To give an important and already defined identity to the blog, the first review is that of a Wu-Tang Clan album. I start with what over time has become one of my all-time favorites, Shallah Raekwon's masterpiece.
RZA has always been a big fan of cinema as well as hip-hop, and for Raekwon's first album he decides to make a project that closely resembles a movie. He takes the role of the director, Raekwon that of the star and Ghostface Killah is chosen for the guest star role. All members of the Wu-Tang Clan make cameos, in addition to the guests of honor Cappadonna, Blue Raspberry, 62nd Assassin, and Nas.
On Raekwon's initiative, in this album, the artists of the Wu-Tang Clan take different monikers, in homage to "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984), Sergio Leone's mafia movie on Jewish crime, starring Robert De Niro and James Woods: Raekwon is Lou Diamonds aka Lex Diamonds, Ghost Face Killer is Tony Starks, from "Iron Man", GZA and Master Killer are named like the characters played by Woods and De Niro in the flick, so they're Maximilian and Noodles respectively, RZA is Bobby Steels, Method Man is Johnny Blaze, from "Ghost Rider", Inspectah Deck is Rollie Fingers, finally U-God is Golden Arms aka Lucky Hands. The Wu-affiliate Cappadonna is Cappachino, while the only guest outside the Wu-Tang on the record, Nas, is Nas Escobar. The idea of The Chef influences the entire hip-hop circuit and from here on, all the other rappers will use a different moniker than the usual, often with mob references, for their records.
The introduction illustrates the album's theme: two fellas who have lived the crime side of life, but cannot continue forever and decide to quit because of too many negative situations. First though, there's one last deal to close and a final quarter of a million to be earned before retiring forever from the game. Raekwon grew up in Park Hill, Ghostface grew up in Stapleton, two different neighborhoods on Staten Island: RZA senses that it might be an interesting idea to take John Woo's "The Killer" (1989) sample and he come up with an authentic masterpiece. The choice is apt both for the experience of the two protagonists and for the theme of the entire album, which will see several extracts from the same John Woo film: musically, it's beautiful, because it clearly recalls the music of Ennio Morricone in "Once Upon a Time in America", movie which is a great inspiration for this LP.
2. "Knuckleheadz" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks & U-God aka Golden Arms aka Lucky Hands)
Lou Diamonds makes the cut as if he just finished robbing a bank with Tony Starks & Lucky Hands, coming home with the money and splitting it up, finally, Lucky Hands is killed after trying to rip them off. Skit, then rhythm-masterpiece by RZA: jazzy boom bap with samples of a few piano keys in the background from "Get Up and Get Down" by Dramatics. On a fast and tight drum, Lex Diamonds flows energetically and unstoppable, dope. Sensational entry by Tony Starks who immediately attacks the rhythm and slices it with a hardcore, smooth, dope, fantastic delivery. Last verse to Golden Arms aka Lucky Hands: he interprets the rhythm with a spectacularly chanted, calm, slow, fluid, dirty, excellent delivery. U-God is incarcerated while recording "36 Chambers" and has just been released from prison when he records his contribution to the Raekwon record in 1994: shortly thereafter, he returns to prison, releasing his unique contribution to the project, which is why it's decided that his character in this album will be eliminated.
3. "Knowledge God"
For Lex Diamonds' first solo cut, RZA achieves one of the best rhythms of 1995, sampling Stanley Black's "Meadowland", fantastic cut. Wonderful boom bap that breathes a spectacularly cinematic atmosphere, like a mafia movie, while Raekwon sniffs in the intro, giving an image that recalls Tony Montana from "Scarface" (1983), unwittingly, as the MC himself later admitted. Lyrically, Raekwon tells of going to talk to Mike Lavonia, a shop owner who does illicit business, while he tries to stay away from street kids at the same time. Fresh, smooth, elegant, dope Raekwon delivery. RZA decides to let the rhythm breathe for a minute after the outro, a wonderful choice, because the beat really deserves it.
4. "Criminology" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks)
One of the best cuts of the year, any genre. Intro from "Scarface" (1983), Diamonds combines it with a couple of energetic shots. RZA invents one the finest production of the year: fantastic sample from "I Keep Asking You Questions" by Black Ivory, then break after a few seconds, sudden and wonderful, with samples of "Why Marry" by Sweet Inspirations. The breakbeat was requested and obtained by Tony Starks in order to raise his verse, but the particularity of the song is that the break comes immediately, because Starks is in the first verse. He kills the cut with one of its best performance ever, delivering bars with a smooth, energetic, hardcore, dope style: is one of his best stanzas ever, focusing on the mafia lifestyle. Lex Diamonds completes the cut with a hardcore, energetic, smooth, dope delivery, always on the mafia lifestyle. The choice of letting the rhythm breathe for over a minute after the short outro is still wonderful, because this production is also worth it. With this song, recorded while drunk or almost, Ghostface Killah places himself on the map of the rap game, while Raekwon sets out to make the hip-hop album of the year.
5. "Incarcerated Scarfaces"
Lex Diamonds' only solo track with three verses across the whole album. Skit from the movie "The Killer", boom bap lo-fi with eclectic, lively, tight and minimal drum, sample from "Wang Dang Doodle" by Koko Taylor. Over this musical carpet that RZA had originally made for GZA, Raekwon kills the track line-by-line, with a slow, flowing, hard and pure, unstoppable flow, while also placing a short and correct hook, in a cut dedicated to jailed and struggling friends.
6. "Rainy Dayz" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks & Blue Raspberry)
Intro by Blue Raspberry, Tony Starks, Lex Diamonds and samples from the movie "The Killer": the girl affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan sings to the "Opening Theme" beat from the movie "The Killer", and also provides the hook. On the hook, comes a haunting production of RZA: boom bap noir, dark violins, minimal drum, fast and tight, then the beautiful voice of Raspberry launches the song. On beautifully somber and dark strings, Tony Starks provides an anthology attack and kills the cut with a clear, dirty, smooth, dope delivery. It seems to have ended his verse when RZA inserts a segment of Raspberry singing with a sudden and shrill and raw break, somehow brilliant: Starks drops his last bars and gives the coup de grâce to the song. Raspberry hook-killer, storm and rain effects, then Lex Diamonds. The MC flows at his best ever, dirty, dusty, flowing, energetic, unstoppable on a fantastic beat.
This whole album is amazing, brilliant, a masterpiece. When the outro comes, you think the song is over. And instead, the whole song is born from the outro: Blue Raspberry is in the studio singing "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" by Streisand & Donna Summer, when RZA decides to play the beat. The girl arrives to sing «No Sunlight», and the producer proposes «More Gunfights», giving a short but essential input for the entire outro sung wonderfully for a few minutes by Blue Raspberry: the girl is perfect, extraordinary. Noir rap cut excellent on the objectives and dangers of the criminal life, the only possible way to get out of poverty.
7. "Guillotine (Swordz)" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks, Inspectah Deck aka Rollie Fingerz & GZA aka Genius aka Maximilian)
In the second half of the nineteenth century, champagne begins to go strong in Russia, where, among others, the liqueur of Frenchman Louis Roederer stands out: in 1876, fearing for his assassination, Tsar Alexander II of Russia requested bottles of champagne that could be clear, and Roederer commissioned one made of crystal. "Cristal" is born, which spreads as one of the best champagnes in the next hundred years. However, in hip-hop it doesn't arrive until 1995: before Lou Diamonds & Tony Starks, the Roederer brand had never been included in a hip-hop album, this song puts the "Cristal" on the map and allows its wide diffusion among the greatest artists of the genre.
Easily one of the best posse tracks made by the Wu-Tang Clan. Sample from the kung-fu movie "Shaolin vs. Lama" (1983), intro and sample from "Tical", by Method Man. Dark and gloomy boom bap, thanks to an excellent sample, regular, tight, pounding, minimal drum. Rollie Fingers rips the cut with the first verse, intricate with puns and internal rhymes, delivered with a syncopated, regular, smoothness, simply amazing style. Tony Starks follows with a fast-paced, energetic, quick, urgent delivery style. Sample from the film to separate the verse of Lex Diamonds, which tackles the rhythm calmly, smoothly, fast, hardcore and energetic. Maximilian attacks perfectly and kills the track with one of the best stanzas of the year, every genre, perfect delivery, smooth, crisp, precise, dope. RZA lets the beat go for a few more seconds while the listener tries to figure out what The Genius just did, monster.
8. "Can It Be All So Simple (Remix)" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks)
Barbra Streisand continues to be important in building the best Wu-Tang songs, and after being sampled on 36 Chambers' "Tearz" and "Can It Be All So Simple", she's also featured in the remix of this latest track. RZA keeps the cover of her "The Way We Were", created by Gladys Night & The Pips, for the new version of "Can It Be All So Simple". Skit between Lex Diamonds and Tony Starks who go to meet a drug dealer who ends up shooting Starks. Diamonds intro, then Starks flows like velvet on one of the best RZA productions: boom bap noir, deep and powerful bass, minimal slow pounding drum machine, energetic, smooth, deadly delivery by Starks, that annihilates the remix. Hook by Diamonds & Starks above the Gladys Night sample, post-hook by Diamonds, then his stanza, energetic, hardcore, flowing, dusty and dirty flow. Hook in which Diamonds lets the Gladys Night sample breathe, and outro. RZA lets the rhythm breathe for a few more seconds, beautifully.
9. "Shark Niggas (Biters)" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks, not credited)
Spoken interlude without a beat that marks the end of the first part of the disc and the beginning of the second: Lex Diamonds & Tony Starks warn everyone else not to sound like them, produce like them, rap like them, because they can't do it. In particular, Diamonds & Starks denounce Biggie for biting Nas, copying everything from the cover to the lyrics. Nevertheless, the album will be copied by many others, among which Notorious B.I.G. himself, the styles of Diamonds & Starks will be copied, even the production will be copied: is one of the most influential albums of mafia rap, practically testing and inventing the genre despite Kool G Rap being the first pioneer having released several albums years before this historic LP.
10. "Ice Water" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks & Cappadonna aka Cappachino)
Cappadonna on his debut in the rap game, he kills the cut. He's just released from prison after eight years: he doesn't even want to go to the studio, because everyone [Wu-Tang Clan solo members] is coming, while he, who taught some of them to rap, is at home. U-God convinces him to go to RZA's basement studio and the rest is history.
Very difficult sample, because RZA cuts out a very short excerpt for a dark soul loop: is "Where Do We Go From Here?" by Delores Hall. Boom bap noir, dark, pounding drum, hard and slow. Tony Starks intro, then his verse, hardcore, flowing, powerful. Cappachino comes in with a good attack and delivers his bars with a raw, energetic, dirty, effortless, flowing style. Interlude by Big Un, friend of Ghost Face Killer who grew up with him on the street in Stapleton, Staten Island, and who ended up in jail shortly after recording the interlude in 1994, facing a life sentence and going out in 2019. His interlude launches Lex Diamonds for the last verse, which closes this posse with a flowing, energetic, crisp, clean, dope third verse, with a final line still directed to Biggie. Great joint. To establish the bond of the Wu-Tang Clan also in this album, U-God is honored twice and isn't even present on the track.
11. "Glaciers of Ice" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks, Blue Raspberry, Master Killer aka Noodles & 62nd Assassin)
Sample of "Bless Ya Life" by KGB, then Tony Starks enthusiastic skit about Clarks shoes. As Starks is finishing the skit, a sample arrives from "Children, Don't Get Weary" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s feat. Judy Clay. Tight, hard, pounding, slow, minimal drum machine, boom bap noir, energetic, hardcore, smooth, lethal delivery by Lex Diamonds, which kills the cut. Short hook by Lex Diamonds & Tony Starks, second verse to Noodles, in one of his best performances ever, with a slow, thoughtful, precise, careful, smoothness flow. Then comes Blue Raspberry, as a blessing. The Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated artist is singing Patti Labelle's "Over the Rainbow" alone in the studio. With no sound background, no music, she's just singing: when she comes towards the end, RZA decides to record her performance and puts it as the vocal background of this track. It's a sublime decision that gives immense value to the rest of the piece. Blue Raspberry delivers an impressive performance that sets the backdrop to Starks & Diamonds' second hook. Then Tony Starks, raw, angry, urgent, hardcore, unstoppable: he dominates the entire album, he's formidable, he also performs a short hook, then more space for Blue Raspberry on the hook of Starks & Diamonds, short hook of Starks, and the final outro of 62nd Assassin, rapper of Sunz of Man who closes the track singing. Amazing posse, the Wu-Tang gives you yet another gem.
12. "Verbal Intercourse" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks & Nas aka Nas Escobar)
Nas is the first artist outside the Wu-Tang Clan to participate in a Wu-Tang Clan album. Yessir, history is made. In the studio with Shallah Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, RZA sets the beat: Nas starts spitting something out, and like the Pelé of hip-hop, everyone expects magic to happen at some point. And Nasir Jones makes it happen.
Skit of this trio of Five Percenters, hard slow pounding tight drum, in one word perfect, sampled from "CB#5" by Ralph Vargas and Carlos Bess. After a few seconds comes an excellent sample from "If You Think It You May As Well Do It", with short vocal excerpt tightly looped in the background along with what I believe is a haunting violin, I'm not sure. Escobar attacks the rhythm with the first verse of "Déjà Vu", a song intended for his mafia album "It Was Written", which ultimately doesn't end up in the tracklist: fast, smooth, crisp, clean, he boasts one of the best flows ever, and in particular from the nineties, absolutely dope. Good attack from Lex Diamonds, delivering his bars with a slow, calm, weighted, flowing style and maintains a very good level of track quality. Tony Starks closes the cut with an extra-verse, showing all his talent, diversifying his flow, and throwing a jab to 2Pac. Energetic, hardcore, smooth and crisp,Starks closes the outro with Diamonds, and probably takes the track: Escobar's verse is excellent, Starks is on par, if not better. Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Nas and RZA. In 1995. All at their peak. It's one of my all-time favorite cuts.
13. "Wisdom Body" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks)
Basically, it's a Tony Starks solo, his first ever, made in a few takes in a single day, in which Lex Diamonds was not in the studio. Diamonds arrives with a contribution, nevertheless, by mutual agreement with RZA, it's decided to eliminate his verse and keep the extra-verse of Starks. Skit from the movie "The Mack" (1973), intro by Starks, then he flows tipsy, hardcore, effortlessly, somehow smooth on a minimal production of RZA, more cheerful than usual, with samples from "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by BJ Thomas and hopping and young, lively midtempo drum machine. The original title is "Fly Bitch Shit" and the rhythm is initially part of the same beat as "North Star (Jewelz)". Drunk, Starks is even better than most of the period contenders, that's scary.
14. "Spot Rusherz" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks, not credited)
After many songs and about half an hour of listening, another solo cut by Lex Diamonds appears. It's not a real solo cut, because Tony Starks is featured in the skit, but in practice it is, because the rapping is provided exclusively by Diamonds. The solo tracks in his solo debut are few and are special: this is the last one. Right now, RZA thinks he's finished the Lex Diamonds album and realizes a beat that's destined for GZA, again. And instead, Lou Diamonds takes it and turns it into a banger. Sample from "Shaolin Brew" aka the St. Ides commercial that the Wu-Tang Clan made in the early nineties, this is the sound background of the song. Lex Diamonds skit with Tony Starks, then Diamonds decides to give the album a sudden twist and makes an impressive mafia cut, detailing the life of a drug dealer-thug. Minimal boom bap with eclectic drum, intro, Lex Diamonds destroys the rhythm with a smooth, energetic, crisp, clear extra-verse. RZA places a sample from the movie "Carlito's Way" (1993) to close the song with class and competence.
15. "Ice Cream" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks, Cappadonna aka Cappachino & Method Man aka Johnny Blaze)
I don't know where to start with "Ice Cream". Cappachino just got out of jail, Lucky Hands took him to the studio and sometimes the boy stops by Steels' house to listen to Lex & Tony's rhythms and bars. Prior to this song, Cappadonna is a security guard of the building where RZA has his small recording studio, in the same building where he lives. Cappachino feels the rhythm, enters the studio and hears the track, the verse of Diamonds, that of Starks. He then, speaking to Bobby, makes a joke about the fact that he would have entered the cut: Bobby Steels takes him seriously and places him in the song. Everything else is history.
RZA takes all the credit for the conceptual idea of the song's theme: he wants to compare the girls to imaginary ice cream cones, even making a series of t-shirts (you can see them in the music video). For nearly fifteen years, RZA's work here remained obscure: the drum sample from Rufus Thomas' "The Breakdown (Part II)" emerged, but the one for the main rhythm wasn't found until 2010, and the producer didn't remember where he got it from. I don't know how, but eventually some hip-hop diggers found it in a speeded up acoustic guitar from Earl Klugh's "A Time for Love", in a loop that is one of the coolest things in hip-hop, it looks like a piano, wonderful.
Johnny Blaze opens, superlative intro that pays homage to Eddie Murphy's show, then hook by him: is as good as that of "C.R.E.A.M." two years ago, which means it's one of the best in history. On one of the best hip-hop beats of the nineties and possibly beyond, Tony Starks makes a memorable attack and delivers one of his most inspired stanzas within this monumental album: hardcore, crisp, clean, flowing, dope delivery. Hook, then Lex Diamonds, relaxed, smoothness, calm, effortless, fantastic. Hook. Then. Cappachino. Absurd attack, raw, dirty, energetic, smooth, relaxed and effortless delivery, he brings out what is one of the best verses of his career. With this work, he puts himself in the rap map by spitting out an incredible series of quotables with puns of good level and releasing what is the best line of his career: the Shakespearian «I love you like I love my dick size». Johnny Blaze pre-hook, hook and outro, absolutely brilliant, brilliant. First Wu-Tang track for girls, because yes, besides being for children, Wu-Tang is also for girls. Masterpiece. Classic. Wu-Tang signature song, iconic track. Everything's perfect. Everything is truly perfect, flawless, untouchable.
16. "Wu-Gambinos" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks, Master Killer aka Noodles, Method Man aka Johnny Blaze & The RZA aka Bobby Steels)
It's one of the first tracks made for the disc. Here, Raekwon convinces the other Wu-Tang guys to use different monikers on his album, being then imitated by all the other rappers on the circuit in the following months and years. Long skit from the movie "The Killer", then Wu-Tang Clan posse with Johnny Blaze, Lex Diamonds, Bobby Steels, Noodles, and Tony Starks. Wonderful piano and violin sample from Henry Mancini & Doc Severinsen's "If", RZA sets up a hard, pounding, slow, tight drum and gives the whole choice a perfect mafia vibe. Energetic, smooth, slow delivery by Johnny Blaze. Lex Diamonds has a calm, slow, flowing, sharp, dope style. Blaze's short hook, then Bobby Steels in his only presence as performer: he delivers with an aggressive, raw, hardcore, flowing, straight style. Noodles arrives precise, calm, effortless, smooth, then Tony Starks, in the last verse, rips the cut with an urgent, angry, hardcore, smoothness, dope flow. Excellent posse track.
17. "Heaven & Hell" (ft. Ghost Face Killer aka Tony Starks & Blue Raspberry, she's not credited)
The album is at the end. Sixteen tracks have passed, one better than the other, they're practically all perfect. We're at the end, the last song. And it's the best of all. By far. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Originally made for the soundtrack of the movie "Fresh" (1994), it's one of the first songs recorded for the album.
It opens and closes what has been the most underestimated element of this record and also one of the most important, here fundamental: Blue Raspberry. On the opening skit of Lex Diamonds & Tony Starks, she sings "No one can fuck with the Wu-Tang", in a sublime way. Then the beat starts, made by the genius of The RZA, easily the best producer of the year and one of the best in the nineties in the hip-hop field. And this is his best musical project, probably ever. A single Syl Johnson song was sampled in thousands of different hip-hop tracks: here instead, The Abbot of the Clan takes a sample from "Could I Be Falling in Love", practically without touching it, keeps the drum dusty and dirty, the elegant piano and the splendid strings, providing a perfect ballad rhythm, the slowest and the more soulful of the album. Raspberry continues to sing melodically in the background in the intro. Lex Diamonds begins what is the only verse of the song, before delivering what is one of the best back n forth in hip-hop alongside Tony Starks, if not the best. Starks & Diamonds trade bars with an entrancing style, keeping a mafia theme and closing an extraordinary album in an extraordinary way. The vocal background and the singing of Blue Raspberry reinforce the final hook-masterpiece that represents the whole project:
« What do you believe in, heaven or hell?
You don't believe in heaven 'cause we're living in hell
What do you believe in, boy, heaven or hell?
You don't believe in heaven 'cause we're living in hell
So it's your life »
Long splendid final outro in which Diamonds & Starks still reflect on life and death, on heaven and hell, while Blue Raspberry continues to sing in the background, at her best ever, before the thanks to Wu-Tang: the fact that, on a heavenly-dope section sung by Raspberry, U-God is thanked in the last seconds of the song, always makes my heart smile. Classic legendary cut, you can't ask for better for the closure of an album.
18. "North Star (Jewels)" [bonus track] (ft. Popa Wu & Ol' Dirty Bastard, both not credited)
Concluded "Heaven & Hell", the album isn't finished yet. On the credits of one of the most cinematic records of all time, comes a wonderful pearl: bonus track that narrates the youth of Lex Diamonds, is a real gem. Wonderful rhythm, slow, ballad, from Barry White's "Mellow Mood (Pt. 1)", beautiful strings, excellent distant downtempo drum. Popa Wu brings Lex Diamonds back to his youth, with a long intro accompanied by some lines sung by Ol' Dirty Bastard, uncredited and that for many fans and critics isn't part of the disc. Instead, he's part of it. He comes to the end, beautifully, singing. On the last line sung by ODB, Diamonds launches himself for the single verse of the song: calm, relaxed, sharp, energetic, he brings out personal and powerful bars. His verse is the one that was originally intended for "Wisdom Body", before being cut along with some of the rhythm: in this way, the album gained two classic tracks. Closes the outro of Popa Wu along with other lines sung by BZA. Iconic cut, it's a perfect closure, on an impeccable rhythm with a cinematic mood, the mentor of Wu-Tang Popa Wu tells Lex Diamonds not to let it down and to move on. "Heaven & Hell" and "North Star (Jewels)" are two immense and perfect songs.
Final Thoughts
Debut of Corey "Raekwon" Woods, Wu-Tang Clan's third solo album, after the debuts of Method Man and Ol' Dirty Bastard. This is the supergroup's first solo record to gain acclaim from critics as well as fans. Released a few months after "The Infamous" by Mobb Deep, which has similar characteristics, it follows the style of mafia rap, created by Scarface and Kool G Rap, and evolves it, in a sort of response to West Coast gangsta rap, here cleaned up with a cinematic mood: it becomes a pioneering album of the subgenre and opens a new short era in hip-hop history, consisting of delivering bars inspired by mafia themes on noir and dark rhythms. The title of the album takes its name from the Cuban linx that Rae & Ghost wore at the time: originally, the title should have been completed by the n-word, then removed in order to favor the sale of the project. The album is also known as "Cuban Linx" or "The Purple Tape", due to the plastic of the original cassette which was entirely purple at the explicit will of Raekwon, that he wanted to mark it as a tape different from that of other artists, with a methodology similar to that used by drug dealers to distinguish their own product from that of others. Recorded between late 1994 and mid 1995 on Staten Island, in the basement of the RZA house, the LP is followed by some of the best mafioso rap albums, including, AZ's "Doe or Die" (1995), Jay-Z's "Reasonable Doubt" (1996), and Nas' "It Was Written" (1996).
Production is entirely entrusted to RZA, at his finest. The album is one of the best produced in the entire history of the genre, and is often considered the best produced record by The Abbot. He abandons the dirty and raw, cold, dark and lo-fi, cheap style, present in his previous albums and comes up with a new sound completely opposite, clean and silky, warm, clear and glossy, beautiful: hard and pounding drums, tight, sometimes minimal, many pianos and strings, samples extracted from kung-fu and mafia movies, along with soulful female samples that will be a strong inspiration for all hip-hop artists on the East Coast in the following decades. There are some of his best rhythms in this edition, however, Bobby Steels doesn't completely give up on the dark side, and he does one of the best works in "Rainy Dayz", fantastic as much as the others, maybe more. His production is timeless, spectacular and magnificent, and there are plenty of excerpts of his genius in these eighteen songs.
Lyrically, Shallah Raekwon & Ghost Face Killer carry out one of the best mafia projects ever. Unlike most gangsta rap and mafia rap records, their concept is deep, robust and meaningful: they load the bars with a mix of local slang, Five Percenters language, pop culture references, and criminal themes such as mafia, drugs, rivalry, betrayal, murder and robbery, elevating the mafia narrative to the next level. Thematically, they deliver complex lyrics, defined and detailed, precise and punctual, crisp and clean, when as a listener you might expect rough and generic gangsta lines.
Technically, they impress: Raekwon grew up in Park Hill, Ghostface grew up in Stapleton, both Staten Island neighborhoods, they've known each other since school, but this isn't enough to explain the incredible synchrony of the two performers. They prove to be among the most skilled lyricists and storytellers in the hip-hop scene, boasting an impeccable style: they both vary their delivery style multiple times, and always flow in a superlative way. Compared to the Wu-Tang Clan's debut record, where he sounds aggressive and hardcore, on his debut album Raekwon sounds relaxed and smooth, calm and fluid, energetically unstoppable, with a rapping style similar to that of G Rap, AZ and Nas. With him, there's one of the musical artists of the year, Ghost Face Killer: he covers almost the entire project, he's almost as present as Lex Diamonds, he's everywhere and he's perpetually exceptional, carrying a lot of energy, his flow is massive and devastating, and he kills every single spot he's in. Most of his contributions are recorded under the influence of alcohol, and if you don't pay attention to the tracks, you don't even notice: even when drunk, he's one of the best artists to emerge from the music field in 1995.
It's the first and one of the very few studio albums to feature all members of the Wu-Tang Clan. There's also Cappadonna. There's also Ol' Dirty Bastard: he's not credited, but is featured on the bonus track "North Star (Jewels)", while he sings in the background and is brilliant like all the other guests. 62nd Assassin, a member of the Wu-affiliated group Sunz of Man, also sings on "Glaciers of Ice", while Blue Raspberry sings at her best in three songs. The only guest outside the Wu-Tang is Nas aka Nas Escobar, who delivers what is credited to be one of his best verses in "Verbal Intercourse". U-God ("Knuckleheadz"), Masta Killa ("Glaciers of Ice", "Wu-Gambinos"), Method Man ("Ice Cream", "Wu-Gambinos"), RZA ("Wu-Gambinos"), Inspectah Deck & GZA ("Guillotine [Swordz]"), offer some of their best performance, they all do a great job. Cappadonna made his debut in "Ice Water" and he kills "Ice Cream", the most commercially successful song of the album, which gives him immediate visibility and notoriety.
Produced by Loud and RCA, it's distributed by BMG: the album gets a great commercial success, comes fourth on the Billboard 200, second among rap albums and sells a lot in the UK. Gold record in the USA, platinum twenty-five years later. It's well received by critics at home, nevertheless, like many great records, it's re-evaluated as a classic album only in retrospect: Cuban Linx is highly regarded in Europe since the release, particularly in the UK, where insiders recognize it as one of the best hip-hop works of the season, while in the US the album is labeled as yet another gangsta album and was neglected, at the time, before being accepted. "Spin" is the only serious and specialized magazine that recognizes the work of Raekwon & Ghostface Killah as one of the best made of the year and as the best hip-hop album of 1995.
If you don't like extremely-long reviews like this one, Chris Norris' one is perfect, just a few lines to describe everything that happens here in a good way. But I needed to elaborate, homie. I needed to understand, to listen, to see. This hasn't always been a five-fifths or ten-tenths for me. At first listening, I liked the album, but I didn't consider it a masterpiece, I found it imperfect, I liked some cuts, but not all of them and I thought that some songs were also quite weak. Over the months and years, continuing to return to the album, the album has grown on me. It consists of over 70 minutes of listening and 18 tracks, and despite the long duration, it's deeply velvety and wonderfully fluid in its relaxed tracks, with beautiful production and entrancing rapping.
Released during the revival of hip-hop in New York, this modern concept album is a brilliant transposition of an excellent mafia movie, and is one of the best crime rap / drug rap / mafia rap albums ever, a true masterpiece. Opera Omnia of Wu-Tang, it's considered one of the best records in the group's discography, personally the best. Raekwon classic. Ghostface classic. RZA classic. Wu-Tang classic. 10/10.
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