Surprise, brodie!
Nothing beats the feeling of revisiting material that you've grained into your head so much that you've lost the ability to unbiasedly critique it, right? Well, boy/girl (pick one), today I'm attempting to settle a debate that has been raging in my head for YEARS.
See, the mid-90s was very, very kind to one of my go-to hip hop groups, the Wu-Tang Clan: They debuted with a timeless classic, then splintered its output to include the following: a quality punchline album that is still critically underrated to this very day, even though it sold a shit ton of copies; one of the most experimental albums ever released by an artist that solidified the Wu sound in a way no other work has; and a bonafide work of fucking art. The Wu also implemented a strategy that would promote two artists to legendary status in a fraction of the time needed for them to achieve said status, and I'm frequently baffled by the genius of its sheer simplicity.
Funny thing is, Corey Woods bka Raekwon aka The Chef aka Louis Rich and Dennis Coles bka Ghostface Killah aka Ironman aka The Wallabee Champ aka Ghostdini The Great (I can go on) couldn't even stand each other at the start of their careers. I'm talking full-fledged beef. Although it probably was due to the fact that their respective project crews were at war more than a strictly personal conflict. Which makes what the RZA achieved with these two all the more amazing. By releasing Can It Be All So Simple as a single and adding it right after Raekwon's debut single Heaven & Hell on the 1994 Fresh OST, which was released before Method Man's debut and also included GZA's haunting single I Gotcha Back, he made sure this duo was stuck in the consumer's head forever more. And thus began the reign of RAGU. (Rae And Ghost United. Me neither.)
Obviously, RZA was on to something, as these two became inseparable from then on. Whenever one of them featured on a fellow Wu member's album, the other mostly followed. And whenever one threw a hissy fit regarding anything around the other guy, you'd bet your bottom dollar you'd be dealing with two hissy fits. Heartwarming stuff. Hell, they even shared opinions, as they very famously argued against RZA's continued control on the Wu sound multiple times.
Let's rewind a bit to my introduction to Raekwon the Chef. 'Twas during my years of not knowing shit about this style of music and harking back to my early Electronic Gaming Monthly obsession. I had just seen this review about the then-new Wu-Tang Shaolin Style game, and being that this was during the beginning stages of my martial arts nerdiness I saw the name Raekwon and thought: 'Hey, maybe he styled his nickname after Taekwondo!' I was in my early teens so cut me some fucking slack. Fast forward to my reintroduction to Method Man in the underrated Def Jam-AKI wrestling series, I was just starting to get the hang of Wikipedia. Long story short, I go to the Wu members list and I find his name right alongside Tae- ahem sorry - Raekwon. I leave it at that for a while. Then, I dive headfirst into the PSP’s GTA: Liberty City Stories and as I'm rampaging through the story mode, I stumble upon The Liberty Jam: A hip hop station entirely dedicated to mid 90s hip hop songs. Of course, one of said songs was the timeless Incarcerated Scarfaces but thing is, I hated the song and Rae's delivery of its lyrics at first. I originally thought that the beat was too minimalist and Rae's flow was too jumbled for me to understand anything. Of course I no longer follow that train of thought and I'll elaborate in the review. (As if I hadn't rambled enough)
So, Cheffy here always wanted that spotlight given to the Mefs and the ODBs of the world, to the point that he jumped at every chance that came his way to bug the ever-living shit outta RZA for that spot. Meanwhile, Ghost was too busy not giving a fuck about none of that. He was just glad he made it out the projects, yo! Anyways, after that Fresh OST proved that these two actually delivered when it was game time, RZA swatted away Rae's hands and told him: "Now, we've already talked about this, Cheffy. Mef goes first, then ODB, and then it's your turn. But, you have to bring Ghost along. Otherwise, no solo for you. Don't forget to say thank you to Uncle GZA for giving you his spot. There's a good Cheffy." Let's not forget that Ghost in happy land is a very obedient Ghost, so he agreed to whatever RZA wanted.
What neither of them knew at the time was that RZA was brewing up some of his most concentrated productions for the entire group. And when it was Rae's time, he gave him and Ghost some of his lushest productions, keeping in line with the theme introduced in Can It Be and Heaven & Hell. RZA's ultimate plan was to successfully revive mafioso rap, the subgenre effectively pioneered by the immortal Kool G Rap during his years with DJ Polo, but he wanted to expand its use to a full album. And herein, loyal reader, lies one of the core reasons why the Wu reigned supreme in their early years: Their high chemistry together. RAGU wrote the exact material RZA needed for such revival, relying on their past experiences in the projects of Staten Island for inspiration. Some these lyrics also ingeniously doubled as metaphors for survival within a cutthroat industry such as the music business.
Nerdy tidbit: Rae took it upon himself to issue mafioso-esque nicknames (Wu-Gambino aliases as he'd like to call it) for each and every other Wu member on the album, starting with himself as Lex Diamonds. His co-host Ghostface was Tony Starks, GZA was Maxi Million, RZA was Bobby Steels, Masta Killa was Noodles, Inspectah Deck was Rollie Fingers, Golden Arms was Lucky Hands and Method Man was Johnny Blaze. Ol' Dirty Bastard may he RIP unfortunately sat this album out, even though he was still branded as Joey Bananas. Out of my own involuntary nerdiness, I'll be calling each Wu member by their respective Wu-Gambino aliases for the rest of this first review.
Upon release, the resulting album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (Originally called Only Built 4 Cuban Linx N****z) caught the New York hip hop scene and the rest of the country by storm. Critics hailed it as an instant classic, and fans ate the shit up. More importantly, the album struck a chord with Lex and Starks' contemporary rappers in the Rotten Apple. The years that followed saw a buttload of albums utilizing very similar themes, imagery and metaphors, some while being heralded as classics in their own right. Drawing blanks, all of a sudden, are ya? AZ's debut Doe Or Die? Obviously, Jay-Z's debut Reasonable Doubt? Nas' It Was Written? Mobb Deep's Hell On Earth? The Firm's loathesome eponymous debut? The late great Biggie's bloated Life After Death? Yeah, all borrowed from Cuban Linx, or as fans affectionately call it the Purple Tape. Well, the case can be made that the aforementioned Kool G Rap was merely continuing his own brand with his solo debut 4,5,6 but I find it too convenient that the friggin thing was released a month after the Purple Tape dropped. Within the Wu, however, things were quite different. After Cuban Linx, most of the group tried its best to distance itself from that aesthetic. Except for Lex, bless him. He just kept on galloping ahead with the same crime narratives he's been pumping so far, only without a Bobby Steels figure to really guide him towards recapturing his debut's brilliance, so he kind of had to figure his sound out as he went along.
Side note: I always mention the rappers featured on every song, credited or otherwise, as long as they contribute a verse or a hook. Well, these two reviews are where I draw the line a bit, because the two albums are technically duo albums between Lex Diamonds and Tony Starks, not solo albums. Hell, Ironman almost wound up being a trio album, but we'll get to that later.
Bottom line, you're still reading this to see if this shit is still deserving of all that praise.
STRIVING FOR PERFECTION
This is the second Wu solo to dedicate an entire listed track to a fucking skit. I will say that the skit is a thematic fit for the rest of the album by establishing our duo's fictional drug game hustle as a metaphor for their true hustle, which was the music business. The skit borrows music from John Woo's classic crime flick The Killer.
KNUCKLEHEADZ (FEATURING LUCKY HANDS)
And you enter this track with yet another skit, (even though this one's funny as shit to me!) as, after a heist, Lex uses an old Tom & Jerry routine and Starks and Lucky hilariously call him out on it. As Lex is defending himself from the other two, (during which Starks shouts: 'Don't play like I got a flowerpot head, kid!' Genius!) Bobby Steels' bass sample of a Dramatics record kicks in. Then as Lex begins to spit, Steels' piano interpolation of said record unveils itself, provoking all three artists to get their storytelling and imagery game on proper. Lex spends his sixteen describing their characters’ daily job of crime, Starks describes two successful heists brilliantly and Lucky Hands returns for the first time since Da Mystery Of Chessboxin' with a scorcher of a verse that makes use of a technique called 'negative capability' and ends with his character dying from a car crash. I told you he had excellent rhymes in him.
KNOWLEDGE GOD
You hear the sound of heavy sniffing, followed by a sped-up Stanley Black loop. The famed Make It Funky drums are then unveiled atop an ominous piano cut to you, the unsuspecting listener, as Lex launches into two brilliant solo verses that tell two vivid stories respectively. It's weird but the first time I heard this, it was like the beat was telling me that this song was going to be a storytelling entry. The first verse is Lex' take on the One Love formula introduced by Nas after some brief introductory bars about drugs in the hood, while the second finds him continuing a timeless mafioso staple, again introduced by Kool G Rap: Eliminating a potential threat. Poor Mike Lavogna never saw it coming. Typical, really. After Lex finishes, Bobby leaves the beat running for a bit more than a minute, which has developed into a habit of his by now. I'm only fond of the practice if the beat is worthy of it, and unfortunately that is no longer the norm since the 5-year plan ended.
CRIMINOLOGY
God damn, I love this song! Steels hit the jackpot with his combination of a sample apiece from both Black Ivory and The Sweet Inspirations, with the result kind of sounding like music straight out of Enter The Dragon by Bruce Lee if it wasn't for that beautiful Scarface excerpt in the beginning. My coverage of Steels' productions so far tells you he knew exactly what he was doing here. Starks returns with a leviathan punchline performance filled with his patented talent for imagery that simply blows past anything Lex brings to the table after it. Not to say Lex came up short, but there's simply no topping that verse on this song. Hell, the legendary DJ Muggs called Steels when they released this as a single preceding the album and told him that this verse was getting Starks recognized in the game as a monstrous lyrical threat. And, you know what? I agree with Muggs. A braggadocio classic.
INCARCERATED SCARFACES
The b-side to the third single, Ice Cream. You're introduced to your first Killer dialogue sample of the night. What's more, you get two! After the samples, you're thrust right into the instrumental in its entirety. Now, let's get back to discussing why I changed my mind about this song. You see, I was listening to it out of context. The song just belongs as a sequenced part of a puzzle. By the time I was finished with the previous three tracks, I was amped to hear what was coming next. The moment that familiar warped Koko Taylor sample over those Detroit Emeralds drums registered in my brain, my hate for it transformed into very strong fondness and association. Funny thing is, this beat wasn't even meant for Lex. Bobby was hard at work tinkering with it enough to fit in Liquid Swords! That is until Lex walked in the studio, fell madly in love with the beat and wrote the classic rhymes that have endured for the past 20 years in fifteen minutes. His mission statement? A continuation of the rap game/drug game analogy he effectively introduced in the album's opening skit. A smashing success as far as statements go.
RAINY DAYZ (FEATURING BLUE RASPBERRY)
Blue Raspberry returns to the Wu albums on Lex' fourth single with her second-best performance on a Wu album to date. Sorry, but there's no topping her haunting showing on Johnny Blaze' Mr. Sandman. Here you hear her crooning for a bit before the familiar Killer musical notes, followed by a dialogue sample. Then, you hear a beat that's very heavily violin-based. Now, debates on Whosampled still rage on about whether the violins you hear are sampled or played live. Hell, some are even saying Blue Raspberry herself played them (!!), yet I seriously doubt that. Anyway, the beat is haunting enough to pull two harrowing verses out of our starring duo. They both describe their thoughts, motives and background whilst threatening to pistol whip meat-heads. Whatever the fuck that means. Blue Raspberry performs a Barbara Streisand interpolation that describes what these dudes' female counterparts go through in the turbulent waters of both the drug life and the music life, and she knocks it out of the fucking park. This is my second favorite performance of hers for a goddamned reason.
GUILLOTINE (SWORDZ) (FEATURING ROLLIE FINGERS & MAXI MILLION)
Here you are knocked firmly back into Wu world with that exquisite kung-fu sample that would be utilized infinitely better on Maxi Million's Shadowboxin' later. After said sample, hey! It's that beat that you heard on Blaze' album and desperately wanted him to rhyme on! Well, too bad, as Blaze is nowhere near this song. The world survived. Let me reiterate for the umpteenth time: There's a good fucking reason my favorite Wu MC is Rollie Fingers, and here he displays plenty of it once again, setting shit all the way off with his patented blend of punchlines & imagery. Tony Starks, as if in a track and field race, picks up right where Rollie left off and gallops ahead upping the imagery ante as he goes along. After a dope kung-fu interlude, Lex swoops in with a continuation of the imagery battle for supremacy, after which a very valuable Maxmil' guest appearance ends the MCing imagery lesson for the track.
CAN IT BE ALL SO SIMPLE (REMIX)
You've read my 36 Chambers review, right? If you had, then you know how much I love the original version of this track. Well, thank God that Steels and our duo did it justice with this remix. For Bobby's part, he tweaked the original instrumental just enough for it to feel different to the listener without him swapping any ingredients he already might've used. but it was Lex-N-Starks who pulled off the feat that impressed me most, as Starks traded roles with Lex as the negative stereotype, while Lex took on Starks' former role of positive role model. If one took this as a sequel to the original song then it's all the more poetic how each one ended up fulfilling the other's original ambition, with Starks corrupted by Lex' final statement in the earlier track, and Lex himself cleansed when seeing what transpired with Starks afterwards. A masterpiece of a saga. Props to the intro where Starks gets shot, too. Very well done.
SHARK N****Z (BITERS)
Ah yes, the infamous Biggie dis. Our duo were kind of being dicks to Mr. Smalls here, but everything else they said about originality rings very true. Especially today.
ICE WATER (FEATURING CAPPACHINO)
From there, you enter into one of my favorite tracks on the entire album. Bobby loops a Delores Hall sample brilliantly slowed down to achieve a haunting effect, and boy does it work. Lex-N-Starks choose this occasion to invite a very special guest. Darryl Hill bka Cappadonna (aka Cappachino The Great aka Papi Wardrobe aka Oh Donna aka that dude who almost ruined Wu-Tang Forever aka he who was kicked out of the Wu camp for a long time and had to resort to driving a goddamn cab until he got back into the Clan's good graces), for all you Wu nerds out there, was supposed to be in the original Wu lineup but, similar to Lucky Hands, got locked up. Unlike Lucky, however, Cappa wasn't released until after the original nine had already formed. Guess who took his slot? Johnny Blaze! That's right, reader. The world could've suffered Oh fucking Donna instead of enjoying Method Man. The world certainly dodged a bullet there. So how does this not-so-new newcomer fare with our hosts? Pretty fucking awesome, actually. See, during 95-96, Capp' was relatively on fire when it came to spitting on Steels beats, and that started here. He even says that this was the very first verse he recorded on wax, though he was obviously an MC way beforehand. Or else he surely wouldn't've (didn't know double contractions was a thing until now!) been considered for a slot within the fucking Wu, y'know. Anyways, Tony Starks still outshines everybody on this record, although Capp' and Lex keep up admirably. A pretty good song to base your company's name on. Right, Lex?
GLACIERS OF ICE (FEATURING NOODLES, BLUE RASPBERRY & 60 SECOND ASSASSIN)
Steels was on fire on this beat, dammit! This was the B-side to Criminology and it got the video treatment, too. As such, it provided Noodles with the perfect platform to hit after his performance on Joey Bananas' Snakes. And boy, does he look awesome in that fucking video. Lyrically, this was a big step up from Ice Water, as all involved brought their absolute punchline best. Starks' final two bars actually immortalize themselves after this song, if that's even possible. I must admit that Blue Raspberry's Patti LaBelle interpolation wasn't as successful as her earlier Barbara Streisand attempt. Oh, and 60 Second Assassin drops by to sing some unintelligible shit that neither adds nor detracts from the song. This song is simply the tits.
VERBAL INTERCOURSE (FEATURING NAS)
Here Steels go again with his obscure sampling ways! This time, it's an exquisite Emotions four-second excerpt, slowed down to achieve a soothing effect that contrasts with the violent imagery that Nas, Lex & Starks bring to the song beautifully. A lot of hype was generated for Nas' contribution and, while it really is that good and meshes with Bobby's beat perfectly, many people eschew the fact that Starks blacks the fuck out on this record. Seriously, the man fits three movies' worth of imagery in his storytelling verse. Lex was basically continuing Nas' vibe. This is definitely an album highlight.
WISDOM BODY
Let it be known that this here track is the reason why most fans associate Tony Starks with blaxploitation flicks. For, in case you missed it, this is the very first Starks solo song, complete with an intro from the 70s classic The Mack. And what does he choose to talk about? A chick he met. You get the feeling that him and Lex were jealous of their brother Johnny Blaze and of how his Grammy-winning duet with Mary J. Blige turned him into an target of female lust nation-wide. The thing these two boneheads don't understand is: That song came about organically and unplanned, with Blaze initially writing those two verses for private ears only, which only added to its appeal. Starks, on the other hand, clearly wrote this one-verse extravaganza as a reaction to some slut he saw at one of the clubs he and Lex wasted themselves in back in the day. As such, the lyrics are obviously pure misogynistic crap. Furthermore, is it me or does Bobby Steels have a habit of wasting some of his absolute best beats on crap like this. Way to build a crime narrative, you three. I will say that Starks' abilities as an MC allow him more range than his portly cohort. Although in Lex' case, it's probably for the better that he doesn't dip in this well very much. The results could be truly disastrous.
SPOT RUSHERZ
From a Starks solo to its Lex equivalent, although this is a return to the criminal tales filling this album so far. A one-verse performance was all it took for this song to click with its custom-made Steels beat, and, you know what? That's good enough for me. Moving on.
ICE CREAM (FEATURING CAPPACHINO & JOHNNY BLAZE)
I spoke too soon. Remember what I said on Wisdom Body abut Lex dipping into a certain well. Well, I present said dipping. Bad enough that they're attempting this type of record on a fucking mafioso concept album, but people are seriously treating this as the breakout single of the fucking summer. Granted, it doesn't commit the same sin as its Biggie counterpart Big Poppa does by aping the G-Funk sound in the most wackass way possible. Hell, this is yet another example of Steels wasting one of his finest beats on a song promoting misogyny, (Seriously, that Earl Klugh acoustic riff is sampled to distorting perfection. I just know you thought it was a piano riff, right? You don't care as long as it's dope? Oldest copout in the book.) one even primer than Wisdom Body since (as I've mentioned earlier) this is officially the third single. With the video treatment and all. Bit hypocritical dissing Biggie for being unoriginal on the same album housing this horseshit contractual obligation, if you ask me. Oh, and before I forget: Blaze? Shame on you for ruining your honest perspective on women which you've marvellously established on All I Need. Really, your chorus here is just atrocious.
WU-GAMBINOS (FEATURING JOHNNY BLAZE, BOBBY STEELS & NOODLES)
It's going to take a track from the elite annals of hip hop history to drag me out of the mood I'm in following that Ice Cream fiasco. Thankfully, this posse cut just so happens to fit the bill. After the longest Killer dialogue sample on the album (one punctuated by dialogue between various Wu-Gambinos that effectively transports you into Starks' mother's real-life apartment back then where he and his boys are watching said Killer scene.), Blaze sets out to redeem himself with a real chorus, so real that I find myself humming it endlessly while I wash the dishes when my wife's sick. Aren't I a sweetheart? Blaze also does us a huge favor by setting the song off with just the right amount of punchline venom combined with a lethal dose of haunting imagery, as he was incredibly prone to doing back then. Lex follows suit with an equally enthused performance filled with crime imagery. Steels finally steps out from behind the boards for the lone time during this album and delivers one of his wordiest verses ever. Dude hits you with a full-blown MCing lesson, thereby taking a page from his cousin Maxi Million's many such performances. Noodles swings by to deliver his ever improving bars with a majestic confidence that shines through his imagery-filled bars. Starks is chosen by all present to end the song, and he does so emphatically with a verse twisting between imagery, punchlines and a story in the final bars of this shit. I edge this song out as the better posse cut on the album simply because this one lasted longer and had more contributors to it.
HEAVEN & HELL
Six seconds from Syl Johnson. That's all it took for Steels to craft this nostalgia masterpiece. Remember what I said about Onyx' Live!!! single here? The very same shit applies to this instrumental. It just forces the emotions out of you to come spilling out. Lex-N-Starks captalize on this opportunity to tell a street tale in the back-n-forth style popularized by Run-DMC and perfected by the very underrated EPMD. Our duo would later use this technique a few more times in the following years. Back to the story told here: Ending the tale with the eponymous hook instructs you to divert your focus from the events to the surroundings, which has been done before. Making this a very worthy addition to the hall of fame of hip hop storytelling raps. The album could've ended here and it would've been glorious.
NORTH STAR (JEWELS)
Alas, Lex had to give you one more jewel. I didn't think it possible, but Steels absolutely eclipses his magnificent work on the previous song to deliver a timeless composition made out of various cuts from the same Barry White record. The result evokes a sense of destiny, as Popa Wu (whom I utterly abhor) harps on about being proud of Lex for coming this far in the game. (Which game? That is graciously left up to you.) Also, he fucking sings that 5% bullshit in the background, and trust me, boy/girl, he is resolutely not the best singer of all time. Imagine a middle-aged boar had transformed into a middle-aged male human while still somehow keeping his boarish voice. Now imagine that hideous creature attempting to sing a song about the Five Percenter beliefs. You'd still be light years away from how truly repulsive his shit sounds. Thank God, Lex starts to tell a haunting story of revenge for one of his incarcerated friends' murdered wife. The revenge killing seemingly has no effect on Lex as he returns to the environment giving birth to such tragedies, showing that his senses of morality have vanished because of this criminal life. This final song could've been timeless, had it not been for Popa Wu's incessant need to ruin these records with his 5% crazy babble.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well, the trio of Lex Diamonds, Tony Starks and Bobby Steels certainly achieved their goal of making the penultimate mafioso rap album that all future mafiosi-esque rappers aspire to recreate, flaws 'n'all. This album gave us a concrete introduction to Lex-N-Starks, the duo. They would henceforth be forever linked together whenever one's name came up. And with good reason, as their chemistry together is pretty fucking potent. Most people, however, forget that Bobby Steels was the third and most important factor of this album's success. With him handling its creative direction and wall-to-wall production, the album achieved a cohesive sound that is yet to be found on any of Lex' following releases. I will also reiterate that this album, while definitely a timeless classic, is inferior to Liquid Swords, that's for damn certain. There were NO contractual obligations on Liquid Swords whatsoever, and every single Wu-Gambino was involved on it. In contrast, Joey Bananas (aka ODB) was painfully missing from Cuban Linx' proceedings. For a hip hop family, that's a very distinct flaw. I still state, however, that the Purple Tape remains a timeless classic. I've also acquired with this review some hard data to compare against the next release in this trio's discography, Ironman.
WORTH IT? If you have functioning ears, can clearly read the above and are into hip hop, then I would assume the answer is yes if I were you. If not, go buy Views and listen to Hotline Bling all the way to your humble abode in the fiery pits of Hades.
TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
RAINY DAYZ (REMIX)
I have to admit I did not know about this song until I got the hang of Discogs three years ago. I must ask, though: Why wasn't this remix issued by Bobby Steels? Nothing against Mr. Dalvin and I'm a huge Diamond D fan, but Steels was throwing out remixes left and right on every single his crew released up to that point, so why not this one? Oh well. Mr. Dalvin & Diamond D take a soulful Blue Notes sample and freak it beautifully for Lex-N-Starks to spit their shit. And spit their shit, they do: Lex starts us off with two crime-filled verses of pure gold and Starks ends the night with one long-ass verse that has any flavor you want: hilarious punchlines, inspired imagery, stories, the whole shabang. I highly recommend this. And we're done.
No, we're not! I was just kidding! I don't care if you think this is cheating, this makes sense to me, dammit! Moving on...
As I've mentioned previously, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... made such an artistic impact that the only course of action that made sense to the Wu was to move in as much a different direction as possible with the next solo shot. (I'm conveniently choosing to forget that Liquid Swords was released in between the two albums I'm reviewing here because it makes more sense this way. What do you mean, I'm living in denial?!)
After said Purple Tape's release, Ghostface Killah (Hey! The original nicknames are back! You won't have to worry about the Wu-Gambino aliases anymore. At least, until I get to Cuban Linx 2. *Evil sneer*) was being hailed as the best thing on the shit yet he still toiled in the underground as a solo brand while Raekwon was racking up the features that normally come with such exposure. RZA, the producer of Ironman's entirety sans a single song, decided it was high time he did something about it. He decided to focus on giving Ghost the exact album formula he gave his portly cohort, although knowing RZA, a thematic change was rapidly due.
In place of the Killer samples, RZA makes room for the distinctive choice of The Education Of Sonny Carson, a heralded 70s biopic based on the controversial activist's best-selling autobiography describing the struggles of his early life that embody the still-very-relevant troubles of hood life. This choice, along with various other 70s blaxploitation samples and a group of very inspired snippets, successfully associated Ghostface with sensitivity a tad more than his peers. Not that Ghost is a softie, of course, (just ask all the Mases and the Wish Bones of the rap game.) but he really did wonders to enhance that image by releasing All That I Got Is You with Grammy machine Mary J. Blige as his lead single. (Ugh. I have nothing against Mary herself but the mere mention of the fucking Grammys always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.) The single swiftly became one of the saddest songs in hip hop history, scratch that, in music history. And yes, I have heard the critic-proof Dear Mama by 2Pac. I'm telling you, this song is right up there with it.
As was the status quo with Cuban Linx, Ghost's album Ironman was structured exactly the same when it came to featured MC's: Ghost gets four solo tracks, Rae gets a singular solo track and the rest is various posse cuts. Unfortunately, RZA committed a COLOSSAL mistake in this particular aspect, and believe me, I will address that shit when it's time.
The RAGU brand benefitted immensely from their abovementioned previous album together, so they naturally wanted to do it again. This time, however, RZA decided to add a third member to the team: Cappadonna aka Papi Wardrobe himself aka Cappachino The Great aka Oh Donna aka that dude who almost ruined Wu-Tang Forever aka he who was kicked out of the Wu camp for a long time and had to resort to driving a goddamn cab until he got back into the Clan's good graces. This addition was simply to throw a bone Capp's way because of his earlier reputation as the DMD Crew's battle rapper. I'll take this opportunity to state that because his name is printed right alongside the Chef's on the friggin' front cover, I will also refrain from crediting his name where he shows up. Bite me.
Quick autobiographical detour: I must mention that I also didn't know shit about Ghost when I first heard of him, which was on the Def Jam-AKI wrestling video game series. Let's forward to 2005, I'm in my Linkin Park obsession period so naturally I was a diehard fan of Fort Minor, Linkin Park pseudo-rapper Mike Shinoda's hip hop side project. I remember listening to We Major, the promotional mixtape of the lone Fort Minor album The Rising Tied, almost religiously. On that mixtape, I heard a little song called Spraypaint And Inkpens, which was Mike featuring Lupe Fiasco and our subject for this half of the double review. That was my first taste of Ghost's incredible talent for storytelling, even if the story he told on that particular song is a bit tame compared to his heights in retrospect. Naturally, I was mesmerized. Although I wasn't mesmerized enough to remember his distinct high pitched voice when I heard Protect Ya Neck several months later. Jumping to 2006, I'm just beginning my Youtube and Wikipedia voyages, I begin familiarizing myself with Wu lore and the rest is Wu-nerd history. Back to the review.
I will be reviewing the first release of the CD version, as it contains both the original final track of the album and the final track of its re-release the same friggin year, which is the mistake that best shows how dumb Epic Records were when it came to managing a prospective talent. I'll explain in the review.
Ironman, lady/gent. (Again, pick one.)
IRON MAIDEN
The Sonny Carson sample really adds character to this braggadocio exhibition, as if this track is your initiation to the world of Ghostface Killah. RZA really wants you to feel the Al Green influence by sampling two of his most distinct tracks, and it works beautifully. This is hands down one of his most energetic concoctions up to this point. On the lyrical front, our trio deliver the business proper. Rae in particular stepped his flow game the fuck up, improving in that particular aspect in a way that just couldn't be found on any of his work on Cuban Linx. Subject matter? Crime imagery as usual, which does the job quite well. Ghost weaves one of his trademark tales where he executes a great escape with his lady friend by his side, still finding time mid-narrative to brag about himself without sounding disjointed. Art. After RAGU's display, you'd think Capp would somehow come up short based on his current reputation as the worst member of the Wu. (a reputation I do not endorse, by the way, but whatever.) Yet he is every bit the prior duo's equal here, with a more traditional display of punchlines, if you will. Still, some pretty scintillating stuff from this guy. All in all, a fucking classic. Props to Derrick Champ Ford's turn as Wolfe, man. He was my favorite actor from the Sonny Carson film.
WILDFLOWER (FEATURING JAMIE SOMMERS)
After a quick sample from JD's Revenge, a blaxploitation film which partly inspired the Snoop Dogg vehicle Murder Was The Case, you hear two bars from a certain T. Shivers who calls herself Jamie Sommers, after which Ghost unveils his one-verse sequel to that unnecessary Wisdom Body love rap on Cuban Linx. And from the looks of it, things went south pretty damn fast. He lyrically tears his former lady friend a new one in one of the most revolting displays of misogyny I've ever heard. I don't care if it's a better showcase of his 'broken heart': There are many ways to express the flaws of an individual without falling back on the tired and quite frankly disgusting rap trope of bashing women. As expected, RZA wastes yet another gem of a beat, one which brilliantly samples Johnny Mathis, on this horseshit. Fuck this garbage.
THE FASTER BLADE
Reminiscent of Cuban Linx yet again, you transition from a Ghostface solo to a Raekwon solo, with a beat capably sampling The Persuaders that was screaming for Ghost to jump on throughout the entire song. Furthermore, Rae's adlibs in the beginning didn't show him as the kingpin brimming with confidence he was on his own solo album. That quickly changes once Rae starts with his one-verse exhibition, as he repeats the feat he accomplished on Iron Maiden with his flow. This needs to be heard to be fully appreciated. Subject matter-wise, this is more of a retelling of Spot Rusherz sprinkled with a few punchlines that reflect the track's status as a metaphor of Rae taking other MCs out with the quickness. Taken as such, it's a pretty fucking awesome showing.
260
Now you return to regular programming with another Wolfe sample from the Sonny Carson flick segueing into another vintage RAGU tale of friendship. Ah, who am I kidding? It's another crime story vivid with imagery from the duo over another sombre Al Green-sampled instrumental, where the two crimeys describe a drug deal gone horribly wrong with heavy reliance on Five Percenter terminology to paint their pictures, making this a real jigsaw of a puzzle back in the day. Now, Rap Genius may have rendered the entire schtick moot, yet it's still an entertaining tale that ends with a pivotal scene sampled from The Usual Suspects, a massively underrated film.
ASSASSINATION DAY (FEATURING INSPECTAH DECK, RZA & MASTA KILLA)
The scene plays right into a Crying Freeman anime sample, yet another underrated work of art, before unveiling the custom-made beat, crafted with no sample to speak of. As such, this beat is a goddamn masterpiece. You can actually hear the Pac-Man sounds RZA sprinkles on the beat, by which point you must ask yourself: Where the fuck does this guy get these ideas from? After which a very in-form Inspectah Deck obliterates the song with a verse that really signals his transformation into a very imposing hip hop force. No lie, this is where he officially hits the stride he began on Liquid Swords, that which gave him such critical acclaim on Wu-Tang Forever. In short, this is my favorite guest verse of his. Yes, even better than his Above The Clouds work. Matter of fact, the only work that surpasses this is his work on the Wu's group albums, but we'll tackle that later. RZA steps from behind the boards to give us yet another powerful example of why he's a master of both beats and rhymes. Rae then takes the mic from the Abbott and sprawls into yet another one of his patented crime rhymes, crhymes if you will, with Masta Killa, the closest of all to the assassination theme present in the title, ending the song with one of the most effectively ominous lyrical performances in hip hop history. Plus, his proclamation of the title in his bars is sprinkled throughout the track brilliantly, similarly to the way RZA used two of Rae's bars on Iron Maiden as said track's hook. Masta Killa's performance rounds up one of the best Wu posse cuts ever. And precisely here I ask: This is a Ghostface Killah album, right? So, um, why the motherfuck wasn't Ghostface Killah on this song again? This oversight by RZA is the COLOSSAL mistake I spoke about in the intro to this album's review, one I will not be forgetting anytime soon. This song was on par with the posse cuts on friggin' Liquid Swords. It's that fucking good. Except it's, once again, on a Ghostface Killah album, and the star player is fucking benched? Unforgivable oversight on your part, RZA. Ghost's brand within the Wu really takes an L with this omission, an error that would be rectified pretty damn soon, as it should've. And speaking of Ls, why didn't you just move out of that cursed basement when the first flood hit, RZA? The world could've had a GLORIOUS INS debut album during your precious 5-year plan.
POISONOUS DARTS
You won't be winning any favors from me by placing a Ghostface solo here, RZA. Oh, a kung-fu sample from the Mystery of Chessboxing! All is forgiven! Well, not really but I'll be damned if that kung-fu sample doesn't feel like home during this part of my Wu journey. Ghost spits two verses filled to the brim with his patented crime blend of imagery, storytelling, braggadocio and punchlines over a beat that contains the very first precursors to the Bobby Digital sound. As such, the production is leaps and bounds better than some of his future experiments in said sound. All in all, a very entertaining solo shot from Ghost.
WINTER WARZ (FEATURING GOLDEN ARMS & MASTA KILLA)
This track is one of two pulled from movie soundtracks and into this album, the Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood OST (One of my favorite Wayans parody flicks!) in Winter Warz' case. People were very familiar with this song by the time Ironman was released since the OST came out 9 months before the proper album did. This practice shouldn't be frowned upon as both Liquid Swords and Cuban Linx pulled their lead singles from the Fresh OST. On the album version, you hear Rae echoing Ghost's final word from the previous track, after which the beat gallops full steam ahead with its ZZ Hill-sampling ways, daring the featured MCs to catch up. Rae spits the hook quickly, then gets the fuck outta the way as Golden Arms comes through swinging. This dude has something to prove here, as his 'negative capability' rhymes force themselves on the listener, rape his ear and pillage his brains. Rae comes back for the hook, until Ghost impatiently interrupts it by blowing past him with yet another of his unique verses. One that really showcases the fact that he was already a fully formed MC way before Supreme Clientele's formation inside Mr. Coles' head. See, RZA? This is how you do a posse cut on a Ghostface album: You fucking include the star attraction. After Ghost conculdes his verse efficiently, Masta Killa enters the fray after Rae's hook, (which he thankfully finished this time) with a repeat of the feats he displayed on Assassination Day. Two bars into Rae's following hook, Cappadonna suddenly decides it's his turn to rhyme. And dude keeps going and going and going... His eventual 50 bars end up taking forever. And while his flow is pretty basic throughout compared to the others, his rhymes are still pretty fucking dope. Overall, a definite highlight.
WU WILL SURVIVE (FEATURING METHOD MAN & STEVIE D)
I'm well aware of what the tracklisting says, thank you not so much. You might also remember that the original tracklisting stated that the track featured Streetlife, not Raekwon. I found this title on the instrumental album, where this song's beat (more on it later) is called the title you see above. Anyway, RZA: I know you want me to feel that this album is brimming with a 70s blaxploitation vibe, but Goddamn these R&B intros are fucking annoying. Thankfully the Force MDs' own Stevie D is interrupted rudely by the impending instrumental, before which Rae orders his peoples headphones, all of 'em. Whatever that was. Anyway, this is the first of three songs with a beat that switches up completely mid-track. This one features two completely original RZA compositions, where the first beat is totally eclipsed by the awesome, hard-hitting second once Rae sets the song off. And boy, does he leave an impression. His braggadocio thuggery brand is only matched by his co-host, who effectively demonstrates such with his following 12 bars. They're both highly outclassed by Mef who spits his elevated brand of classic punchlines that he's sustained since Wu-Gambinos. I cannot overstate how much the beat felt like it was pushing the three MCs to outdo each other, which you can sort of hear when Ghost adlibs Rae's final bars before spitting his own shit. This banged something lovely. The beat with a few Mef adlibs transitions into...
FISH
The lone song not produced by RZA, yet sounds just as classic as anything he did in his prime. Derrick Harris bka True Master already debuted with a banger when he did Brooklyn Zoo but this is where he cemented his reputation as a beatmaker, as this track is truly an elevation of his sound. By tinkering and chopping up various sections of an Otis Redding classic, Derrick successfully crafted the result into sounding like a battle theme from Far-East Asia. Before that, though, let's delve into how awesome that Crying Freeman-sampled intro is: This is a premium display of why the intros are what set the themes for all these braggadocio songs apart. For example, Fish is a self-deprecating taste of braggadocio simply by taking it into the intro's context, while a song like Iron Maiden is more of a baptism-by-fire display, again because of the intro's context. On the lyrical front, our trio give us a taste of what they're good at: Ghost with his braggadocio blend of imagery and metaphors with a sly line of social commentary at the end, Capp with his traditional punchline display, and Rae rounding out the bunch with his patented crhymes. (I'm liking that term too much, aren't I? Watch me not give a fuck.) In the end, you're left with a friggin classic on your hands. Another highlight.
CAMAY
For all the bragging about this album being the soulful of the bunch, it sure knows how to waste a layup. I mean, it's Ice Cream 2.0: How can you not utilize your obviously strong connection with the Force MDs here? Not that I give a shit, as this is truly Ice Cream all over again. There is one difference that matters to me, though, as the beat here is all sorts of ass. I mean, I can't begin to comprehend how a producer of RZA's caliber can fuck up a sample like that I've Been Watching You bassline. Yet RZA coupled it with a poorly-chosen Teddy Pendergrass sample with the result being one of the most jarring, off-key beats I've ever heard. I'm sorry but that qualifies as ass in my review. Please refer to my Ice Cream review above for my opinion on the lyrics. Moving on.
DAYTONA 500 (FEATURED STEVIE D)
Again with the putrid R&B intros? Stevie D makes the stupid choice of interpolating Michael Jackson, and it backfires on him big time. Thankfully, he redeems himself with a smarter interpolation of Vicki Sue Robinson on the hook. Our trio run roughshod over the Nautilus-sampling beat, with some expert scratching by RZA that washes the remnants of the previous song out of your ears. The real story, however, is how this song's classic Speed Racer video came to be. Now, most would think that it was a RZA stroke of genius yet again. Most would be wrong, see, as there really was a video being shot. However, the director was apparently giving Ghost too much lip. You can probably guess what happened afterwards: Director gets smacked something horrible, production gets shut down, and you get the timeless video you know today as a last-minute resort. Funny how art can come from the simplest of reactions.
MOTHERLESS CHILD
The second and final song pulled from a movie OST, in this case Sunset Park (another favorite), on this album. This song also received some ample airtime for 6 months before Ironman's release, but because I'm such a nice person, I'll run you through it anyway. RZA makes this song the OV Wright show by sampling him three times, one of which gives the song its name, and samples a piano riff off of one of the remaining two samples, tinkers with its speed and adds a drumline. Presto! Classic beat crafted. I know that this song credits Raekwon but he's only with us for eight bars, then he moves the fuck out of the way as Ghost ploughs through a 40 bar story about a rather violent tale of beef, filled with his unique talent for imagery. I especially liked how he leaves the story open-ended, although he does adlib that 'shit was horrible' after his verse. I consider this a Ghostface solo because, as I've mentioned, Rae's only there for eight bars. I still love this friggin song, though.
BLACK JESUS (FEATURING GOLDEN ARMS)
After the last song's high, in no way do I ever need a followup rant by fucking Popa Wu, of all people. The fact that the shit went for a full minute before any sort of song begins only adds to my frustration. Admittedly, an album review on some unknown's blog is surely not the place to factually confirm if what he's saying checks out or not, but fuck if it didn't stop the album's momentum dead in its tracks. Not the kind of intro I was looking for, RZA. Once he's done, though we're greeted with an inspired sample of the Blackbyrds doing their thing, followed by some beautiful low-key strings that set the stage for RAGU and Golden Arms to spit their 9-to-5 in the second song to switch up the beat mid-track. Rae starts with his best Ghostface impression by reaching for the most off-kilter imagery he can think of. He does an admirable job, until Ghost schools him with his verse, with images like the birth of Kunta and pilgrims "G-in' Pepperidge Farms from out of millions". This juxtaposition would become vintage with Ghost later in his career. But the true revelation of the song is Golden Arms coming with a particularly special addition to his arsenal of 'negative capability' verses. I will not stop posting this link because of how prevalent it is in proving this man's talent. I confess I hated the song at first, mainly because of the bloody intro, but it definitely grew on me.
AFTER THE SMOKE IS CLEAR (FEATURING RZA & WILLIAM HART)
The lister immediately gets treated to four seconds jacked wholesale from a Jimmy Ruffin record and looped as the beat. Of course, the sample is not the only element, as a very in-form William Hart of the Delfonics lays a foundation of vocals that enhances the instrumental greatly. RAGU & RZA take turns displaying their very different brands of hip hop: Ghost with a verse split into a story, his distinct bragging and some abstract rhymes glued miraculously together for 22 bars. This verse is also where he originated the title of his famed sophomore album. Rae then drops in for just eight bars yet again then takes off as RZA delivers an unexpectedly introspective verse. Think along the lines of CREAM and you'll get the idea. Overall, this song was a step above the previous song.
ALL THAT I GOT IS YOU (FEATURING MARY J. BLIGE)
After a gut-wrenching scene sampled from Sonny Carson, the final time it's sampled on the album, you hear the lead single in all its glory. If you're even remotely familiar with Ghostface Killah, you've heard everything you need to know about this song, and how it's basically a crime against humanity to critique it in any way, shape or form. And I side with the massively-popular opinion on this one: This is one of the few songs that made me legitimately cry in ANY genre. the Jackson 5 song from which the sample came from isn't even that sad to begin with, but trust RZA to change that. As for Ghost? You get the first real look at the real Dennis Coles, and his one-verse wonder is such a masterstroke with such vivid pain that you'll get worked up each and every time you hear this song, period. I don't care if you keep listening to it for 50 years, it'll still have that effect on you. Blige sounds a little uninvested by her lofty standards, and I'm still pissed that she snubbed Ghostface in the video, but she got the job done. Hell, even Popa Wu miraculously didn't ruin the song, with his tangent somehow contained by his standards, which only adds to the song's timelessness. A definite highlight of his career.
THE SOUL CONTROLLER (FEATURING JESSE LEE DANIELS)
Probably the most underrated gem of Ghostface's 20-year career, and the third and final song to switch up the beat mid-track. The reason why it's underrated is because it was supposed to be the proper end to Ironman, but the dreaded sampling issues had to rear their fugly little heads and rob the fans of this classic's potential as a timeless song in his catalog. RZA goes real fucking left with his sampling of the first few seconds of Adagio, the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major. He furthers it by playing the notes on a goddamn flute. The second beat was built from the ground up by RZA, with the result being a genius amplifying instrumental. That's much more than what Ghost normally needs to craft a classic, so imagine what he eventually does with these ingredients. He goes in on an introspective tale that sounds semi-autobiographical to me and he includes his flavor for punchlines and imagery in the mix, resulting in a truly wondrous mix of emotions. Add that with Jesse Lee Daniels, who tags in for his Force MDs cohort Stevie D and blows his vocals out of the park in a homerun of a Sam Cooke interpolation which sets the tone of the tale every time you hear him. The song then ends with the final scenes of both Carlito's Way and The Usual Suspects, two very different yet equally awesome flicks that really tell what RZA's vision for this album was more than any other scene he sampled on the shit. And let me tell you, it's friggin' glorious and felt like the true culmination of a continued narrative that inexplicably links Ironman with Cuban Linx, even though both have very distinctive thematic differences. Fuck you, sampling issues. This song along with All That I Got Is You comprise my two favorite Ghostface solo songs bar none.
MARVEL (FEATURING RZA)
You remember how I said about the tracklist being changed in the intro to my review of this album? Turns out a misogynistic song was the label's replacement. Fucking why?! RZA, as usual, wastes another dope beat on this one, also a precursor to his Bobby Digital sound. Furthermore, he makes you cry tears that burn their paths into your cheeks at what could've been had the subject matter been worthy by, and I've mentioned this in the Purple Tape review, letting the beat ride for the remainder of the song after they finish their lyrical embarrassments. Speaking of which, I don't even want to waste more of my time on some ignorant lyrics by Ghost and RZA, especially off some fuckery that is forcefed down a fan's throat in a rude effort to replace the glory of the previous track.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Moment of truth time.
One thing that surprised me was how Ironman was more battle-oriented with its content than Cuban Linx, when it's supposed to be the 'sensitive' album, especially with Ghost unfortunately emphasizing his obsession with misogyny throughout both albums. While the Purple Tape was more planned out when it came to album structure, Ironman's smarter movie sample choice combined with Ghost's unconventionally endless lyrical creativity, displayed with ease that's almost stream-of-consciousness, gives it a colorful edge. Also, on Cuban Linx Ghost was not the decision-maker of the duo, so he didn't get to set his wildly chaotic pace that everyone enjoys so much from him. I will say, though, that the Chef has Ghost beat when it comes to flow. In just about every other lyrical category? Sorry, Rae, but you've always taken the L. It almost feels like Rae was focusing on certain aspects of MCing (which did end up making him a beast on that mic, don't get me wrong) while Ghost simply threw away the rulebook and came up with his own aspects. This dichotomy between these two makes me appreciate the depth in the entire Clan's style set back then, whereas now, everyone aside from RAGU, RZA & GZA have somewhat fallen back to traditional methods of lyrical wizardry. Oh well. Speaking of our producer, he seems to have taken more risks by not relying on samples as much on the Ironman album, whereas on the Purple Tape his beats, while timeless, are played safe every time with his still-ingenious sample use. That risk-taking has contributed to his growth and displayed better results from him, and those results would benefit him greatly on his impeding venture with the Wu as a whole.
Nothing beats the feeling of revisiting material that you've grained into your head so much that you've lost the ability to unbiasedly critique it, right? Well, boy/girl (pick one), today I'm attempting to settle a debate that has been raging in my head for YEARS.
See, the mid-90s was very, very kind to one of my go-to hip hop groups, the Wu-Tang Clan: They debuted with a timeless classic, then splintered its output to include the following: a quality punchline album that is still critically underrated to this very day, even though it sold a shit ton of copies; one of the most experimental albums ever released by an artist that solidified the Wu sound in a way no other work has; and a bonafide work of fucking art. The Wu also implemented a strategy that would promote two artists to legendary status in a fraction of the time needed for them to achieve said status, and I'm frequently baffled by the genius of its sheer simplicity.
Funny thing is, Corey Woods bka Raekwon aka The Chef aka Louis Rich and Dennis Coles bka Ghostface Killah aka Ironman aka The Wallabee Champ aka Ghostdini The Great (I can go on) couldn't even stand each other at the start of their careers. I'm talking full-fledged beef. Although it probably was due to the fact that their respective project crews were at war more than a strictly personal conflict. Which makes what the RZA achieved with these two all the more amazing. By releasing Can It Be All So Simple as a single and adding it right after Raekwon's debut single Heaven & Hell on the 1994 Fresh OST, which was released before Method Man's debut and also included GZA's haunting single I Gotcha Back, he made sure this duo was stuck in the consumer's head forever more. And thus began the reign of RAGU. (Rae And Ghost United. Me neither.)
Obviously, RZA was on to something, as these two became inseparable from then on. Whenever one of them featured on a fellow Wu member's album, the other mostly followed. And whenever one threw a hissy fit regarding anything around the other guy, you'd bet your bottom dollar you'd be dealing with two hissy fits. Heartwarming stuff. Hell, they even shared opinions, as they very famously argued against RZA's continued control on the Wu sound multiple times.
Let's rewind a bit to my introduction to Raekwon the Chef. 'Twas during my years of not knowing shit about this style of music and harking back to my early Electronic Gaming Monthly obsession. I had just seen this review about the then-new Wu-Tang Shaolin Style game, and being that this was during the beginning stages of my martial arts nerdiness I saw the name Raekwon and thought: 'Hey, maybe he styled his nickname after Taekwondo!' I was in my early teens so cut me some fucking slack. Fast forward to my reintroduction to Method Man in the underrated Def Jam-AKI wrestling series, I was just starting to get the hang of Wikipedia. Long story short, I go to the Wu members list and I find his name right alongside Tae- ahem sorry - Raekwon. I leave it at that for a while. Then, I dive headfirst into the PSP’s GTA: Liberty City Stories and as I'm rampaging through the story mode, I stumble upon The Liberty Jam: A hip hop station entirely dedicated to mid 90s hip hop songs. Of course, one of said songs was the timeless Incarcerated Scarfaces but thing is, I hated the song and Rae's delivery of its lyrics at first. I originally thought that the beat was too minimalist and Rae's flow was too jumbled for me to understand anything. Of course I no longer follow that train of thought and I'll elaborate in the review. (As if I hadn't rambled enough)
So, Cheffy here always wanted that spotlight given to the Mefs and the ODBs of the world, to the point that he jumped at every chance that came his way to bug the ever-living shit outta RZA for that spot. Meanwhile, Ghost was too busy not giving a fuck about none of that. He was just glad he made it out the projects, yo! Anyways, after that Fresh OST proved that these two actually delivered when it was game time, RZA swatted away Rae's hands and told him: "Now, we've already talked about this, Cheffy. Mef goes first, then ODB, and then it's your turn. But, you have to bring Ghost along. Otherwise, no solo for you. Don't forget to say thank you to Uncle GZA for giving you his spot. There's a good Cheffy." Let's not forget that Ghost in happy land is a very obedient Ghost, so he agreed to whatever RZA wanted.
What neither of them knew at the time was that RZA was brewing up some of his most concentrated productions for the entire group. And when it was Rae's time, he gave him and Ghost some of his lushest productions, keeping in line with the theme introduced in Can It Be and Heaven & Hell. RZA's ultimate plan was to successfully revive mafioso rap, the subgenre effectively pioneered by the immortal Kool G Rap during his years with DJ Polo, but he wanted to expand its use to a full album. And herein, loyal reader, lies one of the core reasons why the Wu reigned supreme in their early years: Their high chemistry together. RAGU wrote the exact material RZA needed for such revival, relying on their past experiences in the projects of Staten Island for inspiration. Some these lyrics also ingeniously doubled as metaphors for survival within a cutthroat industry such as the music business.
Nerdy tidbit: Rae took it upon himself to issue mafioso-esque nicknames (Wu-Gambino aliases as he'd like to call it) for each and every other Wu member on the album, starting with himself as Lex Diamonds. His co-host Ghostface was Tony Starks, GZA was Maxi Million, RZA was Bobby Steels, Masta Killa was Noodles, Inspectah Deck was Rollie Fingers, Golden Arms was Lucky Hands and Method Man was Johnny Blaze. Ol' Dirty Bastard may he RIP unfortunately sat this album out, even though he was still branded as Joey Bananas. Out of my own involuntary nerdiness, I'll be calling each Wu member by their respective Wu-Gambino aliases for the rest of this first review.
Upon release, the resulting album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (Originally called Only Built 4 Cuban Linx N****z) caught the New York hip hop scene and the rest of the country by storm. Critics hailed it as an instant classic, and fans ate the shit up. More importantly, the album struck a chord with Lex and Starks' contemporary rappers in the Rotten Apple. The years that followed saw a buttload of albums utilizing very similar themes, imagery and metaphors, some while being heralded as classics in their own right. Drawing blanks, all of a sudden, are ya? AZ's debut Doe Or Die? Obviously, Jay-Z's debut Reasonable Doubt? Nas' It Was Written? Mobb Deep's Hell On Earth? The Firm's loathesome eponymous debut? The late great Biggie's bloated Life After Death? Yeah, all borrowed from Cuban Linx, or as fans affectionately call it the Purple Tape. Well, the case can be made that the aforementioned Kool G Rap was merely continuing his own brand with his solo debut 4,5,6 but I find it too convenient that the friggin thing was released a month after the Purple Tape dropped. Within the Wu, however, things were quite different. After Cuban Linx, most of the group tried its best to distance itself from that aesthetic. Except for Lex, bless him. He just kept on galloping ahead with the same crime narratives he's been pumping so far, only without a Bobby Steels figure to really guide him towards recapturing his debut's brilliance, so he kind of had to figure his sound out as he went along.
Side note: I always mention the rappers featured on every song, credited or otherwise, as long as they contribute a verse or a hook. Well, these two reviews are where I draw the line a bit, because the two albums are technically duo albums between Lex Diamonds and Tony Starks, not solo albums. Hell, Ironman almost wound up being a trio album, but we'll get to that later.
Bottom line, you're still reading this to see if this shit is still deserving of all that praise.
STRIVING FOR PERFECTION
This is the second Wu solo to dedicate an entire listed track to a fucking skit. I will say that the skit is a thematic fit for the rest of the album by establishing our duo's fictional drug game hustle as a metaphor for their true hustle, which was the music business. The skit borrows music from John Woo's classic crime flick The Killer.
KNUCKLEHEADZ (FEATURING LUCKY HANDS)
And you enter this track with yet another skit, (even though this one's funny as shit to me!) as, after a heist, Lex uses an old Tom & Jerry routine and Starks and Lucky hilariously call him out on it. As Lex is defending himself from the other two, (during which Starks shouts: 'Don't play like I got a flowerpot head, kid!' Genius!) Bobby Steels' bass sample of a Dramatics record kicks in. Then as Lex begins to spit, Steels' piano interpolation of said record unveils itself, provoking all three artists to get their storytelling and imagery game on proper. Lex spends his sixteen describing their characters’ daily job of crime, Starks describes two successful heists brilliantly and Lucky Hands returns for the first time since Da Mystery Of Chessboxin' with a scorcher of a verse that makes use of a technique called 'negative capability' and ends with his character dying from a car crash. I told you he had excellent rhymes in him.
KNOWLEDGE GOD
You hear the sound of heavy sniffing, followed by a sped-up Stanley Black loop. The famed Make It Funky drums are then unveiled atop an ominous piano cut to you, the unsuspecting listener, as Lex launches into two brilliant solo verses that tell two vivid stories respectively. It's weird but the first time I heard this, it was like the beat was telling me that this song was going to be a storytelling entry. The first verse is Lex' take on the One Love formula introduced by Nas after some brief introductory bars about drugs in the hood, while the second finds him continuing a timeless mafioso staple, again introduced by Kool G Rap: Eliminating a potential threat. Poor Mike Lavogna never saw it coming. Typical, really. After Lex finishes, Bobby leaves the beat running for a bit more than a minute, which has developed into a habit of his by now. I'm only fond of the practice if the beat is worthy of it, and unfortunately that is no longer the norm since the 5-year plan ended.
CRIMINOLOGY
God damn, I love this song! Steels hit the jackpot with his combination of a sample apiece from both Black Ivory and The Sweet Inspirations, with the result kind of sounding like music straight out of Enter The Dragon by Bruce Lee if it wasn't for that beautiful Scarface excerpt in the beginning. My coverage of Steels' productions so far tells you he knew exactly what he was doing here. Starks returns with a leviathan punchline performance filled with his patented talent for imagery that simply blows past anything Lex brings to the table after it. Not to say Lex came up short, but there's simply no topping that verse on this song. Hell, the legendary DJ Muggs called Steels when they released this as a single preceding the album and told him that this verse was getting Starks recognized in the game as a monstrous lyrical threat. And, you know what? I agree with Muggs. A braggadocio classic.
INCARCERATED SCARFACES
The b-side to the third single, Ice Cream. You're introduced to your first Killer dialogue sample of the night. What's more, you get two! After the samples, you're thrust right into the instrumental in its entirety. Now, let's get back to discussing why I changed my mind about this song. You see, I was listening to it out of context. The song just belongs as a sequenced part of a puzzle. By the time I was finished with the previous three tracks, I was amped to hear what was coming next. The moment that familiar warped Koko Taylor sample over those Detroit Emeralds drums registered in my brain, my hate for it transformed into very strong fondness and association. Funny thing is, this beat wasn't even meant for Lex. Bobby was hard at work tinkering with it enough to fit in Liquid Swords! That is until Lex walked in the studio, fell madly in love with the beat and wrote the classic rhymes that have endured for the past 20 years in fifteen minutes. His mission statement? A continuation of the rap game/drug game analogy he effectively introduced in the album's opening skit. A smashing success as far as statements go.
RAINY DAYZ (FEATURING BLUE RASPBERRY)
Blue Raspberry returns to the Wu albums on Lex' fourth single with her second-best performance on a Wu album to date. Sorry, but there's no topping her haunting showing on Johnny Blaze' Mr. Sandman. Here you hear her crooning for a bit before the familiar Killer musical notes, followed by a dialogue sample. Then, you hear a beat that's very heavily violin-based. Now, debates on Whosampled still rage on about whether the violins you hear are sampled or played live. Hell, some are even saying Blue Raspberry herself played them (!!), yet I seriously doubt that. Anyway, the beat is haunting enough to pull two harrowing verses out of our starring duo. They both describe their thoughts, motives and background whilst threatening to pistol whip meat-heads. Whatever the fuck that means. Blue Raspberry performs a Barbara Streisand interpolation that describes what these dudes' female counterparts go through in the turbulent waters of both the drug life and the music life, and she knocks it out of the fucking park. This is my second favorite performance of hers for a goddamned reason.
GUILLOTINE (SWORDZ) (FEATURING ROLLIE FINGERS & MAXI MILLION)
Here you are knocked firmly back into Wu world with that exquisite kung-fu sample that would be utilized infinitely better on Maxi Million's Shadowboxin' later. After said sample, hey! It's that beat that you heard on Blaze' album and desperately wanted him to rhyme on! Well, too bad, as Blaze is nowhere near this song. The world survived. Let me reiterate for the umpteenth time: There's a good fucking reason my favorite Wu MC is Rollie Fingers, and here he displays plenty of it once again, setting shit all the way off with his patented blend of punchlines & imagery. Tony Starks, as if in a track and field race, picks up right where Rollie left off and gallops ahead upping the imagery ante as he goes along. After a dope kung-fu interlude, Lex swoops in with a continuation of the imagery battle for supremacy, after which a very valuable Maxmil' guest appearance ends the MCing imagery lesson for the track.
CAN IT BE ALL SO SIMPLE (REMIX)
You've read my 36 Chambers review, right? If you had, then you know how much I love the original version of this track. Well, thank God that Steels and our duo did it justice with this remix. For Bobby's part, he tweaked the original instrumental just enough for it to feel different to the listener without him swapping any ingredients he already might've used. but it was Lex-N-Starks who pulled off the feat that impressed me most, as Starks traded roles with Lex as the negative stereotype, while Lex took on Starks' former role of positive role model. If one took this as a sequel to the original song then it's all the more poetic how each one ended up fulfilling the other's original ambition, with Starks corrupted by Lex' final statement in the earlier track, and Lex himself cleansed when seeing what transpired with Starks afterwards. A masterpiece of a saga. Props to the intro where Starks gets shot, too. Very well done.
SHARK N****Z (BITERS)
Ah yes, the infamous Biggie dis. Our duo were kind of being dicks to Mr. Smalls here, but everything else they said about originality rings very true. Especially today.
ICE WATER (FEATURING CAPPACHINO)
From there, you enter into one of my favorite tracks on the entire album. Bobby loops a Delores Hall sample brilliantly slowed down to achieve a haunting effect, and boy does it work. Lex-N-Starks choose this occasion to invite a very special guest. Darryl Hill bka Cappadonna (aka Cappachino The Great aka Papi Wardrobe aka Oh Donna aka that dude who almost ruined Wu-Tang Forever aka he who was kicked out of the Wu camp for a long time and had to resort to driving a goddamn cab until he got back into the Clan's good graces), for all you Wu nerds out there, was supposed to be in the original Wu lineup but, similar to Lucky Hands, got locked up. Unlike Lucky, however, Cappa wasn't released until after the original nine had already formed. Guess who took his slot? Johnny Blaze! That's right, reader. The world could've suffered Oh fucking Donna instead of enjoying Method Man. The world certainly dodged a bullet there. So how does this not-so-new newcomer fare with our hosts? Pretty fucking awesome, actually. See, during 95-96, Capp' was relatively on fire when it came to spitting on Steels beats, and that started here. He even says that this was the very first verse he recorded on wax, though he was obviously an MC way beforehand. Or else he surely wouldn't've (didn't know double contractions was a thing until now!) been considered for a slot within the fucking Wu, y'know. Anyways, Tony Starks still outshines everybody on this record, although Capp' and Lex keep up admirably. A pretty good song to base your company's name on. Right, Lex?
GLACIERS OF ICE (FEATURING NOODLES, BLUE RASPBERRY & 60 SECOND ASSASSIN)
Steels was on fire on this beat, dammit! This was the B-side to Criminology and it got the video treatment, too. As such, it provided Noodles with the perfect platform to hit after his performance on Joey Bananas' Snakes. And boy, does he look awesome in that fucking video. Lyrically, this was a big step up from Ice Water, as all involved brought their absolute punchline best. Starks' final two bars actually immortalize themselves after this song, if that's even possible. I must admit that Blue Raspberry's Patti LaBelle interpolation wasn't as successful as her earlier Barbara Streisand attempt. Oh, and 60 Second Assassin drops by to sing some unintelligible shit that neither adds nor detracts from the song. This song is simply the tits.
VERBAL INTERCOURSE (FEATURING NAS)
Here Steels go again with his obscure sampling ways! This time, it's an exquisite Emotions four-second excerpt, slowed down to achieve a soothing effect that contrasts with the violent imagery that Nas, Lex & Starks bring to the song beautifully. A lot of hype was generated for Nas' contribution and, while it really is that good and meshes with Bobby's beat perfectly, many people eschew the fact that Starks blacks the fuck out on this record. Seriously, the man fits three movies' worth of imagery in his storytelling verse. Lex was basically continuing Nas' vibe. This is definitely an album highlight.
WISDOM BODY
Let it be known that this here track is the reason why most fans associate Tony Starks with blaxploitation flicks. For, in case you missed it, this is the very first Starks solo song, complete with an intro from the 70s classic The Mack. And what does he choose to talk about? A chick he met. You get the feeling that him and Lex were jealous of their brother Johnny Blaze and of how his Grammy-winning duet with Mary J. Blige turned him into an target of female lust nation-wide. The thing these two boneheads don't understand is: That song came about organically and unplanned, with Blaze initially writing those two verses for private ears only, which only added to its appeal. Starks, on the other hand, clearly wrote this one-verse extravaganza as a reaction to some slut he saw at one of the clubs he and Lex wasted themselves in back in the day. As such, the lyrics are obviously pure misogynistic crap. Furthermore, is it me or does Bobby Steels have a habit of wasting some of his absolute best beats on crap like this. Way to build a crime narrative, you three. I will say that Starks' abilities as an MC allow him more range than his portly cohort. Although in Lex' case, it's probably for the better that he doesn't dip in this well very much. The results could be truly disastrous.
SPOT RUSHERZ
From a Starks solo to its Lex equivalent, although this is a return to the criminal tales filling this album so far. A one-verse performance was all it took for this song to click with its custom-made Steels beat, and, you know what? That's good enough for me. Moving on.
ICE CREAM (FEATURING CAPPACHINO & JOHNNY BLAZE)
I spoke too soon. Remember what I said on Wisdom Body abut Lex dipping into a certain well. Well, I present said dipping. Bad enough that they're attempting this type of record on a fucking mafioso concept album, but people are seriously treating this as the breakout single of the fucking summer. Granted, it doesn't commit the same sin as its Biggie counterpart Big Poppa does by aping the G-Funk sound in the most wackass way possible. Hell, this is yet another example of Steels wasting one of his finest beats on a song promoting misogyny, (Seriously, that Earl Klugh acoustic riff is sampled to distorting perfection. I just know you thought it was a piano riff, right? You don't care as long as it's dope? Oldest copout in the book.) one even primer than Wisdom Body since (as I've mentioned earlier) this is officially the third single. With the video treatment and all. Bit hypocritical dissing Biggie for being unoriginal on the same album housing this horseshit contractual obligation, if you ask me. Oh, and before I forget: Blaze? Shame on you for ruining your honest perspective on women which you've marvellously established on All I Need. Really, your chorus here is just atrocious.
WU-GAMBINOS (FEATURING JOHNNY BLAZE, BOBBY STEELS & NOODLES)
It's going to take a track from the elite annals of hip hop history to drag me out of the mood I'm in following that Ice Cream fiasco. Thankfully, this posse cut just so happens to fit the bill. After the longest Killer dialogue sample on the album (one punctuated by dialogue between various Wu-Gambinos that effectively transports you into Starks' mother's real-life apartment back then where he and his boys are watching said Killer scene.), Blaze sets out to redeem himself with a real chorus, so real that I find myself humming it endlessly while I wash the dishes when my wife's sick. Aren't I a sweetheart? Blaze also does us a huge favor by setting the song off with just the right amount of punchline venom combined with a lethal dose of haunting imagery, as he was incredibly prone to doing back then. Lex follows suit with an equally enthused performance filled with crime imagery. Steels finally steps out from behind the boards for the lone time during this album and delivers one of his wordiest verses ever. Dude hits you with a full-blown MCing lesson, thereby taking a page from his cousin Maxi Million's many such performances. Noodles swings by to deliver his ever improving bars with a majestic confidence that shines through his imagery-filled bars. Starks is chosen by all present to end the song, and he does so emphatically with a verse twisting between imagery, punchlines and a story in the final bars of this shit. I edge this song out as the better posse cut on the album simply because this one lasted longer and had more contributors to it.
HEAVEN & HELL
Six seconds from Syl Johnson. That's all it took for Steels to craft this nostalgia masterpiece. Remember what I said about Onyx' Live!!! single here? The very same shit applies to this instrumental. It just forces the emotions out of you to come spilling out. Lex-N-Starks captalize on this opportunity to tell a street tale in the back-n-forth style popularized by Run-DMC and perfected by the very underrated EPMD. Our duo would later use this technique a few more times in the following years. Back to the story told here: Ending the tale with the eponymous hook instructs you to divert your focus from the events to the surroundings, which has been done before. Making this a very worthy addition to the hall of fame of hip hop storytelling raps. The album could've ended here and it would've been glorious.
NORTH STAR (JEWELS)
Alas, Lex had to give you one more jewel. I didn't think it possible, but Steels absolutely eclipses his magnificent work on the previous song to deliver a timeless composition made out of various cuts from the same Barry White record. The result evokes a sense of destiny, as Popa Wu (whom I utterly abhor) harps on about being proud of Lex for coming this far in the game. (Which game? That is graciously left up to you.) Also, he fucking sings that 5% bullshit in the background, and trust me, boy/girl, he is resolutely not the best singer of all time. Imagine a middle-aged boar had transformed into a middle-aged male human while still somehow keeping his boarish voice. Now imagine that hideous creature attempting to sing a song about the Five Percenter beliefs. You'd still be light years away from how truly repulsive his shit sounds. Thank God, Lex starts to tell a haunting story of revenge for one of his incarcerated friends' murdered wife. The revenge killing seemingly has no effect on Lex as he returns to the environment giving birth to such tragedies, showing that his senses of morality have vanished because of this criminal life. This final song could've been timeless, had it not been for Popa Wu's incessant need to ruin these records with his 5% crazy babble.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well, the trio of Lex Diamonds, Tony Starks and Bobby Steels certainly achieved their goal of making the penultimate mafioso rap album that all future mafiosi-esque rappers aspire to recreate, flaws 'n'all. This album gave us a concrete introduction to Lex-N-Starks, the duo. They would henceforth be forever linked together whenever one's name came up. And with good reason, as their chemistry together is pretty fucking potent. Most people, however, forget that Bobby Steels was the third and most important factor of this album's success. With him handling its creative direction and wall-to-wall production, the album achieved a cohesive sound that is yet to be found on any of Lex' following releases. I will also reiterate that this album, while definitely a timeless classic, is inferior to Liquid Swords, that's for damn certain. There were NO contractual obligations on Liquid Swords whatsoever, and every single Wu-Gambino was involved on it. In contrast, Joey Bananas (aka ODB) was painfully missing from Cuban Linx' proceedings. For a hip hop family, that's a very distinct flaw. I still state, however, that the Purple Tape remains a timeless classic. I've also acquired with this review some hard data to compare against the next release in this trio's discography, Ironman.
WORTH IT? If you have functioning ears, can clearly read the above and are into hip hop, then I would assume the answer is yes if I were you. If not, go buy Views and listen to Hotline Bling all the way to your humble abode in the fiery pits of Hades.
TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
RAINY DAYZ (REMIX)
I have to admit I did not know about this song until I got the hang of Discogs three years ago. I must ask, though: Why wasn't this remix issued by Bobby Steels? Nothing against Mr. Dalvin and I'm a huge Diamond D fan, but Steels was throwing out remixes left and right on every single his crew released up to that point, so why not this one? Oh well. Mr. Dalvin & Diamond D take a soulful Blue Notes sample and freak it beautifully for Lex-N-Starks to spit their shit. And spit their shit, they do: Lex starts us off with two crime-filled verses of pure gold and Starks ends the night with one long-ass verse that has any flavor you want: hilarious punchlines, inspired imagery, stories, the whole shabang. I highly recommend this. And we're done.
No, we're not! I was just kidding! I don't care if you think this is cheating, this makes sense to me, dammit! Moving on...
As I've mentioned previously, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... made such an artistic impact that the only course of action that made sense to the Wu was to move in as much a different direction as possible with the next solo shot. (I'm conveniently choosing to forget that Liquid Swords was released in between the two albums I'm reviewing here because it makes more sense this way. What do you mean, I'm living in denial?!)
After said Purple Tape's release, Ghostface Killah (Hey! The original nicknames are back! You won't have to worry about the Wu-Gambino aliases anymore. At least, until I get to Cuban Linx 2. *Evil sneer*) was being hailed as the best thing on the shit yet he still toiled in the underground as a solo brand while Raekwon was racking up the features that normally come with such exposure. RZA, the producer of Ironman's entirety sans a single song, decided it was high time he did something about it. He decided to focus on giving Ghost the exact album formula he gave his portly cohort, although knowing RZA, a thematic change was rapidly due.
In place of the Killer samples, RZA makes room for the distinctive choice of The Education Of Sonny Carson, a heralded 70s biopic based on the controversial activist's best-selling autobiography describing the struggles of his early life that embody the still-very-relevant troubles of hood life. This choice, along with various other 70s blaxploitation samples and a group of very inspired snippets, successfully associated Ghostface with sensitivity a tad more than his peers. Not that Ghost is a softie, of course, (just ask all the Mases and the Wish Bones of the rap game.) but he really did wonders to enhance that image by releasing All That I Got Is You with Grammy machine Mary J. Blige as his lead single. (Ugh. I have nothing against Mary herself but the mere mention of the fucking Grammys always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.) The single swiftly became one of the saddest songs in hip hop history, scratch that, in music history. And yes, I have heard the critic-proof Dear Mama by 2Pac. I'm telling you, this song is right up there with it.
As was the status quo with Cuban Linx, Ghost's album Ironman was structured exactly the same when it came to featured MC's: Ghost gets four solo tracks, Rae gets a singular solo track and the rest is various posse cuts. Unfortunately, RZA committed a COLOSSAL mistake in this particular aspect, and believe me, I will address that shit when it's time.
The RAGU brand benefitted immensely from their abovementioned previous album together, so they naturally wanted to do it again. This time, however, RZA decided to add a third member to the team: Cappadonna aka Papi Wardrobe himself aka Cappachino The Great aka Oh Donna aka that dude who almost ruined Wu-Tang Forever aka he who was kicked out of the Wu camp for a long time and had to resort to driving a goddamn cab until he got back into the Clan's good graces. This addition was simply to throw a bone Capp's way because of his earlier reputation as the DMD Crew's battle rapper. I'll take this opportunity to state that because his name is printed right alongside the Chef's on the friggin' front cover, I will also refrain from crediting his name where he shows up. Bite me.
Quick autobiographical detour: I must mention that I also didn't know shit about Ghost when I first heard of him, which was on the Def Jam-AKI wrestling video game series. Let's forward to 2005, I'm in my Linkin Park obsession period so naturally I was a diehard fan of Fort Minor, Linkin Park pseudo-rapper Mike Shinoda's hip hop side project. I remember listening to We Major, the promotional mixtape of the lone Fort Minor album The Rising Tied, almost religiously. On that mixtape, I heard a little song called Spraypaint And Inkpens, which was Mike featuring Lupe Fiasco and our subject for this half of the double review. That was my first taste of Ghost's incredible talent for storytelling, even if the story he told on that particular song is a bit tame compared to his heights in retrospect. Naturally, I was mesmerized. Although I wasn't mesmerized enough to remember his distinct high pitched voice when I heard Protect Ya Neck several months later. Jumping to 2006, I'm just beginning my Youtube and Wikipedia voyages, I begin familiarizing myself with Wu lore and the rest is Wu-nerd history. Back to the review.
I will be reviewing the first release of the CD version, as it contains both the original final track of the album and the final track of its re-release the same friggin year, which is the mistake that best shows how dumb Epic Records were when it came to managing a prospective talent. I'll explain in the review.
Ironman, lady/gent. (Again, pick one.)
IRON MAIDEN
The Sonny Carson sample really adds character to this braggadocio exhibition, as if this track is your initiation to the world of Ghostface Killah. RZA really wants you to feel the Al Green influence by sampling two of his most distinct tracks, and it works beautifully. This is hands down one of his most energetic concoctions up to this point. On the lyrical front, our trio deliver the business proper. Rae in particular stepped his flow game the fuck up, improving in that particular aspect in a way that just couldn't be found on any of his work on Cuban Linx. Subject matter? Crime imagery as usual, which does the job quite well. Ghost weaves one of his trademark tales where he executes a great escape with his lady friend by his side, still finding time mid-narrative to brag about himself without sounding disjointed. Art. After RAGU's display, you'd think Capp would somehow come up short based on his current reputation as the worst member of the Wu. (a reputation I do not endorse, by the way, but whatever.) Yet he is every bit the prior duo's equal here, with a more traditional display of punchlines, if you will. Still, some pretty scintillating stuff from this guy. All in all, a fucking classic. Props to Derrick Champ Ford's turn as Wolfe, man. He was my favorite actor from the Sonny Carson film.
WILDFLOWER (FEATURING JAMIE SOMMERS)
After a quick sample from JD's Revenge, a blaxploitation film which partly inspired the Snoop Dogg vehicle Murder Was The Case, you hear two bars from a certain T. Shivers who calls herself Jamie Sommers, after which Ghost unveils his one-verse sequel to that unnecessary Wisdom Body love rap on Cuban Linx. And from the looks of it, things went south pretty damn fast. He lyrically tears his former lady friend a new one in one of the most revolting displays of misogyny I've ever heard. I don't care if it's a better showcase of his 'broken heart': There are many ways to express the flaws of an individual without falling back on the tired and quite frankly disgusting rap trope of bashing women. As expected, RZA wastes yet another gem of a beat, one which brilliantly samples Johnny Mathis, on this horseshit. Fuck this garbage.
THE FASTER BLADE
Reminiscent of Cuban Linx yet again, you transition from a Ghostface solo to a Raekwon solo, with a beat capably sampling The Persuaders that was screaming for Ghost to jump on throughout the entire song. Furthermore, Rae's adlibs in the beginning didn't show him as the kingpin brimming with confidence he was on his own solo album. That quickly changes once Rae starts with his one-verse exhibition, as he repeats the feat he accomplished on Iron Maiden with his flow. This needs to be heard to be fully appreciated. Subject matter-wise, this is more of a retelling of Spot Rusherz sprinkled with a few punchlines that reflect the track's status as a metaphor of Rae taking other MCs out with the quickness. Taken as such, it's a pretty fucking awesome showing.
260
Now you return to regular programming with another Wolfe sample from the Sonny Carson flick segueing into another vintage RAGU tale of friendship. Ah, who am I kidding? It's another crime story vivid with imagery from the duo over another sombre Al Green-sampled instrumental, where the two crimeys describe a drug deal gone horribly wrong with heavy reliance on Five Percenter terminology to paint their pictures, making this a real jigsaw of a puzzle back in the day. Now, Rap Genius may have rendered the entire schtick moot, yet it's still an entertaining tale that ends with a pivotal scene sampled from The Usual Suspects, a massively underrated film.
ASSASSINATION DAY (FEATURING INSPECTAH DECK, RZA & MASTA KILLA)
The scene plays right into a Crying Freeman anime sample, yet another underrated work of art, before unveiling the custom-made beat, crafted with no sample to speak of. As such, this beat is a goddamn masterpiece. You can actually hear the Pac-Man sounds RZA sprinkles on the beat, by which point you must ask yourself: Where the fuck does this guy get these ideas from? After which a very in-form Inspectah Deck obliterates the song with a verse that really signals his transformation into a very imposing hip hop force. No lie, this is where he officially hits the stride he began on Liquid Swords, that which gave him such critical acclaim on Wu-Tang Forever. In short, this is my favorite guest verse of his. Yes, even better than his Above The Clouds work. Matter of fact, the only work that surpasses this is his work on the Wu's group albums, but we'll tackle that later. RZA steps from behind the boards to give us yet another powerful example of why he's a master of both beats and rhymes. Rae then takes the mic from the Abbott and sprawls into yet another one of his patented crime rhymes, crhymes if you will, with Masta Killa, the closest of all to the assassination theme present in the title, ending the song with one of the most effectively ominous lyrical performances in hip hop history. Plus, his proclamation of the title in his bars is sprinkled throughout the track brilliantly, similarly to the way RZA used two of Rae's bars on Iron Maiden as said track's hook. Masta Killa's performance rounds up one of the best Wu posse cuts ever. And precisely here I ask: This is a Ghostface Killah album, right? So, um, why the motherfuck wasn't Ghostface Killah on this song again? This oversight by RZA is the COLOSSAL mistake I spoke about in the intro to this album's review, one I will not be forgetting anytime soon. This song was on par with the posse cuts on friggin' Liquid Swords. It's that fucking good. Except it's, once again, on a Ghostface Killah album, and the star player is fucking benched? Unforgivable oversight on your part, RZA. Ghost's brand within the Wu really takes an L with this omission, an error that would be rectified pretty damn soon, as it should've. And speaking of Ls, why didn't you just move out of that cursed basement when the first flood hit, RZA? The world could've had a GLORIOUS INS debut album during your precious 5-year plan.
POISONOUS DARTS
You won't be winning any favors from me by placing a Ghostface solo here, RZA. Oh, a kung-fu sample from the Mystery of Chessboxing! All is forgiven! Well, not really but I'll be damned if that kung-fu sample doesn't feel like home during this part of my Wu journey. Ghost spits two verses filled to the brim with his patented crime blend of imagery, storytelling, braggadocio and punchlines over a beat that contains the very first precursors to the Bobby Digital sound. As such, the production is leaps and bounds better than some of his future experiments in said sound. All in all, a very entertaining solo shot from Ghost.
WINTER WARZ (FEATURING GOLDEN ARMS & MASTA KILLA)
This track is one of two pulled from movie soundtracks and into this album, the Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood OST (One of my favorite Wayans parody flicks!) in Winter Warz' case. People were very familiar with this song by the time Ironman was released since the OST came out 9 months before the proper album did. This practice shouldn't be frowned upon as both Liquid Swords and Cuban Linx pulled their lead singles from the Fresh OST. On the album version, you hear Rae echoing Ghost's final word from the previous track, after which the beat gallops full steam ahead with its ZZ Hill-sampling ways, daring the featured MCs to catch up. Rae spits the hook quickly, then gets the fuck outta the way as Golden Arms comes through swinging. This dude has something to prove here, as his 'negative capability' rhymes force themselves on the listener, rape his ear and pillage his brains. Rae comes back for the hook, until Ghost impatiently interrupts it by blowing past him with yet another of his unique verses. One that really showcases the fact that he was already a fully formed MC way before Supreme Clientele's formation inside Mr. Coles' head. See, RZA? This is how you do a posse cut on a Ghostface album: You fucking include the star attraction. After Ghost conculdes his verse efficiently, Masta Killa enters the fray after Rae's hook, (which he thankfully finished this time) with a repeat of the feats he displayed on Assassination Day. Two bars into Rae's following hook, Cappadonna suddenly decides it's his turn to rhyme. And dude keeps going and going and going... His eventual 50 bars end up taking forever. And while his flow is pretty basic throughout compared to the others, his rhymes are still pretty fucking dope. Overall, a definite highlight.
WU WILL SURVIVE (FEATURING METHOD MAN & STEVIE D)
I'm well aware of what the tracklisting says, thank you not so much. You might also remember that the original tracklisting stated that the track featured Streetlife, not Raekwon. I found this title on the instrumental album, where this song's beat (more on it later) is called the title you see above. Anyway, RZA: I know you want me to feel that this album is brimming with a 70s blaxploitation vibe, but Goddamn these R&B intros are fucking annoying. Thankfully the Force MDs' own Stevie D is interrupted rudely by the impending instrumental, before which Rae orders his peoples headphones, all of 'em. Whatever that was. Anyway, this is the first of three songs with a beat that switches up completely mid-track. This one features two completely original RZA compositions, where the first beat is totally eclipsed by the awesome, hard-hitting second once Rae sets the song off. And boy, does he leave an impression. His braggadocio thuggery brand is only matched by his co-host, who effectively demonstrates such with his following 12 bars. They're both highly outclassed by Mef who spits his elevated brand of classic punchlines that he's sustained since Wu-Gambinos. I cannot overstate how much the beat felt like it was pushing the three MCs to outdo each other, which you can sort of hear when Ghost adlibs Rae's final bars before spitting his own shit. This banged something lovely. The beat with a few Mef adlibs transitions into...
FISH
The lone song not produced by RZA, yet sounds just as classic as anything he did in his prime. Derrick Harris bka True Master already debuted with a banger when he did Brooklyn Zoo but this is where he cemented his reputation as a beatmaker, as this track is truly an elevation of his sound. By tinkering and chopping up various sections of an Otis Redding classic, Derrick successfully crafted the result into sounding like a battle theme from Far-East Asia. Before that, though, let's delve into how awesome that Crying Freeman-sampled intro is: This is a premium display of why the intros are what set the themes for all these braggadocio songs apart. For example, Fish is a self-deprecating taste of braggadocio simply by taking it into the intro's context, while a song like Iron Maiden is more of a baptism-by-fire display, again because of the intro's context. On the lyrical front, our trio give us a taste of what they're good at: Ghost with his braggadocio blend of imagery and metaphors with a sly line of social commentary at the end, Capp with his traditional punchline display, and Rae rounding out the bunch with his patented crhymes. (I'm liking that term too much, aren't I? Watch me not give a fuck.) In the end, you're left with a friggin classic on your hands. Another highlight.
CAMAY
For all the bragging about this album being the soulful of the bunch, it sure knows how to waste a layup. I mean, it's Ice Cream 2.0: How can you not utilize your obviously strong connection with the Force MDs here? Not that I give a shit, as this is truly Ice Cream all over again. There is one difference that matters to me, though, as the beat here is all sorts of ass. I mean, I can't begin to comprehend how a producer of RZA's caliber can fuck up a sample like that I've Been Watching You bassline. Yet RZA coupled it with a poorly-chosen Teddy Pendergrass sample with the result being one of the most jarring, off-key beats I've ever heard. I'm sorry but that qualifies as ass in my review. Please refer to my Ice Cream review above for my opinion on the lyrics. Moving on.
DAYTONA 500 (FEATURED STEVIE D)
Again with the putrid R&B intros? Stevie D makes the stupid choice of interpolating Michael Jackson, and it backfires on him big time. Thankfully, he redeems himself with a smarter interpolation of Vicki Sue Robinson on the hook. Our trio run roughshod over the Nautilus-sampling beat, with some expert scratching by RZA that washes the remnants of the previous song out of your ears. The real story, however, is how this song's classic Speed Racer video came to be. Now, most would think that it was a RZA stroke of genius yet again. Most would be wrong, see, as there really was a video being shot. However, the director was apparently giving Ghost too much lip. You can probably guess what happened afterwards: Director gets smacked something horrible, production gets shut down, and you get the timeless video you know today as a last-minute resort. Funny how art can come from the simplest of reactions.
MOTHERLESS CHILD
The second and final song pulled from a movie OST, in this case Sunset Park (another favorite), on this album. This song also received some ample airtime for 6 months before Ironman's release, but because I'm such a nice person, I'll run you through it anyway. RZA makes this song the OV Wright show by sampling him three times, one of which gives the song its name, and samples a piano riff off of one of the remaining two samples, tinkers with its speed and adds a drumline. Presto! Classic beat crafted. I know that this song credits Raekwon but he's only with us for eight bars, then he moves the fuck out of the way as Ghost ploughs through a 40 bar story about a rather violent tale of beef, filled with his unique talent for imagery. I especially liked how he leaves the story open-ended, although he does adlib that 'shit was horrible' after his verse. I consider this a Ghostface solo because, as I've mentioned, Rae's only there for eight bars. I still love this friggin song, though.
BLACK JESUS (FEATURING GOLDEN ARMS)
After the last song's high, in no way do I ever need a followup rant by fucking Popa Wu, of all people. The fact that the shit went for a full minute before any sort of song begins only adds to my frustration. Admittedly, an album review on some unknown's blog is surely not the place to factually confirm if what he's saying checks out or not, but fuck if it didn't stop the album's momentum dead in its tracks. Not the kind of intro I was looking for, RZA. Once he's done, though we're greeted with an inspired sample of the Blackbyrds doing their thing, followed by some beautiful low-key strings that set the stage for RAGU and Golden Arms to spit their 9-to-5 in the second song to switch up the beat mid-track. Rae starts with his best Ghostface impression by reaching for the most off-kilter imagery he can think of. He does an admirable job, until Ghost schools him with his verse, with images like the birth of Kunta and pilgrims "G-in' Pepperidge Farms from out of millions". This juxtaposition would become vintage with Ghost later in his career. But the true revelation of the song is Golden Arms coming with a particularly special addition to his arsenal of 'negative capability' verses. I will not stop posting this link because of how prevalent it is in proving this man's talent. I confess I hated the song at first, mainly because of the bloody intro, but it definitely grew on me.
AFTER THE SMOKE IS CLEAR (FEATURING RZA & WILLIAM HART)
The lister immediately gets treated to four seconds jacked wholesale from a Jimmy Ruffin record and looped as the beat. Of course, the sample is not the only element, as a very in-form William Hart of the Delfonics lays a foundation of vocals that enhances the instrumental greatly. RAGU & RZA take turns displaying their very different brands of hip hop: Ghost with a verse split into a story, his distinct bragging and some abstract rhymes glued miraculously together for 22 bars. This verse is also where he originated the title of his famed sophomore album. Rae then drops in for just eight bars yet again then takes off as RZA delivers an unexpectedly introspective verse. Think along the lines of CREAM and you'll get the idea. Overall, this song was a step above the previous song.
ALL THAT I GOT IS YOU (FEATURING MARY J. BLIGE)
After a gut-wrenching scene sampled from Sonny Carson, the final time it's sampled on the album, you hear the lead single in all its glory. If you're even remotely familiar with Ghostface Killah, you've heard everything you need to know about this song, and how it's basically a crime against humanity to critique it in any way, shape or form. And I side with the massively-popular opinion on this one: This is one of the few songs that made me legitimately cry in ANY genre. the Jackson 5 song from which the sample came from isn't even that sad to begin with, but trust RZA to change that. As for Ghost? You get the first real look at the real Dennis Coles, and his one-verse wonder is such a masterstroke with such vivid pain that you'll get worked up each and every time you hear this song, period. I don't care if you keep listening to it for 50 years, it'll still have that effect on you. Blige sounds a little uninvested by her lofty standards, and I'm still pissed that she snubbed Ghostface in the video, but she got the job done. Hell, even Popa Wu miraculously didn't ruin the song, with his tangent somehow contained by his standards, which only adds to the song's timelessness. A definite highlight of his career.
THE SOUL CONTROLLER (FEATURING JESSE LEE DANIELS)
Probably the most underrated gem of Ghostface's 20-year career, and the third and final song to switch up the beat mid-track. The reason why it's underrated is because it was supposed to be the proper end to Ironman, but the dreaded sampling issues had to rear their fugly little heads and rob the fans of this classic's potential as a timeless song in his catalog. RZA goes real fucking left with his sampling of the first few seconds of Adagio, the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major. He furthers it by playing the notes on a goddamn flute. The second beat was built from the ground up by RZA, with the result being a genius amplifying instrumental. That's much more than what Ghost normally needs to craft a classic, so imagine what he eventually does with these ingredients. He goes in on an introspective tale that sounds semi-autobiographical to me and he includes his flavor for punchlines and imagery in the mix, resulting in a truly wondrous mix of emotions. Add that with Jesse Lee Daniels, who tags in for his Force MDs cohort Stevie D and blows his vocals out of the park in a homerun of a Sam Cooke interpolation which sets the tone of the tale every time you hear him. The song then ends with the final scenes of both Carlito's Way and The Usual Suspects, two very different yet equally awesome flicks that really tell what RZA's vision for this album was more than any other scene he sampled on the shit. And let me tell you, it's friggin' glorious and felt like the true culmination of a continued narrative that inexplicably links Ironman with Cuban Linx, even though both have very distinctive thematic differences. Fuck you, sampling issues. This song along with All That I Got Is You comprise my two favorite Ghostface solo songs bar none.
MARVEL (FEATURING RZA)
You remember how I said about the tracklist being changed in the intro to my review of this album? Turns out a misogynistic song was the label's replacement. Fucking why?! RZA, as usual, wastes another dope beat on this one, also a precursor to his Bobby Digital sound. Furthermore, he makes you cry tears that burn their paths into your cheeks at what could've been had the subject matter been worthy by, and I've mentioned this in the Purple Tape review, letting the beat ride for the remainder of the song after they finish their lyrical embarrassments. Speaking of which, I don't even want to waste more of my time on some ignorant lyrics by Ghost and RZA, especially off some fuckery that is forcefed down a fan's throat in a rude effort to replace the glory of the previous track.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Moment of truth time.
One thing that surprised me was how Ironman was more battle-oriented with its content than Cuban Linx, when it's supposed to be the 'sensitive' album, especially with Ghost unfortunately emphasizing his obsession with misogyny throughout both albums. While the Purple Tape was more planned out when it came to album structure, Ironman's smarter movie sample choice combined with Ghost's unconventionally endless lyrical creativity, displayed with ease that's almost stream-of-consciousness, gives it a colorful edge. Also, on Cuban Linx Ghost was not the decision-maker of the duo, so he didn't get to set his wildly chaotic pace that everyone enjoys so much from him. I will say, though, that the Chef has Ghost beat when it comes to flow. In just about every other lyrical category? Sorry, Rae, but you've always taken the L. It almost feels like Rae was focusing on certain aspects of MCing (which did end up making him a beast on that mic, don't get me wrong) while Ghost simply threw away the rulebook and came up with his own aspects. This dichotomy between these two makes me appreciate the depth in the entire Clan's style set back then, whereas now, everyone aside from RAGU, RZA & GZA have somewhat fallen back to traditional methods of lyrical wizardry. Oh well. Speaking of our producer, he seems to have taken more risks by not relying on samples as much on the Ironman album, whereas on the Purple Tape his beats, while timeless, are played safe every time with his still-ingenious sample use. That risk-taking has contributed to his growth and displayed better results from him, and those results would benefit him greatly on his impeding venture with the Wu as a whole.
So in lieu of my above breakdown, the verdict's in: I'm most probably in the vast minority here, but Ironman is simply a more satisfying album to me and its tangents more humane, if you will.
There. Debate solved. Back to other useless wastes of my time.
WORTH IT? You just read me telling you to go to hell if you hate Cuban Linx, the 'inferior' album in my equation above. What does that tell you about my opinion here?!
TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
WHO'S THE CHAMPION (FEATURING RZA)
Another soundtrack contribution by Ghostface, The Great White Hype OST this time, which would fit seamlessly on the album had it not already included two songs pulled from OSTs. Over yet another beat he built from scratch, RZA invites Ghostface to a particularly violent song about, as Rae brilliantly puts it in the hook, shooting the one-on-one. RZA and Ghost tale a vivid tale each about a beatdown they gave to two very unlucky souls respectively. Ghost's tale was, predictably, more descriptive and had him include his usual sprinkles of punchlines and imagery and yet I couldn't pick a verse better than the other: RZA really let loose with his venom, and if you've been following the man's lyrical career, you know this dude can get quite nasty. This is another one of those glorious moments.
BOX IN HAND (FEATURING STREETLIFE & METHOD MAN)
See? I told you the tracklist was fucked up. You probably wouldn't find this song unless you searched for its more popular titles these days, When You Walk or Deadly Darts. I'm still pissed that this was left off the proper release, even though, unlike The Soul Controller's situation, I fucking love its replacement Wu Will Survive. Here, RZA gives us a very soothing piano sample, which is an unconventionally tame choice by his standards, and the three featured MCs respond by turning in some of their most vicious punchlines and braggadocio on the beat. Ghost as usual sounds inspired, Streetlife proves yet again why Redman is actually the 12th member of the Wu-Tang by flowing just as confidently as the rest with his punchlines, and Mef ends it with what he's been doing since his Purple Tape cameo. Need I say more?
KB RIDIN (FEATURING METHOD MAN, SHACRONZ & SUGA BANG BANG)\
Now this is off the 2002 Wu compilation album The Sting, and yet Ghost and Mef's voices clearly sound like their 1996 counterparts. Another takeaway from 96 is that the beat is the exact beat that kicked in once Ghostface launched into his third verse on The Soul Controller. If you heard that song before, you know how blood-pumpingly awesome that beat is, and to hear Mef and Ghost rip it to shreds is a very glorious experience. Of course, you'll have to tune out the grating hook, sung horribly by Suga Bang Bang (Inspired. Really.) and the horrendous third verse by Shacronz, Popa Wu's son, (That explains a lot, actually.) but you won't mind one bit since you'll get to hear Mef and Ghost first. This was friggin' awesome!
FAST LIFE (FEATURING ANDRE RISON)
The song on which Ghost's fantastic relationship with DJ Mathematics truly began, and all it took was one fantastic verse from our star over a fitting Isaac Hayes loop that morphs into an adrenaline-surging instrumental. He is joined, however, by former football star Andre Rison who derails the fucking song with his horrendous attempt at rhyming. Add to that the uninvested female vocalist's lazy-ass interpretation of the Crusaders' Street Life, and there might be many who would eventually end up cursing my recommendation. Yet, as a Ghost nerd, I have to remind you of how well his verse sounds on that beat. It's the true precursor to their later legendary collaborations, while simultaneously being the reason why Ghost usurped control of all future guest appearance choices on their collaborations from the producer, who will produce for anybody, it seems. Anyways, I loved Ghost and Math's rapport here, and you should, too.
And we're really done.
For more Wu-ness, here. To continue Raekwon's story, here. And to follow the path of the Ghostface Killah, here. However, if you're brave enough to venture into the dark waters of Oh Donna's discog, go ahead. You've been warned
There. Debate solved. Back to other useless wastes of my time.
WORTH IT? You just read me telling you to go to hell if you hate Cuban Linx, the 'inferior' album in my equation above. What does that tell you about my opinion here?!
TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
WHO'S THE CHAMPION (FEATURING RZA)
Another soundtrack contribution by Ghostface, The Great White Hype OST this time, which would fit seamlessly on the album had it not already included two songs pulled from OSTs. Over yet another beat he built from scratch, RZA invites Ghostface to a particularly violent song about, as Rae brilliantly puts it in the hook, shooting the one-on-one. RZA and Ghost tale a vivid tale each about a beatdown they gave to two very unlucky souls respectively. Ghost's tale was, predictably, more descriptive and had him include his usual sprinkles of punchlines and imagery and yet I couldn't pick a verse better than the other: RZA really let loose with his venom, and if you've been following the man's lyrical career, you know this dude can get quite nasty. This is another one of those glorious moments.
BOX IN HAND (FEATURING STREETLIFE & METHOD MAN)
See? I told you the tracklist was fucked up. You probably wouldn't find this song unless you searched for its more popular titles these days, When You Walk or Deadly Darts. I'm still pissed that this was left off the proper release, even though, unlike The Soul Controller's situation, I fucking love its replacement Wu Will Survive. Here, RZA gives us a very soothing piano sample, which is an unconventionally tame choice by his standards, and the three featured MCs respond by turning in some of their most vicious punchlines and braggadocio on the beat. Ghost as usual sounds inspired, Streetlife proves yet again why Redman is actually the 12th member of the Wu-Tang by flowing just as confidently as the rest with his punchlines, and Mef ends it with what he's been doing since his Purple Tape cameo. Need I say more?
KB RIDIN (FEATURING METHOD MAN, SHACRONZ & SUGA BANG BANG)\
Now this is off the 2002 Wu compilation album The Sting, and yet Ghost and Mef's voices clearly sound like their 1996 counterparts. Another takeaway from 96 is that the beat is the exact beat that kicked in once Ghostface launched into his third verse on The Soul Controller. If you heard that song before, you know how blood-pumpingly awesome that beat is, and to hear Mef and Ghost rip it to shreds is a very glorious experience. Of course, you'll have to tune out the grating hook, sung horribly by Suga Bang Bang (Inspired. Really.) and the horrendous third verse by Shacronz, Popa Wu's son, (That explains a lot, actually.) but you won't mind one bit since you'll get to hear Mef and Ghost first. This was friggin' awesome!
FAST LIFE (FEATURING ANDRE RISON)
The song on which Ghost's fantastic relationship with DJ Mathematics truly began, and all it took was one fantastic verse from our star over a fitting Isaac Hayes loop that morphs into an adrenaline-surging instrumental. He is joined, however, by former football star Andre Rison who derails the fucking song with his horrendous attempt at rhyming. Add to that the uninvested female vocalist's lazy-ass interpretation of the Crusaders' Street Life, and there might be many who would eventually end up cursing my recommendation. Yet, as a Ghost nerd, I have to remind you of how well his verse sounds on that beat. It's the true precursor to their later legendary collaborations, while simultaneously being the reason why Ghost usurped control of all future guest appearance choices on their collaborations from the producer, who will produce for anybody, it seems. Anyways, I loved Ghost and Math's rapport here, and you should, too.
And we're really done.
For more Wu-ness, here. To continue Raekwon's story, here. And to follow the path of the Ghostface Killah, here. However, if you're brave enough to venture into the dark waters of Oh Donna's discog, go ahead. You've been warned
