In 1998, Anthony "Holocaust" Brown debuts in the first official soloist studio album of The RZA, spitting the opening verse in a track with Bobby Digital himself, Ms. Roxy, Doc Doom (rapper of the hip-hop group Black Knights, affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan and which Holocaust is the leader) and Ghostface Killah. Holocaust kills the track and The Abbot was so captivated by his performance that he named the track after him in his honor. In the same album of RZA, Holocaust obtains another guest spot in "Terrorist", a posse track between rappers of Black Knights and rappers of Killarmy, other rap group affiliated with Wu-Tang. Unfortunately, Holocaust messes up his verse, the final one of the song, which is cut from the official version of the album and which RZA manages to recover, completing the track and including it as a bonus track for the Japanese edition. The guy is flanked by Dom Pachino, Doc Doom and Killa Sin.
In the same season, the emcee from Long Beach, California, is guest in the compilation signed by RZA for the Wu-Tang Killa Bees "The Swarm", appearing in a couple of songs ("Punishment" and "Fatal Sting") as member of the hip-hop supergroup Black Knights of the North Star, later divided into the groups Black Knights and North Star. Later, Holocaust left the group Black Knights to focus on his solo career. In the following years, the boy attempted to record his debut album under the new moniker Architect Holocaust, but the project never saw the light of day and some of its songs ended up on this album.
In 2001, he's the main guest of the first CD of The Professional, with the new moniker Warcloud. The next year, as Warcloud, he releases his debut studio album as independent artist. Maybe it's best for me to write this right here, this is not an album for everyone. One third of the disk is produced by Skarekrow, the other beats are provided by Uno, 6 Mil, Tariq and Halo. The guests arrive from his groups Black Knights (Crisis and Monk) and Da Monstar Mob (Skarekrow, Leviathan, Mantra), along with the affiliated Sandman, NorthStar, Suga Bang Bang and Kurupt.
The disk is opened by "America": sample from "Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, I. Allegro Molto Appassionato" by Felix Mendelssohn, solid bass line, skinny uptempo drum, Skarekrow behind the keys. Warcloud spits violent and frayed bars to describe his vision of the State, with a regular style, in the next verse he continues to drop cryptic bars shorting his stanza, then after a brief chorus, he shortens again his verse, inspired by a brief horror story, which gives you clues about the type of rapper you're going to listen to. Uno is the beatmaker for the next track. Skeletal drum and hi-hats, minimal and cheap rhythm, Warcloud claims his closeness to the Wu-Tang Clan, then drops three verses with his raw and complicated lyrical style. The major producer of the record Skarekrow comes back behind the keyboards for the third pick, a track inspired by the horror novel "The Ghost Pirates" by HP Lovecraft. Skarekrow, member of Da Monstar Mob group, is also guest in this track, spitting his bars with a slow, uncertain, shaky, amateurish rapping style. Two verses each to complete the track.
"Strawberry Cream Champaign" is a Black Knights joint featuring Crisis and Monk over a production signed by Skarekrow. Rough bass, dusty drum midtempo, tight loops, it appears as one of the finest cuts of the whole record, even if It's clear that Crisis and Monk weren't in the studio with Warcloud recording, maybe not even in the same State. I don't know if at this point the budget for that thing called mixing and mastering was allowed, but whoever took the verses of the two Black Knights simply placed them "over" the beat without worrying about anything else. The result is almost comical for an album that has the Wu-Tang Clan symbol printed on the cover. "Something is Going to Make Me Smack This Bitch" boasts a g-funk rhythm invented by 6 Mil, the beat is cheap, skeletal drum, plucked strings, raw bass, Crisis, Doom and Monk are joined by Sandman, then Warcloud closes this cut with a last stanza. The piece features even Kurupt as guest, he performs the chorus.
Skarekrow takes a sample from Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" to build the musical carpet of "The Beer Song", where the author returns to rap soloist after a quarter of hour and he tells us how he will spend his time drinking, smoking, taking every kind of drug available and waving his gun, maybe not in this exact order. A kid named "Item #" is the beatmaker credited for "Old Toy Room / A Pie in the Window [Food for Thought]": skeletal drum, loop of violins, the rapper returns to reciting cryptic lyrics with his own original style, paying homage to some of his favorite books and films. The same beatmaker is credited for "Vicious Killer Beez": tight loop of strings, skinny drum, minimal rhythm, Warcloud is joined by Christbearer, Meko the Pharaoh, and Mighty Jarrett in a battle rap track that reunites Black Knights of the North Star with the emcees from North Star and Mighty Jarrett aka Mikey Jarrett Jr., member of the Wu-Tang Clan affiliated group Royal Fam. Suga Bang Bang is credited as guest sometimes for background vocals.
"The Renaissance" has a distorted loop, hi-hats, skeletal drum, rough bass, tight loop of strings, the track features The Parallax as guest, a duo rap tied to Warcloud and composed by Mantra and Leviathan, both also member of the group Da Monstar Mob with Warcloud himself. The next one is the fourth beat in a row for Item #. The musical carpet is minimal, raw drum, robust bass line in background, loop of piano keys, haunting rhythm, the main rapper is at home over this kind of production and offers a performance that is hard not to appreciate. The author diverts your radio frequencies to his own station and spits for five minutes on an amateur production by Tariq, raw bass, poor loops, drums that are better if they weren't there, emerges a rhythm that cries for mercy and doesn't help in any way the disjointed flow of Warcloud. "Mad Axes" is the last rhythm provided by Item #: rough bass line, light drum, loop of plucked strings, Warcloud spits fire sounding "over" the beat, the quality of the recording is lo-fi.
After half an hour, Skarekrow returns behind the keys in "Mics, Turntables, Spray Cans & Records", Da Monstar Mob track with Leviathan and Skarekrow himself who join the main emcee on the mic. Hi-hats, roaring bass line, female vocal sample, good loops. Halo is the beatmaker of "Falling Hammer", splendid violins in loop, raw drum, calm hi-hats, Warcloud pays homage to the videogame "Tekken" in this short piece with a unique verse. Skarekrow produces "Fever Dream", hard drum as hell, rough bass, tense strings, sample from "Tightrope" by Electric Light Orchestra, raw soundscape for the rapper that spits three stanzas narrating his fever dream.
The disk is self-released through Skarekrow Music label, with a curious cover: a man carves cave paintings, illuminated by a fire in the middle of the rocks, at the top center the author in yellow, "WestCoast Wu-Tang Clan Presents... Warcloud", under the title in yellow. Bottom left, colored in argent, the logo of Wu-Tang Clan. In 2006 Chambermusik lifted this debut from the dust of the shelves and reissued it, remastering it, placing a bonus track ("Stay Wit It", another track that breathes Da Monstar Mob. Skarekrow in production, on the mic Warcloud is joined by the group emcees Onslot and Leviathan over a rhythm leaded by rough synth lines) and gives to it a new cover, pretty chaotic and removing the Wu-Tang logo.
Rating: 6/10.
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