This is overall a good time. It's messy, it has issues, but it's mostly fun.
The main hurdle that permeates throughout this album and throughout Ghostface as a rapper is the problematic and weird bars. I've come to realize that the wu-tang clan hasn't always been on the right side of issues (particularly Ghost and GZA). Plenty of rap is controversial and edgy. Like, songs about murder and violence, but Ghost has particularly uncomfortable songs from time to time. Like, writing a song about murder and obscene violence is usually under the guise of obvious fiction and over the top fantasy, but hearing a 50 something year old dude talk about getting head and getting women or sharing his opinion on gay people or femininity or putting his two cents in on Kanye. It just doesn't hit the same. It's uncomfortable. There's quite a few bars (mainly from features) that actually reflect some progressive and good to hear views on trump with Nas condemning project 2025 on his verse for example. Most of the bars are great, plenty are even agreeable, but the few bad apples are hard to chew through.
But, once you get past that, most of the songs are good. This album is definitely over stuffed and filled with half ideas and songs that feel unfinished. This album could've used some editing. Instead of plopping in a bunch of mostly good, but inconsistent 1-2 minute tracks that fly by at break neck speed, this album could've just stuck to 10-15 of it's best ideas and really fleshed them out to it's limits. I have a hard time complaining about lengths, but it's not really the lengths of songs that matter to me at all. I love stuff like Donuts by J Dilla where barely any track reaches 2 minutes and I love stuff like Velocity, Design, Comfort by Sweet Trip where songs regularly reach 7,8,9,10 minute marks. It's about whether the songs feel like they fit that length, whether they feel suited to that length. Too many of the songs on this album didn't feel fully filled in and a bit forgettable. Plus, there were several skits and only maybe one of them was actually funny. Dave Chappelle was not needed here. He wasn't even properly mic'd.
Now, for some actual reasons to listen to this album. The production is pretty sick. A ton of this album is self produced and some of the best beats on here were made by Ghostface himself. Curtis May for example is a super smooth hip-hop head bopping experience and it's all produced by Ghost (Conway shines really bright on that track too). I like the heavy sampling throughout. I could see someone calling some of the production a bit lazy. Particularly The Zoom. He kind of just played a song and rapped in between it. I personally didn't mind this style especially when done more creatively, but there were definitely some beautiful soul samples and stuff that gave this that old school feel. Rap Kingpin had a really sweet whistle sample and sick DJ scratching on the hook. There's plenty of impressive stuff in these instrumentals.
I think when it's all said and done, a driving factor of this album is the energy. This is a project made by a bunch of oldheads and some songs negatively reflect that. Some songs just feel a bit sleepy and uncharacteristically unenergetic. Soul Thang is a great example of a promising sound that just stays at that level for too long and eventually becomes tiresome. But, really why I'm giving this album slack is because this album is mostly full of very high energy. There's a few amazing songs that pushed the project over the edge into a positive territory. For example, the first track, Iron Man had my head bopping so hard it nearly flew off my head. It shows off how energetic this old school rapper could still pull off. And then, the song that really pulled me on board was The Trial. I truly think it's one of the best songs of the year. It fully harkens back to stuff on 36 Chambers with the energy of a bunch of hooligans spinning a web and creating a little movie in the form of a song. First we get an incredible back and forth from Ghost and Raekwon playing the role of defendants followed by a neat continuation of this energy with Pills and Reek Da Villian and then it's all wrapped up by a closing verse from GZA as the stenographer, brining back the tradition of always closing with GZA when he's on a wu song. This is all held together by Method Man as the judge and a simply incredible tension filled beat produced by Roads-Art. It's simply magic. It got me so giddy. The very next track has some great skill showed off by Ghost and Nas over a beautiful beat. Candyland is another highlight with some incredibly fun cnady related bars used as a cheeky allegory for drugs. Really reminds one of MM..FOOD although this song also has a really cringe estrogen bar. It's kind of ironic that Ghost ever gets homophobic considering he can also shows some great vulnerability and friendship on a song like You Ma Friend featuring his great friend, Method Man who has one of the best verses on the album.
It's really a shame that Ghost seems quite stuck in his ways despite his ability to reflect and make great art. It's tough loving this album. It's not perfect and has many downsides, but the hits really do hit so I simply had to give this a 6/10.
It’s meant to be a sequel to a 2000 album (I get that) but this honestly sounds like it could have been released back then. If you’re going to lean into a throwback sound, either modernise it or make it exceptional. It's not.
After the first stretch of tracks, 'Georgy Porgy' comes on and only reminds me that Lyte pulled it off better three decades ago. 'Rap Kingpin' is one of the stronger cuts, but even that leans on worn-out samples. Using 'My Melody' by Eric B. & Rakim that has been sampled over 150 times!
I’ve given the project multiple listens, yet very little sticks, and the unnecessary skits just drag the momentum further down. I generally like Ghostface, but his yelling-like delivery over a whole album can get tiresome. What this album needs is something genuinely catchy, and unfortunately, there isn’t much of that to be found. More drums, another soul sample - is that really all there is? With the lack of engaging hooks to make something stick, the production needs to be of a higher standard.
Beats: ★★☆
Rapping/Bars: ★★★
Hooks: ★★
Best Tracks: Sample 420, Rap Kingpin, Love Me Anymore, Candyland, You Ma Friend
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