Pete Rock & CL Smooth - All Souled Out (June 25, 1991)

Sometimes in life, one can feel pretty stupid. Sometimes the cause for such feeling is known only to said person. Sometimes it's plain for all to see. Unfortunately in my case, I'm the second scenario. You see, when you establish a blog called Boom Bap Reviews and a year goes by without you writing about a group that embodies boom bap in every sense of the word, you probably deserve to be branded as stupid.

Well, this shit ends now.

Peter Phillips was a scrawny little teenager living in a little place called Mount Vernon, New York. South side Mount Vernon, to be exact. Being that his home was literally a stone throw away from a certain place called the Bronx, he was very close to the epicenter of hip hop's birth. So naturally, he was introduced to the shit at a very young age. However, the importance of his age when he did is irrelevant compared to the importance of whom introduced him to this passion of ours. See, Pete is the younger cousin of a certain Dwight Myers, bka the late great Heavy D, who is right up there with the Rakims, the KRS's & the Kanes of the world as an integral part of a generation of MCs that changed lyrical contribution to hip hop forever and right up there with the LLs, the Beasties & the Run-DMCs of the world as one of the most successful rappers of all time, selling at least five million records throughout his lifetime, with his hits Now That We Found Love and Big Daddy still getting airplay on mainstream hip hop radio. (Just listen to his guest feature on Naughty By Nature's Ready For Dem. Go ahead, it's on YouTube. Great, huh?) One can safely assume that without the Hevster, Pete Rock (Hev's nickname for his younger cousin) would not be the hip hop household name he is today. The same goes for a certain Corey Penn.

Corey Penn also lived near the Bronx in a little place called New Rochelle, which neighbors Mount Vernon. He too was exposed to hip hop at an early age by his legendary cousin Maxwell Dixon, bka Brand Nubian's Grand Puba. Insert my praise for Heavy D here, except without the mainstream success part. Sorry, GP. Anyways, Hev and GP, influential legends that they are, arranged for Corey and Pete to meet in one of their many get-togethers in Lincoln Park, being that their respective crews were down with each other and all. And this meeting just so happened to coincide with Corey's serious efforts in following his beast of a cousin's footsteps into the realm of MCing while Pete gets a big time job in WBLS for his DJing skills under yet another hip hop great, legendary DJ/producer Marley Marl. (Yet another favor Hev pulled for his cousin. Of course, Pete had to have the skills to back such endorsements up in order for this favor to not seem as a total dick move. Which, thank Almighty God, he did) So you start seeing a pattern here: All this legendary influence would eventually result in something worthwhile, right?

These two got together, and the chemistry was off the charts. Pete, fresh off Marley's production tutelage on a few tracks off Hev's popular Big Tyme album, showed that he was ready to become a legend himself behind the boards, while Corey, whom Hev dubbed CL Smooth, showcased a certain talent in multisyllables that proved his cousin's endorsement of him was no fluke. The result? Their lead single, The Creator, is a Pete Rock solo song with Pete rapping.

I'm sure you're currently jammed proper in WTF mode. I don't blame you. But isn't Pete Rock the DJ, you ask? Why, yes indeedy feed the needy, he is. So how was he able to write lead single-worthy lyrics, you ask?

Here's the thing: He didn't. And according to him, he never wanted to rap in the first place. Yet, on one breezy night, him, CL & Cousin Puba were in the midst of a studio session when during break time, Pete started reciting lyrics from a favorite song of his. Puba, seasoned MC that he is, heard a certain quality in Pete's voice that was perfect for lyrical delivery. So being that Pete's only contributions to the art of MCing were a few corny-ass bars on Cousin Hevster's Don't Curse and a few cornier-ass bars on Pete's own timeless remix to the legendary Public Enemy's Shut Em Down, Puba offered to write all the song's lyrics for him. And when you are a producer of Pete's caliber and you have one of the best MCs of all friggin' time writing your lyrics for you, you're free to focus on the aspect of hip hop music you're actually good at. So, of course, The Creator was a hit. Here's the thing though, Pete: All this still doesn't justify why you, the DJ of the group, chose your first debut as a group on wax ever to be a solo song of yours, whereas the MC of your group is stuck on the b-side. I only attribute it to my lone gripe with the legendary Pete Rock: He's a bit too much of a mark for himself. I apologize to the hip hop heavyweight if this seems a little disrespectful, I don't mean it to be, but I am for damn sure no dickrider and I call it like I see it.

The success of The Creator spurred Elektra, the group label, to approve the making of a six-track EP, which indeed is my focus for this post. And you're here to find out if they blew it, you malicious piece of shit.

GOOD LIFE
Petey starts us off behind the boards with a soothing loop of O'Donel Levy while sprinkling in some Mountain ad-libs and a very famous Eddie Kendricks interlude. Corey utilizes the ensuing wizardry to open a basic-yet-incredibly vivid lyrical window into various tales and journeys of escaping poverty in America. This style fits him very well, because he has an authoritarian voice of someone you can definitely learn a thing or two from. That's right, exactly like a Chuck D. I loved this shit.

MECCA AND THE SOUL BROTHER
However, what's pretty impressive about CL Smooth is his ability to sound right at home doing either conscious rap like the above song, or displaying straight dominance on that mic, like this song here. Pete's beat (Hey, that rhymes!) showcases that the kid was a true genius behind the boards, welding two O'Donel Levy samples together, and cutting up Cousin Hev's first ever shout-out of PR & CL ingeniously as the hook. Overall the result is nothing short of awesome. Now allow me to get back to the lead single situation: This track is, of course, the b-side to The Creator. Now, I want you to honestly listen to both songs, back to back. And I mean this version, not the remix shown in the video. Heard both songs? OK. Now, do you honestly believe that The Creator fits being the lead single better than Mecca and The Soul Brother? Or should The Creator have been the b-side here with Mecca getting the lead look? Another thing: The term Mecca refers to the holiest city in Islam, and it's located in the western region of the Arabian Peninsula. Just wanted to throw that out there because this explanation will come into play when I review their next album.

GO WITH THE FLOW
Pete goes left with the S.O.U.L. flute sample dominating this track. With braggadocio being the bread and butter of an MC, CL's contribution really hammers home the fact that these two are skilled musicians vibing off each other. This was pretty enjoyable, yet I would structure it a bit later in retrospect. It's too early to slow down things.

THE CREATOR
The lead single. I've already talked about this in abundance but let's talk some more. Pete surrounds himself with a prominent King Curtis loop that gets the blood pumping something proper. As I've mentioned before, Cousin Puba wrote the lyrics to this song. And since he's a certified MCing legend, writing some killer punchlines is a walk in the park for him. Furthermore, his prediction that Pete has a good voice on that mic came true, because Pete delivers these lines as if he's been spitting all his life. I really do think this was a pretty good song, yet I'm still pissed that it was picked as the lead single. Spoiler alert: Thank God, Pete doesn't make this mistake again. Ever.

ALL SOULED OUT
Lou Donaldson is all over this instrumental, from the drums to the organs played to the light horns in the background. Brilliant work by PR. The speed of the beat forces CL to kick in high gear as he display yet another offering of punchlines. I must admit the fast pace fits his flow well, and he makes the most of said fact. Excellent song, but I might've been expecting more from a title track by such a team. That's pretty much all I got.

GOOD LIFE (GROUP HOME MIX)
I've been a staunch supporter of the original mix for a very long time, but it's only during listening to it while writing this review that I've finally changed my mind: This remix, where Pete cooks up a storm with a sweet Ray Barretto appetizer to start you off, followed by a brilliant Meters loop with some added Kool & The Gang flavor. I'm now totally convinced that combining this beat with the original lyrics realizes the desired vision better. And we're done.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Oh, how so little can go so long. All Souled Out is the place to start if, by a freak accident, somebody introduced you to Pete Rock and his importance to the game without somehow playing TROY for you. The following statement has been stated countless times, but PR & CL really do bring the best out of each other. Granted, my issue with the lead single choice is nagging but it isn't enough to deter you from enjoying the hell out of this release. It truly is a testament to the quality of this little EP that I can't really pick a favorite song out of the bunch. But perhaps All Souled Out's biggest accomplishment was it set the foundation for a career in the golden years of boom bap.

WORTH IT?
You bet your malicious ass. All Souled Out is as consistent as any hip hop release can get. All the songs here have aged beautifully, and in such a freak case that you haven't heard them before: Be prepared for a lifetime of fandom of these two.

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
THE CREATOR (SLIDE TO THE SIDE REMIX)
MUCH love to one Angus Batey for the heads up! I just heard this and I'm literally gobsmacked that I got the opportunity to hear something so rare! This must've been hell to acquire back when it originally came out on one of the single's many copies in '91. Anyway, the true highlight of this remix is that you get to hear CL share mic time with his DJ/producer and show him how it's really done! Over a typically masterful concoction of Mar-Keys & Tyrone Washington samples while retaining the genius Eddie Bo bass sample that made the original such an addictive track to begin with. If you loved this EP, you need to hear this! And we're done

For more in the scintillating career of Pete Rock, here. (You know because unfortunately CL hasn't really done much of note in his solo career.)

Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Forever (June 3, 1997)

Consistent output. The elusive goal that every artist worth a dime tries to achieve, and yet most end up failing miserably at some point during their careers. How many times have we seen entire acts fall apart because they never knew when to stop working? Trust me, it's a science.

The first artistic act to teach me this in any genre was the Wu-Tang Clan, and they did so through their lauded 5-year plan: A period of, you guessed it, five consecutive years where the Clan produced some of the best work hip hop has ever seen, reaching up to eight albums' worth of pure quality. Because of their sheer number, they gained an enormous advantage over other camps by producing all this in a shorter amount of time, although that meant an insane workload on their director, the RZA.

Speak of the Abbott, if he spends the remainder of his career trying to fuck up his legacy in hip hop, I won't care one bit. What he accomplished with the Wu's rise to the top is nothing short of groundbreaking. Humanely flawed, but groundbreaking nonetheless. This genius 5-year plan was his brainchild so, of course, he had to follow it through.

Now, the plan was always to enter with a deafening bang, splinter and conquer the various sides of the industry with a round of solo albums that would nevertheless further establish the camp's identity, then unite again to deliver the final act that would cement the Wu as a whole in pop culture history: Wu-Tang Forever. Sounds momentous, right? Well you bet your doughy and smelly ass, it was. This album generated a crazy amount of hype as the reunion album of the so-called "hip hop Beatles", even though their debut was only five years prior. As such, the lead single of the album needed to reflect this album's stature. Thus, the world was treated to Triumph.

Triumph was the first hip hop song to receive a video that cost $1 million, so naturally it got a ton of airplay on TV. For a Wu record, anyway, because, come on. It also sounded nothing like singles by other rap acts of that stature. Keep in mind that this single was released in the very peak of the playboy with the shiny suit era, a style popularized by the repulsive Sean Combs, known on this blog as Comby. The single, aided with nothing but the hype surrounding the record after the Clan's output in the past three years, fueled the commercial performance of the album, selling 2 million copies and thereby going 4x platinum in only four months, a reversal of the Wu's monetary fortunes, given the nature of their slow-burn sales. It remains the best-selling effort from the Wu camp to date.

I see your face. I said 2 million copies, yet I mentioned the album going 4x platinum. Well, silly. That's because Wu-Tang Forever is a double album! Holy buttfucking crapcakes, Batman! Double albums throughout history have almost always been highly bloated, highly inconsistent affairs that reflect Artist X's self-absorption, with said artist fully convinced that people are chomping at the nuts to hear whatever sow dung that comes out of his mouth under the guise of artistry. These obese works usually contain a single album's worth of good songs (if the artist is worth a shit, anyway) alongside a usually bigger album's worth of utter sewage. There are also double albums by highly respected artists that are, top-to-bottom, absolute menses. Now, compilation double albums are a different story: I'm very supportive of well thought out compilations, like the timeless Full Clip by the timeless Gang Starr, because they act as proper introductions to people who might not have heard of the artist displayed on said compilations. One of the  handful of exceptions in my mind is the Wu, because of one very simple reason: There are nine members in the group. It would theoretically be very easy to shift the weight of the album around between so many players.

On that note, many Wu fans were acutely aware of the shortage of some Wu members in comparison to the first five members that made the cut for the solo shots during the 5-year plan. RZA took notice of that and made sure he shed some extensive light on those members. This resulted in guys like Inspectah Deck receiving a ton of airtime on the album, for better or worse. Unfortunately, this came at the expense of the other two co-founders, the GZA and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, who were his damn cousins. That pissed me and a whole lot of people off, and more importantly, it pissed ODB off, too. Now, granted, ODB was in full-on party mode and didn't make it to many of the sessions but how would that explain GZA's absence as well? Enough rambling, let's move on.

This album also marks the very first time that RZA explicitly requests the help of his handpicked Wu-Elements: the first draft of which is Brooklyn's Derrick Harris bka True Master and Steubenville, Ohio's Selwyn Bogard bka Killarmy's 4th Disciple, who handle seven tracks shared between them: five for 4th Disciple and two for True Mas'. A lone track was given to surprise producing prospect Inspectah Deck. Let there be no mistake, though: RZA has his fingerprints deep in all of these dudes' tracks, mixing them after they're delivered to him with the Clan's verses just enough to fit the album structure, which is the sole reason why I blame RZA for not including ODB nor more of GZA on Triumph.

I remember the very first time I heard Triumph. It was just after I started researching the Wu on Wikipedia and Youtube, and this was at the very start of my voyages on both these services. I actually went looking for it right after I was done with Protect Ya Neck following my exposure to the latter record on True Crime: New York City. So, in a sense, Triumph is the second Wu-Tang Clan song I ever heard. I remember feeling blown away at the evolution of the group in every aspect: The rhymes, the musical backing, the video's scale. (I still somehow like the video, even though it had some pretty stupid choices. e.g. RZA's bullshit wings, Golden Arms dangling from a fucking tree. etc. Thanks Brett Ratner, you steaming pile of cinema excrement.) The two songs were light years apart. I spent an incredibly long time studying the single's lyrics, because the flows were so elevated I didn't understand them right away. But even back in my beginner days, I knew that I was becoming a fan of something fundamentally different than what little hip hop I used to listen to at the time.

And now, you're here to find out if I was right.

For clarity's sake, I've decided here, as well, that I won't be stating the songs that are credited as featuring Darryl Hill bka Cappadonna (aka Cappachino The Great aka Papi Wardrobe aka Oh Donna aka that dude who almost ruined this double album 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) and Patrick Charles bka Streetlife as being such. Because both members, especially Oh Donna, have since been included in the lineup of legitimate Wu generals. And as usual, I will be reviewing the version with the most official tracks of this album, the international version.

CD1:

WU-REVOLUTION
With a title like that, fans expect an epic display of lyricism, production and subject matter from the Wu, right? Well, too bad, as RZA thought studio time for the opening track on their triumphant return is best used for the mother of all Popa Wu rants. Seriously, this shit goes on for over six fucking minutes. No wonder people are so put off by this album. Hell, at least Words From The Genius had an actual song opening the album. A putrid song, sure, but a fucking song nevertheless. Remember my rant against Popa Wu in the Ironman review? Magnify that a million fold. The horror of this song is further amplified by something called an Uncle Pete attempting to sing while sharing equal babble time with Popa Wu. After 6:17 minutes, (I'm telling all you digital owners of this album the exact moment to where you can skip this shit to spare you the torture vinyl & cassette owners go through. Damn, I love iTunes.) we hear the thing we should've heard all the way back in the beginning of the track: A kung fu sample, and an exquisite one at that. This sample is really the only reason why I haven't deleted this track the fuck off my tracklist of this album, which brings me to another issue I have with Wu-Tang Forever: Why aren't these kung fu intros mixed into the very tracks they're introducing? You read correctly, I wrote tracks, because there's more than one instance that this happens. Fuck anything not kung fu-related on this piece of shit.

REUNITED
The kung fu sample of bliss leads into the TRUE album opener. Remember how Bring Da Ruckus was the perfect opener for 36 Chambers? This song's function is the exact same. The marriage between beat and rhymes even pumps your blood in a very similar way. On the musical front, this song is a live-instrumentation RZA composition top-to-bottom, and it's glorious. The various strings and keyboards really do their part in elevating the feeling that you're listening to the Wu arriving at their coronation party. And the lyrics, by three co-founders and the bankable star no less, also add to said image. I know GZA's verse earned a quotable in The Source, and rightfully so, but I've always preferred RZA's contribution. Fuck it, I gladly admit the hook is a guilty pleasure. This bangs in all right ways so hard it successfully washed away the previous track's remnants without a trace. This song was so popular it was issued as the third single, complete with a video and everything. Granted the video was a crapfest, but it's still a video of a kickass track.

FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE
I didn't think it possible, but by God RZA pulls it off: His beat here, provided mostly by live instrumentation as well, is an even better production than the previous one, and I'm not saying that because of the sped-up King Floyd sample (which scares the bejesus out of my wife, for some reason I'm not privy to at the moment.). The bass riff, the Wu-Tang chants in the background, it's all pretty energetic. So, imagine my bewilderment when Inspectah Deck starts his verse: Believe me when I say that, in a continuation of his fine showing on Ironman, his lyrical abilities have grown so much on this album that it's no longer a debate, he has without doubt evolved into one of the best MCs in history. His punchlines on this song are Exhibit A. After the Rebel blazes through his bars, Masta Killa, another underutilized Wu member, follows up with an imagery-laden verse beautifully contrasting with Deck's that echo his own transformation into his own legendary status. Finally, Cappadonna of Oh Donna fame closes out with a verse that signals a certain change from his triumphant displays on Ironman, though not quite the drop in quality that I've been painting previously. I said almost ruined, didn't I? His command of flow does seem to be a bit off, though, but it can still be taken as him toying with his flow a la Kool Keith. And trust me, on this album, that comparison is not that far off of a stretch. Yet. But yeah, I love this song even more than Reunited.

SCARY HOURS
I know it's not the song's full title. I simply chose not to write the whole thing because: a. It's my fucking review. b. It's my fucking review. c. The title is too long for no goddamn reason whatsoever. And, yeah, did I mention that it's my fucking review? The first 4th Disciple contribution of the night, and unlike RZA, he and the rest of the guest producers mostly stick to samples with their beats. 4th's beat, for example, is comprised of two expertly cut seconds from a Skeeter Davis record. The first cut, in particular, is nothing short of genius: by cutting it mid-lyric, the result sounds like the singer is singing "Money!" when she's singing "shining"! Of course, any reference to material wealth on the track is bound to attract Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, who bookend a Method Man verse that sounds like he's being sedated mid-performance. RAGU kill their shit, by the way, with Chef as usual delivering his crhymes while displaying the peak of his flow skills, a peak that he somehow sustained for a few years, only to drop such a drop from which he would never recover from again. Enjoy that shit while it lasts and cherish the fact that he debuted it on his crew's best-selling album. As for GFK? He hits his peak on this album as well, one which he sustained much longer than his portly cohort. However, he elevated everything that was good about his writing on Ironman, to the degree that I honestly think that that while his future output is legendarily consistent, nothing tops what he shows you on Wu-Tang Forever, in my humble opinion. And this song is his first display of the night. By the way, I'm a fan of the fading out of an MC's verse and how it gives the illusion that he can rhyme forever. Not as good as the previous two songs, but still very good.

VISIONZ
Inspectah Deck's lone production, and it's his second ever to boot! His debut was his solo track on the Tales From The Hood OST, Let Me At Them, which was an interesting punchline/thuggery display. But this track? Visionz is a posse cut masterpiece, italics emphasized. The keys you hear on this instrumental equip you with the feeling that you're a towering giant walking among men, and for a producer to achieve that on only his second try is amazing. Five members deliver the goods, some even trading styles with each other: Rae, of all people, handles punchline duties, while Mef joins Masta Killa in taking care of imagery. And even though half of GFK's fantastic verse was on Comby's putrid Face to Face Mix of Babyface's equally irksome This Is for the Lover in You (I don't know how the fuck GFK's lyrics ended up there. Maybe the theme suited them, yet I doubt it.), they feel right at home here because it's clearly evident that they were written primarily for this song. He successfully blends imagery and punchlines resulting in a potent mix. But the true star, predictably, is the song's producer as Deck obliterates his own beat to kingdom come. Seriously, it's a full-blown MCing lesson, with all the elements present: powerful imagery, witty punchlines, addictive flow. The whole gamut's here, baby. A fucking epic track.

AS HIGH AS WU-TANG GET
A lot of people are stuck on how GZA and Mef haven't yet released a worthy sequel to Shadowboxin', and how Stringplay from GZA's 3rd album Beneath The Surface was an unworthy followup. First of all, Stringplay was awesome. And second but most important, do Wu fans have selective memory? The Shadowboxin' sequel is right the fuck here, complete with a fantastically batshit ODB hook. GZA and Mef continue their awesome chemistry with one blistering verse each. GZA's is appropriately an MCing lesson that is my favorite verse from him ever, including his most quoted line: "Make it brief, son. Half short, twice strong." Mef's, on the other hand, is a healthy smack in the face to anyone who has the gall to say Mef didn't bring it as hard on this album as he did on 36 Chambers and the solo joints. Your only real point of argument is his verse on Scary Hours, and that was by fucking design! His verse is a wonderful mix of punchlines and introspection, an inspired combo that he's been developing from Cuban Linx onwards. This song is smash #5 in a row.

SEVERE PUNISHMENT
A kung fu sample that still feels like a breath of fresh air. Damn, why doesn't RZA rely on these as much anymore? Anyways, there's one final Wu member we haven't seen much of so far, but fret no more, boy/girl. For this song is this album's official introduction to Golden Arms, negative capability extraordinaire. And, folk, he brings it something nasty here, please believe. Backed by yet another one of those organic custom RZA beats, it speaks volumes that he sets off a song where GZA, Chef and RZA co-star. Speaking of the Genius, he's in rare form because on this album he schools you in the art of MCing every time he spits. And this song is no exception. Rae follows with his own hybrid of thuggish punchlines and vicious imagery. Then, RZA starts his verse by quoting four bars from GZA's early single Words From A Genius, after which he finishes the remainder of his MCing lesson of a verse with his prattling flow, which he adopted, again, from Cuban Linx. He's really trying to surpass GZA, his mentor, on this album. But it's the surprise final MC on this song, Masta Killa (yet another of GZA's students), who succeeds in closing the song out properly with his display of metaphor wizardry. Think about this for a second: Three of the most famous Wu members were overshadowed by the two most unrecognizable of their brethren, both book-ending the song. And I loved every second of it.

OLDER GODS
The second 4th Disciple contribution, in which he follows his mentor into live instrumentation territory with fantastic minimalist results. Here, both of RAGU's contributions really seem to blend in together, with Rae doing his damnedest to adopt GFK's choice patterns. And they pull it off beautifully. Both, however, are upstaged by GZA, who seems to be under the impression that his fans don't consider him capable of delivering effective rhymes. Naturally, he delivers a performance that stands right next to his timeless displays on Living In The World Today. So, yeah, obviously this song's my shit.

MARIA
To all rappers everywhere: You do not have a gun pointed at your 10-gallon heads threatening to blow your brain's innards away if you don't include a misogynistic abortion of a song in your album. Hell, the next comment is specifically for the Wu: You pulled it off in three albums in your catalog so far!! Which is why I regret to inform my reader that this song is such an example. Furthermore, RZA's beat, sampling Blood, Sweat & Tears, succeeded in annoying me even more at him and his two cohorts ODB and Oh Donna, thereby adding to my initial frustration with their revolting lyrics, with RZA's verse the most revolting of all. Somehow someway, the Wu were capable of bringing the fantastic momentum established in the previous seven songs to a grinding halt with this horseshit. This song shares Wu-Revolution's infuriating trait that it's contains a sublime kung-fu intended for the following song, which is just peachy. Oh well, at least it wasn't attached to 6:17 minutes of abhorrent psychobabble like Reunited's intro was.

A BETTER TOMORROW
No lie: Ever since I started my reviews of the Wu catalog, I've been waiting to review this song. Why? Because I'm about to state the most blasphemous hip hop-related opinion ever written on this blog so far. Dramatic much? You bet your sexual organs, it is. This song is the single, solitary finest piece out of the Wu camp. EVER. You may be thinking: Come on, you're going to give such a grandiose title to this? You bet your digestive system, I am. First of all, the sample flipped by 4th Disciple here is his best work in music, bar none. The eleven seconds he repeatedly freaked, from a Peter Nero classic composition no less, establishes the importance of the message the MCs are trying to relay to us. And it's only right that we start with Inspectah Deck who, true to his spectacular form on this album, gives you the most powerful lyrics I've ever heard from the man. You know when you hear a statement so poignant that it shocks you into tears before you even register its power into your brain? I swear that this is what Jason Hunter did to me with this verse of his. From then on, the tearflow went uninterrupted as Masta Killa depicts a gutwrenching scene in his best performance, as well. His lyrics' power match that of Deck's blow for blow, and I was left a blubbering mess in their wake. Which wasn't good, you see, as the third verse (by Golden Arms, of all the Wu members) was the most powerful verse on the entire track, simply because of the fact that he pulled off a verse that stayed loyal to his complex negative capability while referencing the real-life accidental shooting of his then-infant son. If you know anything about this negative capability shit, then you damn well understand how hard it is to pull that off, and Golden Arms did it masterfully. Which means that Baby Uey, understandably the most ridiculed member of the Wu-Tang Clan, delivered the best verse on their best song. After this verse, I no longer care about his lame solo career choices. He's done enough on this song alone to warrant him a rightful place directly alongside his Wu brethren in my MC Hall Of Fame. Back to the song: RZA follows Golden Arms (in the first of five successive instances where, when he shares a song with Goldie, he pairs his verse directly with the ridiculed Wu member) with a 16 that's half-atrociously misogynistic and half-exquisitely poetic. My guess is that this was written during the time he found out that his girl was two-timing him. Still no excuse to include eight bars that almost fucked up the song's momentum. Thankfully as mentioned, his remaining eight bars rank among his most introspective work ever. Finally Method Man, with his closing contribution, proves that he's simply a more legitimate lyrical threat when he's costarring with MCs that push him into areas that force him to be brilliant that are far away from his punchline domain where he usually reigns supreme. For the record, his verse closes the song beautifully with my favorite verse of his, as well. I wish RZA didn't veer into his brief lady-bashing, I wish that Golden Arms' verse closed out this song and I wish said song was the final track on CD2 of this double album. But all things considered? This remains my all-time favorite song by the Wu.

IT'S YOURZ
Following up the previous song is impossible. So, the Wu just said 'Fuck it, let's floss on em!' And floss they did. This song became so popular that the camp packaged it as the second single, complete with a video showcasing the Wu clubbing their asses off, although they weirdly replaced GFK's verse here with his Older Gods showing, even though the single doesn't come with any version of said song. Hell, the only version of the It's Yourz single that features another song has a bullshit remix of Reunited, not the album version of Older Gods featured in the video. Enough nitpicking. RZA whips up a Jean-Pierre Decerf and Marc Saclays sample, laces it with some Gaz drums and lets the wondrous result loose for the Wu to hunt down. Rae insisted on being first, with his newly found GFK-aping ways. He still pulls off a classic verse, though. RZA gives you an ideal hook, despite the desperate 5% references, after which Golden Arms follows up with a dope-ass braggadocious entry in negative capability that shows you just how much dude is feeling himself. RZA, like I mentioned, returns after Goldie for a full verse this time, and for a flossy performance, boy he sounds pissed. Call me sadistic, but I like it when that much emotion succeeds in highlighting your qualities as an MC, which is definitely the case here. That display of rage is immediately cooled down by a calm-by-comparison Rebel INS showing, where my favorite Wu MC lets loose a quick flurry of punchlines that still showcase how much his talent is fully realized on this album so far. The hook returns, then gives way to GFK paying Deck back for his Visionz victory earlier, because while Deck had the best verse on the earlier song by a country fucking mile, GFK delivers a verse equally filled with quotables here, most notably the 'think like the man behind the register' line. The full picture becomes that the Wu made sure their choice for the second single was a smart one. Mission accomplished.

CD2:

INTRO
An intro is still mostly a skippable intro. However, RZA and co., including a badass-sounding GZA in the middle, call out wack-ass musicians in hip hop, whether behind them boards or on that mic. Can't ask for more than that on a skippable intro.

TRIUMPH
The lead single, and the biggest song from the Wu camp to date after CREAM. I am forever pissed at RZA for not including GZA and ODB's verses from Reunited on this track. Other than that, this song lives up to every bit of its reputation. Four seconds from a Rance Allen Group record was all RZA needed to create a monolithic instrumental. Imagine if all of NY's towers and titantrons were made of light and the entire city was home to the biggest red carpet premiere you could think of. Transform that into hip hop form and this beat is what you get. I also love that this is not lost on the rest of the Clan, especially Deck, who woke up too early one morning and found RZA with just Triumph's drum sample. He spit his now-legendary verse, previously used on Tony Touch's Power Cypha mixtape, and crashed back to sleep. When he woke up, he found that RZA added the legendary abovementioned sample, and that everyone else in the Clan got on the resulting beat and followed his lead. Mef continued his blistering form, with punchlines mixed with apocalyptic imagery, Cap with his left-field references continue to confuse Wu fans to this day, though let it be known: They're ultimately alright with me, regardless of his irregular flow. Golden Arms follows suit with yet another quotable negative capability performance. I don't care if y'all are sick of me referencing that particular aspect of his lyrics, because it's the least I can do after so many people bashed the ever-living shit out of his entire career, solo or otherwise, for so many years. Although, there are some who are completely justified in doing so. I'll explain later on in this review. The Abbott of the Clan follows its least-liked member for the third time on this album with a goddamn physiology lesson of a verse that really sheds light on how dope his post-Cuban Linx flow really is. Next up is GZA, and if you were waiting for him to finally follow up his magnificent showings from CD1, by God you're in for a downer: The GZA, a goddamn co-founder of the Wu, has only eight bars on the entirety of CD2, six of which are on this song. RZA should take full responsibility for such a fuckup. Anyway, Masta Killa seems to have sensed that injustice, because he turns in yet another shining gem of a verse, one filled with his reputed talent for metaphors. In fact, he just might be the most metaphorical of the entire Clan. GFK is up next, and dear Lord, he seems to be on a mission: Engrave his blend of imagery and punchlines into every Wu fan's brain by shouting. He really shouts the fuck out of his verses, trust me. And he does you one by adopting Rae's flow, further blurring the lines between the two MCs' styles. Speaking of the Chef, for the second time on this album, he adopts GFK's choice patterns in his bars, sounding much better in the process and ending this leviathan song on the high note it deserves. In closing: There's a reason why this song is their second-biggest track to date. Nine reasons, in fact. Even if one of them had only six bars to prove itself. My second favorite Wu track of all time, and their absolute biggest track in my opinion, by far.

IMPOSSIBLE
The high note established by the previous track once again puts this song in the enviable position of following it up, which it can't, of course. Hell, it sounds like RZA was so exhausted from his work behind the boards on Triumph that he had to take a breather for this track. So, 4th Disciple's back, and it's another somber piece of work that samples, of all people, the Beethoven himself. Even Tekitha sung her very distracting chorus to Beethoven's notes. Feeling yourself much? Apparently, though, RZA still has enough lyrical energy to drop a goddamn thesis of a verse that still had room enough to include a pinch of braggadocio and the odd punchline or two. He once again pairs his verse with another masterpiece contribution from Golden Arms, who followed up in the same vein with his patented take on negative capability. I must point out, though, that his verse here is slightly inferior to his gargantuan accomplishment on A Better Tomorrow. Of course, GFK ends the song with his greatest lyrical contribution to hip hop ever. A fact that has already been hyped to the moon and back, and you better damn well believe it's deserving of such. He dives headfirst into a tale that is shocking in its ability to convey what an event like the death of a human being actually feels like. So, even though he really didn't use his entire arsenal on this verse, he didn't need to. All he had to do was inject the emotion needed to maintain the strength of the image he was trying to paint through lyrics. To this end, I must mention the fact that RZA should've ended the song without Rae's following outro. Because even though you can feel Rae's honesty, what he ended up saying can only come up short in comparison with GFK's timeless verse. Yet another powerful message on this album, though I still edge out A Better Tomorrow as the *ahem* better track.

LITTLE GHETTO BOYS
So the Wu deliver a nice contrast between the presence of mind in the previous track's outro and the absence of said mind in the current track's intro. Nerd talk, I know, but it's part of the whole healthy meal that is this review. So, most heads complain about the originality factor being absent from this track's beat just because RZA delivered a similar concept for a Donny Hathaway tribute to Dr. Dre's Little Ghetto Boy from his 1992 overrated classic The Chronic. But most people overlook the fact that the similarities stop at the title and sample choice: literally everything else about the track cannot be more different. RZA's composition remains far more dreary than anything the soulful tunes of Dre's beat dished out. As for the lyrical front, Rae spits, no lie, his best lyrical showing to date. Seriously, every fucking thing one could like about Raekwon the Chef is present in this offering: Imagery, punchlines, thuggery, slick talk, the whole shit. Oh Donna then abandons the song's concept entirely by spitting an otherwise dope verse where he calls out east coast rappers who bit his costar's style, amidst other funny shit like: "Peep my new style fuck Cristal and Moet/I drink Evian water while my darts get published" Hilarious, but very far off the song's subject. Imagine what could've been had RZA swapped Cap's verse with GFK's from the previous song. One can only dream. Nevertheless, this song is a must hear for Rae's verse alone. It's that good. Once again, though, a kung-fu sample meant as an intro to the next song invades this track's space, transitioning you into...

DEADLY MELODY
The song where Masta Killa decides 'Alright, I'm done being in the shadows.' He straight up violates RZA's banging-ass piano-centered beat in such a way that nobody on the remainder of this track comes remotely close to topping. On some real talk his work is metaphorical perfection. Matter of fact, one thing I've always liked about the High Chief is the fact that you can't really find that many 'likes' in his rhymes. Example: 'The flow changes like a chameleon...etc.' Ever since Liquid Swords, he's been dialing down on that particular tool hard, to the point where he only uses it once during the entirety of his showings on Wu-Tang Forever. Granted it's on this song but regardless, that's fucking impressive. So, Golden Arms attempts to continue the momentum singularly established by the previous verse with yet another example of his mastery of negative capability. However, negative capability is a style much more suited to introspection than braggadocio, so Goldie is kept from upstaging Masta Killa this time. RZA, for the final time on this album, sides his verse with Golden Arms' in an effort to feed off its energy, and it works beautifully, yet RZA also starts a very unfair trend that continues throughout the rest of the track: He splits his contribution to two verses and convinces costars Mef and Streetlife to do the same. Oh by the by, this song marks the official induction of Streetlife as an official member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Feel free to argue my point of view regarding this matter in the comments section. It's there for a fucking reason, my lone reader. RZA alternates between him and Mef first, then he makes the weird choice of forcing both Masta Killa and Golden Arms to spit a minuscule contribution each. He then irritates you further by throwing in a measly two bars from the GZA. I know you've been on your musician flex for the longest, dude, but why would you shut out the most experienced member from your crew from this CD2? And he's your older cousin and mentor, might I add? Especially considering how minute his contributions are on both Triumph and this particular track? What you should've done is keep every single one of your contributions at one verse each. Hell, it's a right sight better than cramming three very capable MCs in a mere five-bar space, especially when one of whom is a bonafide co-founder of the Wu. Other than that particular fiasco, the rest of the track returns to the glorious heights established by Masta Killa with Method Man returning and establishing a glorious chemistry with his weed-carrier Streetlife for the first time on a wide commercial release. Seriously, these guys sound great together. Streetlife then makes way for a surprise GFK verse that seems as if it was planned to rectify the five-bar mess earlier. And GFK makes sure his verse accomplishes just that, with his trademark flavorful blend of imagery and punchlines. After which Streetlife returns and asserts himself within the Wu lineup proper. My final verdict on this track? Even with the five-bar fuckery, I still think it's an awesome song but reviewing it was a fucking nightmare. A three-week nightmare. The track, once again, ends with a skit intended for the next song, where RZA and the underrated Dreddy Kreuger call Inspectah Deck over for a smoking session until the Rebel notices a dude who has beef with his crew...

THE CITY
...After which multiple gunshots can be heard where it's implied that Deck either shot the fucker or was shot by the fucker. 4th Disciple is back on the boards and it seems like he's officially in charge of the more morose songs on the album, whether they be thug shit or introspective babble, two fields Inspectah Deck seems to be steadily staking claim in. Good thing that this song contains a dark mesh of both, as Inspectah Deck rips through the live 4th Disciple beat with two incendiary verses that comprise his most known solo song outside his own catalog. The lyrics rank right up there with his legendary work on A Better Tomorrow and Assassination Day, especially the second verse. In closing, I'll be honest: While the beat is a definite grower, I've always felt the lyrics deserved a more grandiose backing. It's certainly not as if 4th Disciple can't deliver on said standards. However, the track remains an essential part of this double album.

THE PROJECTS
Now why in the fuck does this track get to have its intro attached to it when other more deserving tracks don't, especially when the intro is a bullshit phone call between Rae and Wu-Affiliate Shyheim, whose mere mention now is legitimately depressing because of the way he eventually threw his life away. Here's hoping he comes out of jail a better person. Anyways, RZA orchestrates a beautiful piano instrumental sprinkled with a sweet violin sample from the O'Jays throughout. The Wu-Massacre trio (That album. Ugh.) handle this track while Golden Arms is limited to the embarrassing routine during the hook by simply exclaiming 'Projects!' three times before shouting 'New York projects!' once. Once again, RZA takes full blame for this. If Goldie wasn't able to deliver to the Wu's standards during that session, simply leave him out of the damn song. Back to the actual lyrics, though, as Rae begins with some top notch bragging. By now, he has fully adopted GFK's style of using the most out-of-left-field reference he can come up with to assist him in his verses, this one being no exception. Mef follows up with a verse that shows just how far he's come as an MC who would merely be associated with punchlines by himself, with a more condemning twist to his quality lyrical posturing. Check the first six bars and the last four to understand exactly what I'm talking about. Finally, GFK comes with a verse that, in all outward appearances, has been nominated for the most misogynistic verse ever written. I used to think so, too, which always drove me nuts. To the point that I'd always fail to distinguish his very last bar: 'The condom broke, bitch you got AIDS, I'm shaking in my bones' That lone bar made me understand the true nature of this verse: GFK is basically playing the role of a misogynistic asshole who gets what's coming to him. Matter of fact, what if he was talking from Big Moe from the shelter's perspective about his encounter with Stephanie? Remember? His friend that he told you about in Tearz, way back on 36 Chambers?! The dude who 'got stuck with the HIV'?! Come to think of it, he did describe him as an arrogant bastard who 'came out laughing with glory' when he fucked Thelma. I now consider this verse a very clever piece of fan service, and it has a positive message under a layer that pisses superficial people the fuck off. Let me make it very clear that I'm including my former self in that particular group. It's like he doesn't want any new fans while reserving his verse's nature to only the true Wu heads, whom he knows will dissect every single bar coming out of his mouth. Reviewing this track was immensely entertaining, and it's a kickass song to boot!

BELLS OF WAR
Yet another RZA masterpiece behind the boards, as he strings a soothing live guitar & keyboards loop that contrasts with the five Wu members currently attending's rough assertion of themselves over the scope of hip hop in general. Golden Arms continues his stride of amazing negative capability performances, banging out yet another boastful verse in superb form. Mef follows up with a chillingly menacing verse that still found space for them punchlines he's so good at. I honestly feel that this album makes a great case for Mef as a multi-faceted lyricist who can deliver beautifully on any topic he chooses to rhyme about. I say this fully aware that Mef himself criticizes his work on this album hard. The evidence is damning, dude: This album houses your best penmanship to date it's not even funny. RZA steps up next for yet another thesis punctuated with the odd threat or boast here and there, making me lament that he chose to head in that Bobby Digital venture afterwards, because it's obvious that being dead serious is where he lyrically shines best. Then, an interlude surprises you from out of nowhere, where RAGU and their own clique have a useless boxing discussion, after which GFK gifts you with another one of his trademark blackouts, once again proving why this album houses his finest material ever. I simply cannot stress enough just how much Wu-Tang Forever has been the best lyrical showcase for the Wu in general this far in. RZA then drags you into a long-ass intro that, honestly never felt that long. Maybe it's because he was having a natural discussion with GZA and Dreddy Kreuger that felt so informal, the shit just breezed through. Still a masterpiece of a song. Kudos to RZA and the Wu-Elements for keeping the standards consistently high with nine great songs in a row! That's pretty damn impressive.

THE MGM
Finally, True Master is allowed his time in the sun! Derrick Harris' first production appearance on the album is RAGU's worthy sequel to Heaven & Hell, and he made sure his beat was recognized as such. He normally concentrates on big, theatrical music anyway. As for RAGU, they masterfully tie their story to a real life event, the Caesar-Whitaker fight at, you guessed it, the MGM in Vegas back in 1994. It amazes me how these two can describe so much happening from such an insignificant instance as merely arriving in the crowd for the fight, and still find time to flex their lyrical muscles with imagery and references. The hot streak continues...

DOG SHIT
Or not. RZA returns with a beat that he tailored exclusively for the return of Old Dirty Bastard to the fold, and this time he's given a full track to rip. So, of course he goes on a misogynistic drunken rampage. I hated every aspect of this song: From the off-kilter music, to ODB drunk off his ass and biting from other MCs in his camp. That "Calling me a dog" bar? That was Mef's. I really hate this stupid song. especially when Dirt is capable of so much more than resorting to women-bashing. It ain't my fault RZA couldn't pick the right woman at the time. The outro with the dude snapping at everybody was hilarious, but only the first time.

DUCK SEAZON

RZA commissions a straight-up confrontational instrumental, perfect for an MC to deliver his punchlines on and make a listener feel that extra sting. Which is why it was so disappointing to hear Ol' Cheffy set it off with a boringly flossy verse. Sure his flow's still amazing, but it's a damn shame that he didn't use his crhymes here, as that would've been perfect. RZA sensed this and decided to school Rae on how to deliver a proper thuggish verse that still has some knowledge woven into it, doing so with a 50+ bar verse no less. Mef could only follow RZA's example with his following verse filled with menacing-ass punchlines. And the final verse on this track is...Rae again. Really, RZA? No room for GZA here? He would've been perfect on this song. What's more, Rae didn't learn the lesson Mef and especially RZA were trying to teach him, because he went straight back to the flossy shit that made his first contribution wack in the first place. Overall, the track is fairly decent, but that ODB solo still isn't washed out of my ear. The track ends with yet another kung-fu sample meant for the next track. UGH.

HELLZ WIND STAFF
What's very noticeable about this track is the fact that RZA went back to sampling hard on here. Every component of the beat is sampled, even the kung-fu intro! This seems to have delighted the rest of the Wu, as they bring forth yet another one of those posse cuts they seem to revel in. Streetlife sets shit off with a verse that would've sounded right at home in A Better Tomorrow or Impossible, but sounds a bit pretentious here. Don't get me wrong, it's still his best verse ever, but this beat feels more like a battle record, which is why it might not have the desired impact with some. And which is also precisely why GFK shines real nice on the following verse: The man has truly opened his imagery floodgates on this album, and by the looks of it, opened Raekwon's as well since Rae is once again aping GFK masterfully here, even though GFK, in what would unfortunately become quite the Wu trend, brutally teases you here with what could've been an epic followup to Cuban Linx instead of Immobilarity, which I will review later on. Mef is also in his element with the mythological punchlines he's been spewing on this album so far, continuing to do so in fine form here. RZA, in particular, seems to have put in extra effort to make his brash punchlines leave a mark. Peep this: 'Soul edged blade controls your Interpol' Or this: 'Pushed through like George Bush Operation Whoops' Damn, those two lines stung like a motherfucker! I'm even inclined to admit he got the better of a fully competent Inspectah Deck verse, which is the single biggest lyrical accomplishment RZA achieved on this song. This finally washed that ODB solo out of my ear properly.

HEATERZ
True Master returns with a damn fine followup to the previous track. His sample game, just beginning to hit the peak that he would sustain for two straight years, is solidified here with how he cuts up a Gladys Kinght record multiple times to form an epic beat in every sense of the word. Seriously, this beat is still a favorite for many a Wu fan almost 20 years later. Rae sets it off with his flow amping you up as you listen to another one of his dope GFK-aping verses, until he's blown away by a Deck performance that asserts INS as the true lyrical king of this song. ODB only gets four bars, because RZA. Golden Arms gives you his final relevant contribution on this album with an assertive negative capability verse. The song's final verse is left to Cappadonna, who might be getting flak for his numerous fuckups on his debut, but he's unfairly criticized on this album as his shit was still dope, sans the Maria joint where everybody involved sucked balls. In fact, Heaterz houses Cap's best lyrical performance on Wu-Tang Forever. And it's the second song where he establishes an infectious chemistry with True Master, the first being GFK's Fish. I'll even one up that statement, dear Wu head: Most of True Mas' best productions were Cap' tracks or ones that featured Cap. Think about it, and you'll definitely know it to be true. Then, we hear a shower running where we hear a couple exchanging romantic banter... wait...

BLACK SHAMPOO
And everything that was good in the world was sucked away into this gaping black hole of a song. This song is the lone reason why I wouldn't blame ANYONE out there ripping Uey's rap career a new asshole. I'm going to be fair, however, and rip RZA's an even bigger one. Why? It was his fucking idea in the first place! What kind of sick twisted fuck puts this sow manure at the end of a double album chock full of hits. Maria and Dog Shit sound like A Better Tomorrow compared to this, for we have the most pedophilic RZA beat that will ever come across any of your senses backing a Uey performance where he actually plays the female in the relationship! If any verse Uey spit on this album is anything to go by, you'd know that be some weird-ass shit. Imagine if EL James wrote Fifty Shades Of Grey as a rap song, and then people found out that EL James was simply an avatar of a disgusting 90 year-old man posing as a 50 year-old woman with a midlife crisis. That's what this song feels like! Motherfuck this song and its entire family. Sigh, at least I have Golden Arms' verse on A Better Tomorrow to fall back to.

SECOND COMING (FEATURING TEKITHA)
Because this makes sense: An R&B song. A boring-ass R&B song, might I add, on a hardcore Wu-Tang album. And it's about how the Wu are divine saviors of hip hop... Y'know, I'm starting to appreciate the contrast of this album even more. Because of the fact that this album has been majorly full of skyrocketing highs, it makes sense for RZA to purposefully create the most plummeting lows he can think of just to show that he's human, you feel me?

THE CLOSING
The outro, where Rae is really feeling himself. Here he thinks he literally saved the world, so he's ordering the fans to go buy Wu-Wear and shit as thanks for him blessing you with this album. Or maybe this was a waste of everyone's time. For US consumers, this is where the album ends...

SUNSHOWER
Which really sucks for them, as they were missing out on a RZA solo song that houses his finest lyrical work in hip hop, bar fucking none. Remember those lyrical theses him and Cousin GZA drop on their records from time to time? Well, here's a full song with two 50+ bar verses, throwing everything at you, from philosophy, to religion, to politics, to lyrical displays, everything. If that ain't a hip hop thesis then I don't know what is. Smart choice for the beat, as well, making that shit calm yet thumping to keep the listener following the lyrics being prattled off. Many people close to RZA within the Wu camp have stated that this lone song will be the closest anyone from the public will get to hear from The Cure, RZA's original plan for a debut album. Aside from that Tragedy joint, anyway. You know, before Bobby Digital was unleashed unto the unsuspecting public. I digress, this is how you end an album.

THE PROJECTS (REMIX)
Now this I find to be a complete waste of everybody's time. RZA, the fans, the label, everyone. Not only is RZA dead wrong by removing the exquisite piano piece on the original but his keyboards in the section's place are an absolute snoozefest. I wish there's something more to talk about, but everything else about this song is exactly the same as the original cut. If you own this digitally, you could delete this song from the tracklist and your life wouldn't be affected in the slightest. Unless you're an obsessive Wu collector who must have every single piece of work they ever released. In which case, I pity you and your loved ones who expect you to accomplish something, ANYthing, with your free time.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Whew!

This project must've certainly been hell to record, because RZA was obviously trying to showcase each and every member of the Wu-Tang Clan properly on here, with very unexpected results at times. No two ways about it, there were times where he fucked up bad because it's a 28-track album, for God's sake! He was bound to slip up somewhere! Granted the slipups were devastating but still, when 20 of those 28 are absolutely timeless hip hop. You know you have something special here. Of all RZA's experiments behind the boards, this is the album where he succeeded most. Throughout the massively-spanning careers of each and every MC featured on here, this is the album where they spit their best shit. And when all the smoke settled, the lesser-known members of the Wu shined equally as much as the figureheads. Well, maybe if GZA and ODB were featured more, that would be true but still. Everyone who jumped from 36 Chambers to this found nine very different MCs here, and it was because everyone incorporated their experiences froim the first batch of solo albums and pooled them here, making for a very satisfying meal where everybody hit their absolute peak, sans, unfortunately, ODB. The addition of 4th Disciple and True Master only added to the momentum this album was gaining over every other double album I know of. The final product before you is, in my opinion, the greatest piece of work the Wu-Tang Clan, group or solo, has ever released. Yes. This over 36 Chambers.

WORTH IT? You better fucking get this shit right now or, I swear to the Almighty, I will... do absolutely nothing because, grow up, this is the internet. What would I look like threatening random people on the internet? Although if there was some way I could physically deliver on those threats... One can only dream.

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
AMERICA (FEATURING KILLAH PRIEST)
Ah yes, the public service announcement. Although this one is probably for the right reasons, as this was the lead single from the America Is Dying Slowly compilation charity album, the 8th in the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series, recorded by the Red Hot Organization for AIDS relief. The beat remains one of my favorite RZA works, and the lyrics are predictably top-notch because the Wu has provided valid proof over the years that they excel in serious subject matter. I wish Masta Killa and Inspectah Deck had more time to give you proper verses equal to their costars instead of listening to the remainder of the beat for nearly three minutes without one verse to be heard. Oh well, at least the beat is a damn masterpiece that magically samples OV Wright.

DIESEL
Remember when I said that ODB was capable of wondrous things behind the mic? I present his most cryptic lyrical work ever, from the Soul In The Hole OST. (Allow me to add that the title track to this album by the Wu All-Stars is addictively timeless.) He steals the spotlight from everyone else on here so bad it's not even a competition. He had this eerie energy engulfing him here, because he describes in vivid detail how the government is after him. Three years later, the tragic events that set off his descent are set in motion, becoming well-documented history. RIP, man. RZA samples a Ruby Andrews record and mixes it with his own instrumentation to create one of his well-known left-field beats where he, Golden Arms, Rae and Mef share the spotlight with ODB. Everyone, especially Rae, was following wherever ODB went, with Golden Arms' negative capability, oddly enough, producing the best results of the remaining lineup.

DIRTY THE MOOCHER
Now this should've been ODB's solo track on the album, instead of wasting away with no sequence on the Hoodlum OST, home of that Mobb Deep-Rakim collaboration y'all love so much. I don't blame you, I love it too. Anyways, here RZA samples one of Cab Calloway's wilder songs before crafting a banging-ass beat, which seems to inspire ODB just enough to snap, the right way with his finest hour on the mic. This is just the type of record that the Wu should've been showcasing ODB with. I cannot recommend this song enough.

PUT YOUR HAMMER DOWN
Off of Vol. 3 from Funkmaster Flex' 60 Minutes of Funk mixtape series, RZA loops the first ten seconds of a Rufus Thomas classic and lets the Clan run wild on the shit, except for GZA who had his verse from Killah Priest's Cross my Heart imported to this track. Don't worry, nobody heard this track, yo, you're safe. Oh, and Deck uses this verse plus a few bars later on Rae's Wu-Tang Cream Team Line-Up. Don't worry, though, nobody heard both songs, yo. So, RAGU, Goldie and Mef are in full-on battle mode with everyone assuming their battle stations properly. Read: they all get busy, which is really all I ask of any MC.

EXECUTE THEM
Off of the Wu compilation album The Swarm, this song is more special to me  because my two favorite Wu members are given time to shine here. Sampling a Leonard Cohen trippy record and a Streetlife sample that sounds as if he was spitting right next to them, RZA gives you a triet between Rae, Masta Killa and Inspectah Deck, where Rae is predictably spitting a GFK-esque contribution that sounds dope as always. However once Masta Killa comes in with that 'like'-free verse, you will no longer remember what the fuck Rae was rapping about, as the High Chief's metaphor game takes you over, lulling you into a false sense of security until Deck comes to finish you off with one of his hybrid verses that got him so much respect on Wu-Tang Forever. And we're finally done

For the rest of the Wu's minuscule catalog, click here at your own risk.

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (August 1, 1995) / Ghostface Killah - Ironman (October 18, 1996)

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, GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK in happy land is a very obedient GFK, 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK with sensitivity a tad more than his peers. Not that GFK 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, GFK's album Ironman was structured exactly the same when it came to featured MC's: GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK'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. GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 supposed 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. GFK'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. GFK 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 GFK.

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 GFK'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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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: GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK impression by reaching for the most off-kilter imagery he can think of. He does an admirable job, until GFK 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 GFK 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: GFK 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 GFK? 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 GFK 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 GFK'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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK's unconventionally endless lyrical creativity, displayed with ease that's almost stream-of-consciousness, gives it a colorful edge. Also, on Cuban Linx GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK, 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 GFK to a particularly violent song about, as Rae brilliantly puts it in the hook, shooting the one-on-one. RZA and GFK tale a vivid tale each about a beatdown they gave to two very unlucky souls respectively. GFK'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. GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK 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 GFK first. This was friggin' awesome!

FAST LIFE (FEATURING ANDRE RISON)
The song on which GFK'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 GFK 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 GFK usurped control of all future guest appearance choices on their collaborations from the producer, who will produce for anybody, it seems. Anyways, I loved GFK 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