Chef Raewkon releases a typical sophomore jinx four years after his debut: the heavy absence of the Wu-Tang Clan is immediately evident, creating a resounding contrast with "The Purple Tape". RZA & Ghost Face Killer, protagonists of that album in production and on the mic respectively, are replaced by amateur imitators. Most of the production is provided by rookie beatmakers Triflyn (6), The Infinite Arkatechz (5), Pop & Vo (4). DJ Devastator, Six-July and Pete Rock perform one beat each. Method Man and Masta Killa are the only Wu-Tang members to participate in the project. The other guests are the Raekwon group American Cream Team, consisting of Baby Thad, Chip Banks, Rhyme Recca and Superb, as well as Big Bub and Kim Stephens.
Shallah Raekwon is still one of the best MCs of the decade and his interpretation is excellent, he boasts a great flow and a great delivery with which he interprets the lyrics: the rapper keeps his mafia character and evolves it, the lyricism of the album revolves around those themes, crime, mafia, drugs, thug, materialism, streets. The lyrics are solid, robust, good, certainly inferior to those written four years earlier, yet still enjoyable for a mafia / gangsta rap fan. Lex Diamonds doesn't surround himself with compelling lyricists and if from a point of view this allows him to stand out more easily among the others, on the other hand, this fact inevitably lowers the quality of the product.
The American Cream Team is one of the scarcer groups among the Killa Beez: there are three weak spitters, the mediocre producer Triflyn, the talented MC Superb and Polite. The latter debuted on Method Man's album the year before and doesn't participate in this LP: after the release of the album and the negative reception received from critics and fans, Raekwon decides to permanently close the group and bring Polite to a new group. While Superb ends up in the Ghostface Killah's "Supreme Clientele". American Cream Team is the biggest guest on the album with two appearances: while "Raw" is forgettable and opens a questionable final section of Lou Diamonds' album, due to a ridiculous and awkward rhythm of Pop & Vo in an attempt to imitate Swizz Beatz, "Power" shows some clear signs of talent by Superb. Triflyn's beat sucks and Superb isn't suited to this scandalous noise, but his performance is noteworthy, while the others are visibly poor.
Among other guests, Big Bub ends in "All I Got Is You Pt. II", an apocryphal sequel to "All That I Got Is You", Ghostface Killah's masterpiece song from his debut album, featuring Mary J. Blige. Chef Raekwon recruits Big Bub to do his own version of the song, and this dude sings generic for a few minutes after the rapper's unique verse. His lyrics aren't as punchy as Tony Starks', but the problem with the song still lies in the music: Lionel Ritchie's isn't the best sample in the world and, above all, the rhythm is made by Pop & Vo, the worst producers of this LP, their drums are annoyingly heavy even when placed in the background and an overly-honeyed song comes out that lasts three minutes too long. It's one of the signature tracks of this disappointing product, this should be one of the best tracks, an easy classic, instead, it gets bogged down in grease and honey and bad music. Kim Stephens does a great job singing the hook in "Jury" and her contribution is appreciable.
Method Man lazily and effortlessly delivers in his song, he punch in, then pops into the chair behind the desk and does nothing all the time, on a haunting and annoying plane chosen by Triflyn. Different speech, for the very little appreciated Masta Killa. The ninth member of the Wu-Tang Clan is a guest of "The Table": excellent sample from "Field of Tears" by Chris Spheeris, haunting strings, poor drum, great rhythm made by The Infinite Arkatechz, the best producers of Raekwon's second album. Lex Diamonds delivers bars with an energetic, hardcore, confident, inspired style, he murders the cut. The final part of the song is reserved for Masta Killa, here I think I can say that the boy did a noteworthy job: he fits to the melancholy that the strings keep bringing you every time the loop starts spinning again, and he delivers a few bars with a sad, smooth, fluid, tidy flow, he keeps the mood of the rhythm with a brilliant style. If there was written "GZA" instead of "Masta Killa", it would be revered as the spot of the year, however, it's totally forgotten.
Production is the big weakness of the whole LP, one of the worst on a Wu-Tang album. American Cream Team producer Triflyn mistakes every single beat he touches and ruins a decent album: his most acceptable rhythm is "100 Rounds", which with a better beat is a great track. Pop & Vo are the worst by a wide margin, the final section of "Immobilarity" is completely to be skipped because of them, inventing messy, club-bound music carpets that never fit the rapper's energetic style. Their ballad production is almost as bad as the others. Six-July simply disappoints with a mediocre choice of sampling Elliot Goldenthal and the Kraftwerks, despite the goodness of these artists, the beatmaker fails to put the sounds together in order to create good music. Similar speech for DJ Devastator who pairs a generic gloomy piano with a cheap drum in "Real Life".
This whole series of beats is cheap, weak and poor, these guys aren't even imitating RZA, indeed, they are trying to copy the most successful mainstream producers of the late nineties and their results are junk material. Jugrnaut & Mike "Trauma" D., who make up The Infinite Arkatechz, are the only guys who prove to have talent behind the keyboards and they're related to the best moments of the album, although the rhythms are all quite similar due to the choice of often putting the loop of dirty and dusty strings. Pete Rock does a sublime job on "Sneakers", pays homage to several rappers in his scratches and chooses a competent sample, Jimmy Stewart's "Castle of Spain", and laces it up with his signature drum, great bass, sick piano, then Raekwon kills the cut with great rap.
Published by Loud and distributed by Columbia, the tape has a considerable commercial response, coming in second among the rap releases and in the top ten of the Billboard 200, certified gold after a month. It's received in a mixed way by the insiders, who don't take long to understand the poor quality of the product (in five years "Rolling Stone" takes two stars off the record, from the initial review to that of its guide). The album disappoints the high expectations of fans immensely, many years after one of the best hip-hop albums of the period. Raekwon's rap is top notch, his rhythm selection is lousy, there are some of the worst drums of the year. There are so many strong points scattered in the muddy and misty mediocrity of this record, yet overall, is almost completely forgettable, boring and erratic, overstretched to 21 tracks for 65 minutes. The eighth and penultimate solo album of the second wave of Wu-Tang Clan releases seems to mark both the beginning of the decline of the Wu-Tang Clan and the end of the era of mafia rap: until then, both had dominated unchallenged and undisturbed for years in New York.
Highlights: "Casablanca", "100 Rounds", "Jury", "Live from New York", "The Table", "Sneakers".
Rating: 5/10.
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