In 2007, Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan signed his Ice Water Records. Babygrande isn't interested in the group and has no intention of promoting the album "Raekwon Presents Icewater: Polluted Water" at all, far from the charts and viewed from a distance by the critics: the highlight is Raekwon himself.
The Chef hasn't signed with the label, he's still linked to Aftermath / EMI, but it doesn't matter, the Babygrande ends up with half a dozen songs in which Raekwon is in the middle of the Ice Water kids bars and can market them further. An EP would be too short, it was then decided to add some songs by other artists of the label, in which Raekwon was a guest: "Coke" from "Opium" (2009) by U-God, rapper Wu-Tang who has just signed with the label, "Where It Started At (NY)" and "My Piano" from the respective Hi-Tek LPs "The Chip" (2006) and "Underground" (2007), "Original Man" from the 2006 album by Lord Jamar, "The 5% Album". These ones are all among the best choices of the records, U-God track has a boom bap tense with Slaine who slices the track, while the legendary Lord Jamar doesn't realize a great song, despite a tight, hardcore, heavy rhythm.
The result is a mix of semi-classic and deeply embarrassing extracts that creates an irregular, dirty, but marketable product: Babygrande made a few dollars with this tape, assigning an illegitimate first compilation to the Park Hill rapper. Being mainly a[n ice-]watered down work, is not recommended to Raekwon and Wu-Tang stans.
Highlights: "My Piano", "Where It Started at (NY)", both slick songs by Hi-Tek, easily the best ones of the tape. The first one is a boom bap with guitar licks and strings underneath Rae & Ghost's mines and Dion's hook, while the other one boasts a brilliant rhythm with Jada, Papoose, Dion's soulful killer hook and a prodigious final verse by Talib.
Rating: 5.5/10.
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