of sewage is Jesse West, who's normally pretty capable. Don't believe me? Check his work on KRS-One's Step Into A World (Rapture's Delight). I hold Cold Chillin' fully responsible for this piece of shit, because there was no way for Jesse to make things interesting neither here nor on the remix he was forced to make that ends this 2006 re-release. I've talked about this abomination long enough, and I advise anyone who's legitimately interested in this album to SKIP. THIS. SHIT.

PHONY AS YA WANNA BE
Alas, the true beginning of this album, and the b-side to the horrid abovementioned lead single. I'll bet the very few people who caught Come Do Me on rotation were too peeved to even look at the back cover of the single to check if there's another song when they encountered it in Sam Goody stores, right? Too bad, as this song is pretty fucking good. Easy Mo Bee truly began his experimentation games that would later make him the legendary producer that he is right here on this very track. The guitar licks in the beat provide the backing needed for the Genius to relay some punchlines that clearly show why he is regarded as one of the true greats this game has ever seen. An early lyrical precursor to Clan In Da Front, and as such, this shit knocks in all the right ways. I especially loved the Four Tops interlude in the midst of the song, after which Gary gallops ahead with his punchlines, starting with quite the cheeky reference to said Four Tops sample. Awesome.

TRUE FRESH MC
Freaking a legendary Funkadelic sample, Mo Bee approaches the track with relentless energy in mind this time. Which stands in beautiful contrast to the directness exhibited in the prior track. the Genius really takes this to heart as his performance this time switches to a conscious display of his superior intellectual background. You'd think that this is unfitting of punchline-ism on paper, but once again, this is something you have to listen to in order to fully appreciate. Another one-two combo.

THE GENIUS IS SLAMMIN'
This time Easy Mo Bee tries his best to compete with Gary's punchlines by combining two handpicked samples by The MGs and The Meters brilliantly to form a beat out of the top shelf. The Genius ingeniously responds by weaving various themes of intelligence in his punchline-filled verses. I have to admit, one of the things I like the most about these results is that they present a totally different aesthetic than Gary's later work with his cousin. One I guarantee most people would've enjoyed had Come Do Me not fucked it up for everybody by delaying our exposure to the true meat of this album by at least four years. Fuck that, I still love this song.

WORDS FROM A GENIUS
Alright, these two aren't showing any sign of slowing down! Osten with the prominent Funkadelic sample and Gary with his by-now golden standard of punchlines. Genius' rhymes really present a strong point regarding actually writing your rhymes against freestyling your career away. And, as many pointed out, many of the greats who now write their rhymes in their head started off writing on paper and perfected their shit to the point where their reflexes have become ingrained in their brains. And Gary still outdoes all of them with his meticulous care for what comes out of his mouth and exactly how it does so. So, don't give me that bullshit about "one-taking a classic". If you didn't exert any effort in your rhymes, they're probably worthless. And just so you know, none of this lyrical brilliance would be digestible if the actual music isn't working for you. Well, I'm here to say it's working wonderfully for me thanks to Easy Mo Bee. Dope! One note: Prince Rakeem remixed this track with the result appearing later on this 2006 re-release and though it wasn't nearly Wu-Tang level material nor as good as the original Easy Mo Bee cut, it was fairly decent. If nothing, it's on this remix that the first signs of Bobby's meticulous nature show themselves.

WHO'S YOUR RHYMIN' HERO
The debut of Mr. LG Experience. Osten's younger bro tries so hard to impress the label here, and wrongly so, with his straight-up lazy looping of a Jimmy McGriff sample. And yet I still would've liked this song if it wasn't for the ear-rape of a hook, screaming of corporate interference, that completely ruined the LG Experience for me. To top it all off: Gary's punchlines, while still light years ahead of your average ghetto references, fail to reach the standards he set for himself so far on this album. This was, unfortunately, a failure.

FEEL THE PAIN
Osten returns, armed with a second Meters sample, and obliterates any memory of the previous song with a smacking beat. This is not lost on our Genius as he dives head-on into battle mode, plowing ahead with punchline after eviscerating punchline. You really feel this Gary Grice cat is not bullshitting when he mentions his history of battling crews all around New York. This shits bangs something proper.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS
Still not through with impressing you, Gary continues to a different venue for him to steamroll you with some more punchlines with: Nostalgia. He chooses to display his dominance in the high school scene this time, and the results are just as effective. Interestingly enough, this is the last song of what I call the, ah, "Braggadocio Medley" on the album. I like that this album pays good attention to sequencing. Not Liquid Swords good, but good nonetheless.

LIFE OF A DRUG DEALER
This song marks the beginning of what I call the "Conscious Medley". In said song, Gary portrays the hardened protagonist with the titular occupation. I like that our Genius began this "medley" with the caricature song, if you will. Backed by Osten's magnificent Bobby Rush choice, Gary launches into a single 30-bar verse that becomes the inspiration behind his later smash, Killah Hills 10304. Please note that the overabundance of violence and foul language displayed here is most certainly tongue-in-cheek. End result? There's a reason Gary revisited this well later on, as this song rocks.

STOP THE NONSENSE
God DAMN, is Easy Mo Be ever on fire with these funky beats! Here, Gary gets his preach on, and he makes sure that he keeps his wit dialed up to 11 in order to have a glimmer of hope at reaching them boneheads who run for the hills as soon as anyone tries to say anything remotely positive. And I do mean 'wit' in every sense of the word. The line: "It goes way beyond just saying no" makes my point pretty clear, no?

LIVING FOUL
Here comes the part where someone listening to this album might get tired, as admittedly these songs seem like they're blending in together. But forgive me for not being that guy because I'm just a person who really appreciates effort when I recognize it. And by this point, I recognize that Osten, with his Bobby Rush-sampling ways, was going to make sure that he blew away minds of people like me who just have an affinity for the relentless, if I may. Gary shares his producer's stubbornness by making this song his personal war on drugs, and it works wonders for me. Even if his third verse sounds a tad hypocritical now. You'll know why when you hear the damn song. Moving on.

DRAMA
Now, you'd think that this would be a song about girl problems. Naturally, you'd be dead wrong. Allow me to single this song out as my favorite track on the album, by far. With Easy Mo Bee delivering the coup-de-grace of his journey on said album by freaking the fuck out of a Millie Jackson classic. And there is no clearer proof that our Genius earns his nickname than this baby here. This is to pre-Wu Gary Grice what Ready To Die's title track was to the late Chris Wallace. For in this song, Gary truly runs the gamut of his MCing skills. He brings motherfucking everything to the table: punchlines, metaphors, imagery, storytelling, subject matter, you name it. If you absolutely had to forego listening to the entire album and felt it absolutely necessary to sum up what you'd get, then I'd tell you to stop being a bitch and listen to the goddamn album and pay special attention to this track right here. I salute anybody who became a fan of either Gary or Osten as a result of this song. Way before Bad Boy & the Wu.

STAY OUT OF BARS
Now, you'd think that this would be a song about prison problems. Naturally, you'd be dead wrong. In actuality, the previous song marked the end of the "Conscious Medley" and a very unhappy, uncomfortable and unfitting return to corporate radio-whoring territory. LG Experience is back, and he brings, admittedly, much more effort in his production game than his previous abomination of an attempt. And yet, our Genius decides, in his infinite wisdom, that he should return to be as ignorant as possible by spinning a tale of the most stereotypical actions and fantasies that you can think of. Now, normally this wouldn't bother me in the least, but when it's an MC of Gary fucking Grice's pedigree? I'm actually insulted. To top it all off, Gary ends the song with the most senseless act of violence. One question for the Liquid Swords fan reading this: how does any of the above translate to an even remotely intelligent song?! You're right. It DOESN'T.

WHAT ARE SILLY GIRLS MADE OF
Basically, a ripoff of the countless "Gold Digger" song EPMD made popular. You can smell the corporate rot from 25 years ago all the way over wherever you're reading this from. And, while I really can't front on some of the lyrics, LG's Al Green-sampling experience (I will never get tired of clowning that nickname.) left a lot to be desired and our Genius' hook is, you know, ass. Plus, Gary really hasn't shaken off his character from the previous song in his very apparent disdain for women here. I really can't take that viewpoint seriously. You want women to stop being bitches? Here's an idea: Stop telling them they're bitches! Another sewage track that really is beneath our Genius.

SUPERFREAK
Oh, this can not be what I'm hearing. The GZA. From the legendary Wu-Tang fucking Clan. Spitting a sex rap. And don't give that bullshit about Queen's Gambit. Queen's Gambit was one long extended metaphor, with the emphasis not on Gary's tale but on how he told it. Which is definitely not the case here. Oh, and Queen's Gambit had one banging-ass beat, not this Rick James-sampling shitty LG experience (I really need to stop doing that). Motherfuck this song all the way down to its filthy innards.

PASS THE BONE
Didn't I tell you that third verse on Living Foul sounded a tad hypocritical? What do you mean you didn't hear the damn song?! Anyway, most Wu fans already herald this track as the only truly notable result from the Words From The Genius journey but for the uninitiated: This is the very first publicly recorded Prince Rakeem appearance and his debut production. And boy, does it ever show. This shit blows. Hell, his remix to the title track is leagues ahead of this. Back to the actual lyrics: Gary chooses to bless Bobby's very first production outing with a stoner rap. If you are a fan of Gary Grice's storied career by any chance, you'll definitely recognize how ludicrous what I just wrote is. And we're done.

FINAL THOUGHTS
As a project of insight on the evolution of Easy Mo Bee the producer: This is quite possibly the best place to start. The man did not compromise his approach. Not one bit. Can't say the same for his lil bro and the rest of the production gang: Jesse West was particularly terrible. In a song I've heard from him recently, he even brags about collaborating with the Wu, the collaboration being Come Do Me. Believe me, Jesse, if you're bragging about producing a song like that, (for a Wu co-founder, nonetheless.) you're needlessly and stupidly smearing your reputation. Bobby Diggs' mistakes are a bit more forgivable, seeing as it is his first time behind the boards and all. For his part, Gary Grice was without doubt a fully accomplished MC at the time of this album's making, and he wastes no time in repeatedly showing you that. This album may very well be the only album in the Genius' entire discography that shows you exactly how lyrically capable he is when carrying a full album without any guest appearances. That being said, all this makes some of Gary's choices of subject matter here all the more jarring. The sex raps in particular left a very bad taste in my mouth. But that makes me ask: is it really the artist's fault? Or is it the label's? Our Genius wasn't the only one clowned by the Cold Chillin' piffle machine. Look at what Kool G Rap went through with his Live and Let Die album with DJ Polo. But Gary got an even rougher deal: At least G Rap was able to make the album he wanted. Mr. Grice was in no such luck. Yeah, I'm sticking the blame for this album's crap songs entirely on Cold Chillin'. Imagine: All this horseshit because Big Daddy Kane sold five hundred thousand copies. So now, every MC with any shred of talent needs to be Big Daddy Kane. I will say this, though: Thank GOD they fucked their deal up with this guy. Or else, we wouldn't have Liquid Swords. Gary Grice would not be the hip hop legend he is today. And most importantly, nobody would've heard of the Wu-Tang Clan, nor become fans of theirs and years later discover this album as a hidden gem. Come on. You knew I was getting to this. The crap present on this album, while truly exhibiting Black Shampoo-levels of putridity, isn't enough to ruin the straight up classics on the effin' thing. Just momentarily erase the existence of the Wu, exactly like I told you.

WORTH IT?
It's an enlightening look at a legend's professional beginnings. Spoiler alert: they're still very fucking good, even if they do take a turn later on for the absurdly awful. So you're goddamn right it is.

Wanna know where Easy Mo Bee went from this? click here. For more GZA, here. And finally, Wu-Tang central is right here.