In 1993, the set of beats for this album is completed. It's one of the firsts for the Wu solo releases along with Method Man's. Then, in the mid-nineties, two heavy floods hit the basement of RZA, causing it to lose about 500 beats, some also made by 4th Disciple and True Master: in the first, hundreds of floppy disks containing the rhythms are flooded, in the second, most of the equipment is destroyed. While Method Man, Raekwon, GZA and Ghostface Killah manage to recreate their albums between 1994 and 1996, Jason "Inspectah Deck" Hunter loses all his material. In 1995, he signs with Loud Records, his debut is scheduled to come out in the same year along with that of most of the other guys, then, it's postponed to 1997, after "Forever", but it never arrives. Loud also lost BMG's support in distribution during this period.
As Rebel INS prepares to release the CD, the sense of group and belonging in the Wu-Tang Clan is fading day by day due to internal conflicts. 1999 closes a galactic decade for the history of the supergroup and is at the same time, one of the worst years for Wu. It's the main season of the second wave of releases of the group's MCs: after the second studio album by GZA released in the summer, within two months during the fall, are distributed the sophomore of ODB, the album of Meth & Red, the debut of Inspectah Deck, the debut of U-God and Raekwon's sophomore. If in 1995 and 1996, the boys argue about who has the best record, in 1999, they argue about who released the worst album among them: in just three years, their game has changed completely.
The match is played between the releases of U-God and Raekwon, there's no story: the Lex Diamonds album has the lyrics, but it doesn't have good music, the Lucky Hands one has less good lyrics and a better production than the other, and this is enough to make it a better disk, even if it's neglected and badly judged by insiders, more for the low popularity of the author than for the value of the content of his product. Neither The Genius nor The Chef are able to replicate the legendary success of the beginnings. If you see it in a certain way, even Ol' Dirty's first album is on the level of prime Wu, no matter how dirty and muddy it may be, while his second LP isn't on that side. The only one to have been able to replicate the glories of the past seems to have been Method Man, even if his first album isn't considered on par with that of the others — especially from the point of view of the quality of the music — and the joint with Redman is more or less similar.
In 2004, Masta Killa becomes the last Wu-Tang member to make his debut with "No Said Date". Before him, U-God, and a few weeks before, Inspectah Deck. They're the last three to release their first album. They are the guys forgotten by the supergroup. They wrote their share of hip-hop history. They participated as additional protagonists on the best albums of the first wave, they are all present in those of Raekwon, GZA and Ghostface Killah. In addition, Masta Killa contributed to that of ODB, U-God put his voice on Cypress Hill's third LP, Inspectah Deck left his immortal imprint on Gang Starr's "Moment of Truth" and in the debut of Big Pun. These guys have dominated New York. They deserve all the credit they can get and now that they're about to launch their solo career in the music industry, they should have the support they offered in past years. It doesn't happen. They've to wait, for some reason. This isn't their time. Everyone else's has already arrived, but theirs hasn't. Sunz of Man, Killarmy, Killah Priest, Cappadonna, have all published material in the previous two years. Royal Fam were also scheduled to release an album in 1996/1997, but due to some problems their LP was postponed several times.
The Wu-Tang guys, they're all leaving Park Hill and the projects they grew up in. All. Except two: one of these two is Cappadonna, who however, has already debuted with a gold album certainly better than all those released in 1999 (maybe "Blackout!" is better, maybe not). The other is The Inspector. Masta Killa waits until 2004 and he's right: his debut is beyond expectations, even the cover seems to be one of the most gritty and beautiful of the season. It boasts a massive contribution from Wu-Tang and if you look at the production credits, they're not that different from the 1999 albums, he has a better ear, because the beats sound better. U-God and Inspectah Deck can't wait, not that long. Both the Lucky Hands and Rollie Fingers albums disappoint. I was about to write that the reasons differ, but it's actually not that true. The main reason is pretty much the same and they can be seen under the same detective lens: the lack of support from the Wu-Tang Clan.
It's not necessary to listen to the entire discography of the supergroup to fully understand it, and it's not even necessary to deepen listening to these two LPs. You can guess the reasons from the tracklist of both projects. Compare them to those of Wu first wave albums deemed masterpieces by critics and fans alike: "Dirty Version", "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...", "Liquid Swords", "Ironman", all have a full tracklist packed with guests. There's an incredible variety of characters, they're all in extraordinary form, and in some ways, their contribution is always special. On U-God and Deck records, the tracklist is skeletal. Each participates in the other's record, then Lucky Hands gets two more MCs from Staten Island, while for Inspectah there's only Masta Killa: so, there's a contribution from the supergroup, actually, but it seems that this contribution is only incidental and accidental.
Rebel INS is a native of the Bronx and grew up in Park Hill, Staten Island, along with Method Man, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah: none of these guys are present here to support him in his first work. In their place are affiliates Street Life, La the Darkman, rappers from Killarmy Beretta 9 & Killa Sin, as well as singer Shadli. As in "Golden Arms Redemption", the main guest is a Killa Bee, Leathaface in U-God debut, here is Street Life, a regular of Wu albums. From a guest perspective, this album is similar to Method Man's first effort, except that Ticallion is in one of his best moments and is supported by a production built entirely by RZA.
The other big difference between the best first wave products and these two albums lies in the music on offer. In the mid-nineties, the production of those albums is totally RZA, he drops a handful of beats to Wu-Elements over the course of those first five solo albums. In 1999, Steelz stops producing and leaves more space for its affiliates behind the keyboards: U-God album receives three rhythms from Bobby Digital, this one from Deck can boast two. Inspectah Deck himself produces most of the beats on his CD, with six choices. The other producers are True Master and 4th Disciple with two beats each, Mathematics, VIC, The Blaquesmiths and Pete Rock. The quality of the music these guys offer is different than the best of RZA. No better or worse, it's different. What changes from the soundscapes that Bobby Steels created for the first wave? The samples. There are practically none.
This album consists of 17 tracks, 66 minutes of listening, and is accompanied by few samples. If you go to whosampled, a shower of samples falls on this album: in fact, almost all of them are quotes and drum patterns. The few samples present are subordinated to the drum for some reason and are never highlighted. The only noteworthy ones are that of Ann Peebles in "Friction", which is just one of the tracks produced by RZA, and that of Curtis Mayfield placed in "Trouble Man": the producer puts this song for a few moments at the beginning of the track giving you the illusion that this will be a great funky cut for Inspectah Deck, then he takes it off and replaces it with a frantic hi-hat from an Isaac Hayes song, a choice that I find annoying and wearing. This track proves that even the best are wrong sometimes, being produced by Pete Rock.
There would also be The Dramatics, which have given masterpiece songs to any type of hip-hop artist and especially the Wu-Tang Clan: there's a sample of them for "Show N Prove", Inspectah Deck brings out one of his most inspired lyrics and the song should be one of his best, it demonstrates the dynamism and goodness of his writing. Personally, I feel that if it had been performed by Killah Priest or GZA it would have been a better song. The lack of samples makes this set simply discreet, with a minimal and concrete sound, boom bap in its driest form. Lyrically, the MC still looks at the top, even if it doesn't shine as bright as it did in the 93-97 period. His rapping style is calm, subdued, monotonous, he's supposed to be hardcore, instead, he sounds subdued and yielding. His texts are competent, good, not excellent. Inspectah Deck performs verses for over an hour with some affiliates, a couple of times there's U-God, a couple of times there's La the Darkman, Masta Killa comes in on "Friction", and other guys. Here are certainly some of the best solo songs of Inspectah Deck's career, but nothing is memorable. Killa Sin never disappoints and takes the "9th Chamber" posse track effortlessly, with one of the best performances on the CD, extraordinary.
Released by Loud, the album was critically praised and had the worst sales result of a Wu-Tang album to date, hitting the third position on rap records and entering the top 20 on the pop chart. This negative record will be surpassed a few weeks later by the debut of U-God. In the end, my most recent listening is very different from the first ones and the rapper's contribution deserves to be appreciated, although both the music and the rap are inferior to what Inspectah Deck has accustomed listeners up to now. The quality of the songs is simply good and it's a weird statement to see to describe the material of the one who was the best in the game at one point, and it has proven this several times over the years, as you can see in the first wave. If you search the internet for some of the best verses ever in hip-hop history and can't find his name, you're on the wrong page. I want to remind that "C.R.E.A.M." had two stanzas each by Raekwon and Inspectah Deck, this guy combined the beginning of the first and the end of the second.
The cover is interesting. In the center a police car, on the left a German shepherd, on the right Inspectah Deck is about to be arrested, in their midst the title arrives in an overbearing and exuberant way. Above left, the author's name, with the detective lens and the Wu-Tang logo flipped to become the "e" of "Deck". I wanted to write a couple of additional paragraphs about the Kommissar Rex, as there are two "Inspectors" on the cover, but then I realized that the Austrian tv series never made it to the United States (except for Spanish speakers), for some reason, perhaps not to affect the popularity of Rin Tin Tin and his heirs. With Moser and Stockinger, Rex gave pearls for several years on the small screen in Europe, helping to give its own strong imprint to that once noble art — now proposed with an ultra-aggressive, bland and charmless offer — that was the [police] procedural.
Ultimately, back to the record, it's a better product than Shallah Raewkon and U-God '99 albums. It's close to that GZA sophomore. Cappadonna did better than Deck, paradoxically. It's not a bad album, it has the lyrics, it has the music, but not the appeal and not the Wu. The story of this record is sad, but it's even sadder that Inspectah Deck failed to find decent production on his subsequent solo albums and therefore this has been his best product for years, until the Czarface collaborative project, a true blessing which allowed him to return stronger than before to the hip-hop scene and restore its very heavy legacy as one of the finest artists in New York.
Rating: 7.3/10.
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