RZA — Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai [soundtrack]

Second studio album in the discography of RZA, founder of the Wu-Tang Clan: more than an LP, it looks like a mixtape, and derives from the soundtrack of the eponymous movie, directed by Jim Jarmusch. The tape is almost entirely instrumental and comes a year after Bobby Digital's debut, already far from his best years.

"Ghost Dog Theme" features a minimal, discreet, and dark boom bap, followed by "Opening Theme": boom bap, lean and minimal slow tight drum, combined with a simple and tight loop of strings; mid-instrumental rhythm change, with a simple tight sample and a dry, hard, pounding drum machine. Track number three boasts a jazzy rhythm with rough, pounding dirty dry drum and decent piano samples. A couple of decent jazzy instrumentals follow, with a rough and dirty drum in the first cut, quick and lean in the other. There are random sounds in the shorter choice of tape, so comes the only track featured in the film of this record where the Wu-Tang Clan is credited. "Fast Shadow (version 1)": boom bap with quick and poor drum, decent jazzy sample, honest Method Man delivery, then Ol' Dirty Bastard, crazy as ever. There would also be RZA, a long hook from U-God and Masta Killa, however, the song is cut after the ODB verse and closes after just a minute. The author's lack of inspiration can also be glimpsed from the track titles: "RZA #7" is actually the eighth song, a simple decent jazzy rhythm with fast drum. Musically, Bobby Digital comes back to bother with an indecent sample in the next track.

The tenth pick has an energetic soundscape with a tight, slow, pounding drum. The guy seems to wake up in "Samurai Showdown", probably his best production in recent years: boom bap with drum midtempo, dark and sinister vibes, good sample, RZA rough raw slow syncopation delivery, simple hook, good break. The title track has extravagant music and closes the tape, which features four bonus songs, not present in Jarmusch's film. "Fast Shadow (version 2)" is another version of the previous track: same rhythm, actually, RZA still places the verses of Meth and ODB, completing with the hook of U-God and the verse of Masta Killa, but cutting the final double hook. The Abbot decides not to give a name to the next two songs: the first is a jazzy musical carpet with a good sample and a slow pounding drum machine, the second is similar, boasting a good sample and a hard and dry slow drum that makes up one of the best minimal jazzy rhythms of the edition. This tape is closed by "Wu-World Order (Version 1)", aka a track-joke: it's credited with "ft. Wu-Tang Clan", but the song's only guest is the obscure Wu-affiliate LA the Darkman, who offers the first verse in rapping, syncopated, slow, confident, inspired, preceding RZA on a decent jazzy boom bap.

The little rapping present is completely functional to the rhythms chosen by RZA, which are quite bland and generic. The boy disappoints, again. Except for "Samurai Showdown", there's nothing remotely good here: he creates experimental skeletal dark ambient music, keeping his typical tight drum and placing some decent jazzy samples, but the sound is overall dull, mediocre and aimlessly. Distributed by Victor also under the name "The Real Soundtrack: Beats & Instrumentals" for the Japanese market only, the tape is the demonstration that "real" does not necessarily always mean "better". There are 16 cuts and 35 minutes of listening useless for anyone: "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - The Album" is the "real" album, there are Wu-Tang Clan, Killa Beez, Jeru the Damaja and Kool G Rap, listen to that. 6/10.