Inspectah Deck's third studio album comes during the second wave of Wu-Tang Clan releases in the mid-2000s. It's not an easy time, oh man, it really isn't. The RZA hasn't loosened its rope of creative control around the necks of individual Clan members and is now losing them all one after another.
The Rebel isn't the first one, nor he'll be the last one, but it's a little bit sad to see him express satisfaction for that rhythm of Clivaringz, who's a «student of RZA», so by osmosis, it's as if his rhythm was that of the historic producer. Clivaringz did a nice job, because even the insiders mistook that beat for one of RZA, but he only produces one beat out of eighteen on this album. And it's not even an album, his nature is stuck between legitimate release and typical mixtape, originally being a sort of prelude to his never-released album "The Rebellion". The production is made by Concrete Beats, Mondee, Kevlaar 7, Flowers Productions, The Marksmen, Liveson, Psycho Les by the Beatnuts, the aforementioned Clivaringz and the Deck himself. Of these ones, only Clivaringz is affiliated with the Clan. As guests, the rapper calls, Hugh Hef, Chico DeBarge, Masta Killa, U-God and affiliates Suga Bang and Housegang, Inspectah Deck's group consisting of La Banga, Carlton Fisk, Donnie Cash aka D.C. and Paulie Caskets aka P.C. (the latter two will form the Wu-affiliated Ice Water group), more or less all making their debut in the rap game.
Props to Concrete Beats, this beat is concrete and solid, perfectly recalls the Wu-Tang sound, hard and pounding drum machine, jazzy samples, dark and raw underground vibes, Rebel INS lets the rhythm breathe and then delivers with his smooth, regular, dope flow; Masta Killa delivers the second verse in a hookless track, providing a smooth, solid flow, great initial track. "C.R.E.E.P.S." has a Mondee rhythm, producer who samples a piece by Henry Mancini to provide a dark jazzy soundscape, Deck delivers a single verse. The sound of the disc changes again in "What They Want", another Mondee beat, with acceptable alternative jazzy vibes: the MC gets along with some good nostalgic bars and archives a good short song. Then the record collapses, suddenly, without a reason, without a sense, in a very ugly way. On track number four there is a bad cheap bouncy rhythm created by Deck, which is unfit on his own production.
Skit, then the posse "It's Not a Game", with Suga Bang, Donnie Cash and P.C. from his group Housegang: poor boom bap jazzy, skinny, slow and pounding drum machine, Donnie Cash amateur and urgent delivery, who still has defects in breath control, and he struggles to get his bars out; simple pop hook by Suga Bang, then P.C., decent flow, uninspired lyrics; Rebel INS closes the battle rap, and I'm pretty stunned. Who wrote the verse for him? Cappadonna? Dude, is that you?! Great job, bravo! P.C. did nothing here, absolutely nothing, yet I think he has the best verse of the piece. Another skit, then another horrible beat from Inspectah, bouncy and cheap, everything is poor here from the samples to the drum to his delivery, he's not even inspired by his rhythms and he has no ear for beats, he cannot be a producer. Mondee leaves a cheap and poor feeling for his bouncy jazzy soundscape in "All I Want Is Mine", I still don't understand how, but his choice works: Deck bounces but manages to ride the beat worthily and the track is carried through despite being one of the longest on the disc, with a functional hook.
"A Lil 'Story" is something different from the last seven choices. Rhythm of RZA Cilvaringz, skinny, slow, tight drum, vibrant jazzy sample, raw and dirty on the hook, Wu-Tang vibes that for the first time returns to be heard after ten minutes. The rapper delivers with a slow and smoothness flow, here he seems to have awakened. The same producer realizes the rhythm for "Get Down Wit Me" — although, sometimes credit is given to Wisemen beatmaker Kevlaar 7 — jazzy boom bap with lean and pounding drum machine, and a dirty underground jazzy sample, here too Deck pulls out a more energetic song than previous attempts. Clivaringz leaves, and with him, the hope that the disc can recover in the second section goes away. There's clearly an amateur behind the keyboards, putting rhythm number twelve: it's bouncy, with a ridiculous sounding chipmunk soul sample and a southern snare drum, later stolen from the trap scene for its things. Deck is unfit for two minutes, before the "No Love" posse, with Carlton Fisk of Housegang and Chico DeBarge of DeBarge: jazzy rhythm by Marksmen, hard, pounding and essential drum, Chico rnb hook, first verse to Fisk. This dude studied Wu-Tang actors and demonstrates it with a delivery style that directly pays homage to the supergroup: hardcore, slow, smooth, raw, purest underground. Look how much Inspectah Deck has to turn up to stay on Fisk level, and I'm not sure he made it. This is one of the more Wu-Tang tracks on this record, but it's buried in this mixtape, everyone's been asleep.
Right after that, INS allows himself to do a freestyle in his tape: Liveson's poor and cheap rhythm, mediocre sample, snare drum, decent delivery. "Do My Thang" is the only rhythm of Psycho Les by the Beatnuts: now, from the Beatnuts I expect everything, except this thing. This beat is completely random, I didn't understand what Psycho Les tried to do, but he failed in a very bad way: it comes out a noise with embarrassing sounds, on which anyone would be unfit. This is long to overcome, so if you can, skip it. "Handle That" finally brings us back to a Wu guest: U-God. After half a verse of him in the first seconds of the track, I understand that I spoke too soon. it's all incredibly cumbersome. He's not saying anything and he's doing it with a generic style that I expect from other rappers, he's almost overwhelmed by the rhythm like a generic MC. I practically don't know who Hugh Hef is, he should be a friend of one of the rappers of the Clan and here he's at his debut, he's an amateur, an amateur at his debut. But look how he surpasses Inspectah Deck himself, who not even ten years ago was among the most appreciated emcees of the period, obviously he's not dissing him, but basically, it's as if he were dissing him on his own track with that anti-halfway-crooks bars. He walks away with the nastiness, anger and energy of someone who has to come and prove something, and he brings out one of the best braggadocio verses of the whole project, it's scary.
Then, there are two bonus tracks where Inspectah Deck steps aside. There's still Marksmen in the role of beatmaker for "Animal Rights", posse cut exclusively by Housegang: raw underground jazzy boom bap, with slow drum and decent sample. Intro, hook and first verse by Carlton Fisk, hardcore and flowing, energetic, Donnie Cash continues with the next verse, delivering slightly better than in his track in the first part of the tape, the song is closed by La Banga with a hardcore style. Good underground piece. "HG Is My Life" is another posse by Housegang, uncredited, over Liveson's rhythm: alternative and cheap jazzy boom bap, lean drum machine, decent sample, sung hook, another battle rap between Donnie Cash, La Banga and Carlton Fisk, that closes this tape.
After 50 minutes, 16 tracks and 2 final bonus tracks made by Housegang, I think this record, released by his Urban Icon Records, is a mixtape. Not a good mixtape. As with the worst records of U-God, Cappadonna and RZA, there is little of Wu-Tang, very little, in this effort. Production is very cheap, much cheaper than what you can expect from a Wu album, and it's not acceptable in a mixtape either. There's Clivaringz, then the void: if any amateurs get the rhythm right, it always seems like it was luck and not because that guy really has qualities in producing beats. Oh, maybe there's someone, I don't say that, but the feeling is that there isn't. I feel that the rapper's lyricism isn't as special as in his records with the Clan: there are no memorable joints, there are no metric schemes to note, there are no quotable lines. There's a lot of braggadocio, a lot of thug, a lot of gangsta, a lot of generic and casual lines, it's hard to believe this is all coming from his pen.
In a word, it's disappointing. All disappointing and erratic: it features weak and bad songs, a few rare good tracks scattered after the convincing start, then it looks like the guy has seen a new Sherlock Holmes movie and decided to make a tape on it. In 2006, the Wu-sound has long since disappeared, it's clear. From the shadow of the crunk, Soulja Boy is coming. «Hip-hop is dead», says Nas. «Hip-hop lives», KRS then retorts with the help of historic rival Marley Marl. Hip-hop is alive. The Wu-Tang Clan, I don't know: in this period a fracture is coming, it's not the first shot, but it's ugly, and it's sensational. You can feel it on this record too, you can feel it coming. The Clan doesn't show up for this tape, and sends its benchwarmers: Masta Killa doesn't disappoint and maintains his medium-high standards, "Sound of the Slums" is one of the best tracks on the tape, if you want, the best. U-God doesn't disappoint and maintains his medium-low standards, "Handle That" goes unnoticed like all the tracks of the second part of the disc.
Deck arrives three years after his last album, places this long and tedious effort of nearly an hour to launch his next album — coincidentally, there should have been RZA — but he's not in shape, on the contrary, he's very far from being at his best, perhaps he's at his worst ever up to this point (getting worse with the next album, "Manifesto"): I think there are just over ten, maybe fifteen, people who know how hard this guy worked on his debut album that went into the water. Method Man had his classic, ODB had his classic, Raekwon had his classic, GZA had his classic, Ghostface had his classic. Deck would have his classic, too. And his money. Because, yes, the ones I mentioned are all platinum records, while the guy can't boast the same financial well-being as his partners. And he knows it's too late to make any money with his rap career: his sound went away in the late nineties, he could grab a slice of commercial success right then on the backlash, and who got it? Cappadonna. Certified gold, with "The Pillage", his classic. Three years later the injury, add the insult.
He was the best, for many even better than GZA, and what is there to prove it? Half "Wu-Tang Forever"? It's too little. Attempting commercial crossovers would undermine his noble name in the game and stain his career, he can only reinvent himself and do other things besides rap. In these difficult psycho-physical conditions, Jason Richard Hunter arrives on the eve of this mixtape: he cannot be inspired, he spits something, but it's as if he's going on autopilot, his professionalism allows him to be able to boast a flow that goes out on his own and leading the rhythms, however, he delivers his dull lyrics without energy and is deprived of a soundscape appropriate to his technical skills. So, it happens that the best Wu-moments in this third LP of Inspectah Deck, come from the unknown affiliates of the Clan, who you don't expect: Hugh Hef is easily better than U-God, but you may find that it's not an impossible thing for an amateur too, and Carlton Fisk is a guy who's talented and gives some flashes of raw energy. It's still something.
Highlights: "Sound of the Slums", "C.R.E.E.P.S.", "What They Want", "A Lil' Story", "Get Down Wit Me", "No Love".
Rating: 5/10.
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