If I turn around and look back at the history of hip-hop and go to find the best performers in the genre, each of them, at some point in their career, wanted to launch their own group of friends. Biggie Smalls had Junior MAFIA, 2Pac had Thug Life, Snoop had Eastsidaz, Ice Cube had Lench Mob, Nas had Firm, Jay-Z had State Property, Scarface had Facemob. Weed carriers, for the most part. I could go on and on. Among these great artists, the Wu-Tang Clan stands out, better, bigger and stronger than all. Nine MCs, then dozens of possible affiliate groups, and hundreds of rappers, dreamers, weed carriers. One name encloses them all, together, definitively: «Killa Beez». RZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ghostface Killah and even U-God have created their own groups over the years, and in 2007, Raekwon tries again.
The Chef tried this unsuccessfully in the late nineties with the American Cream Team and now has a promising project ahead: Ice Water. The group consists of Jason "Polite" Bratcher and other childhood friends of Wu-Tang column: Polite was already a member of the American Cream Team along with the late Chip Banks and a few years earlier he should have been part of the Theodore Unit along with Raekwon, founder Ghostface Killah and Trife da God, but in the end the GFK group took another squad. The remaining members of Ice Water are Stumik, Narada "P.C." Greenaway aka Paulie Caskets and D.C. aka Donnie Cash, brother of PC who at the last moment replaces the previous member of the group Cigar, who ends up not being credited either as a member of the group or as a guest on the record. This four are considered among the worst affiliates of the Wu-Tang Clan in history and all the credit for this reputation lies in this album. The production is carried out by a dozen different amateur beatmakers, while in the rapping side collaborates Raekwon himself, main guest of the edition, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, DJ Paul, Rick Ross, Pimp C, Remy Martin and Rhyme Recca of American Cream Team.
"Animal" is the first cut of the record: Scram Jones's cheap boom bap, poor sample, slow and poor drum, Stumik's weak delivery, Polite, DC and PC perform better, but insufficient. "Do It Big" presents a very deep, heavy and very violent boom bap, annoying and at the limit of the bearable, created by Dready. It's a perfect carpet for Busta which enters with a more dope flow than usual and drops the first verse; Polite and Stumik are clearly inferior to the other performers, closes Raekwon, in his first of many appearances to try to save this shoddy project. The third choice immediately ditches the album: heavy beat up to the annoyance produced by the duo Karriem Roulette & Kenny Whitehead, bad sample with too heavy thumping drum machine, probably one of the worst rhythms of the year. Polite, Stumik, PC and Cigar spit something on this unlivable production. Domingo is the beatmaker on track number four: the rhythm doesn't change, ultra-heavy boom bap, bad sample and drum, ridiculous hook and dull delivery by Stumik, the other three are just weak and bland, who are the same performers of the previous track.
"Hip-Hop Tribute" boasts a finally decent beat, still heavy but good, made by Emile: with Raekwon, the Ice Water performers are better than usual and deliver with confident and convincing style. Nonetheless, the album is destined to be one of the worst of the period: Justin Robert Reinstein makes one of the worst rhythms of the year. He mixes a ridiculous and a bad sample on a very heavy boom bap: Stumik and PC deliver random bars, while Method Man kills the cut. However, the mixing is so ridiculous that I don't think there was a mix in either this track or the rest of the project: I went to check it out now, and the mixing is credited to Jacob Rodriguez, already known for his work mixing Raekwon's "The Lex Diamonds Story", and Cappadonna's "Slang Prostitution". Some of the worst records in the Wu-Tang discography. The rhythm is so deafening that what Method Man is saying isn't understood. It's in these cases that I bless the existence of sites like Genius. For the record, the song is closed by DC, but it changes little because nothing was understood for four minutes.
"Let's Get It" is a joint known for being in collaboration with DJ Paul: boom bap of SC, not exactly a successful beat, but not as bad as the worst ones, good DJ Paul opening the track, Polite, PC & DC better than usual, Raekwon killing the cut with an inspired performance. From here on out, the album is a complete disaster. Jamie Franks realizes the "Click Click" rhythm and it's a real torture: production completely to be taken and immediately thrown in the landfill, it seems a rhythm created by Swizz Beatz, heavy beyond belief, echoing, bouncing and whining. DC, PC and Rae practically useless on this confusing and senseless noise. Flo Brown gives a soul-rnb hook for "Mercy Me", homage to Marvin Gaye, on heavy but accessible rhythm from Ice Water Productions (I have no idea who's capable of making beats among the five members of the group, and I'm not that sure I want to know): poor slow drum, mediocre sample, Polite, Stumik, PC and Cigar deliver almost decently.
Ice Water Productions is also credited with the rhythm of the tenth choice, a ridiculous beat with bad samples and drums where PC, Polite, DC and Cigar perform poorly. There's Flo Brown guest on the hook, but her interpretation is forgettable. I haven't listened to enough Maybach Music to state the following sentence, but this could easily be one of the worst tracks ever with Rick Ross: EZ Elpee's ridiculous, heavy and cheap boom bap, Rick Ross goes yelling on the intro, for no reason, then delivers a verse. It looks like a Ross and Raekwon song, because Polite, DC and PC have to split a single verse together, exchanging half-bar at a time. "Knuckle Up" is another bad track, this record never seems to end: Triflyn is another bad copy of Swizz Beatz, absurdly bad beat, heavily synthesized, unlivable. Too bad, because Pimp C seemed inspired here, along with Raekwon, DC, Polite and Hands.
"Murda" features an incredibly annoying rhythm made by Fury, always heavy, with bad elements, PC, Polite, Hands and Stumik spit something, without adding specific weight to the project. DC and PC are the protagonists of "All Night": bad and poor production by Kiri Grazes, ignorant drum, soul hook by Jagged Edge, mediocre deliveries by the two performers. "Move" has a drum stolen from the crunk and a poor rhythm like the others, made by Focus: Polite, Stumik, PC, Cigar and Hands don't have the skills to save the song. Like an oasis in the desert, "Tell Me How You Like It" comes in an unexpected and refreshing way, even if it's not a good choice: Supa Dave West's annoying and asphyxiating beat, good delivery by Remy Ma and Raekwon, PC and Polite are perhaps among the best elements of Ice Water, so the song doesn't suffer too much, despite an absurdly bad production. "Baby Love Me" is a great tribute to the hip-hop albums of the eighties, where the ballad was mandatory: yes, Polite makes a ballad, wack rhythm by Mizza, with cheap drum pounding and Flo Brown on the hook, the song lasts six useless minutes and is the longest of the tape, which eventually ends.
Distributed by Babygrande Records, it's certainly one of the worst products in their vast catalog. The production is made by dudes who are one worse than the other: Scram Jones, Dready, Karriem Roulette & Kenny Whitehead, Domingo, Emile, Justin Robert Reinstein, SC, Jamie Franks, Ice Water Productions, EZ Elpee, Triflyn, Fury, Kiri Grazes, Focus, Supa Dave West and Mizza. It's one of the worst sound carpets ever to come out of a Killa Beez record and one of the worst of the year. I don't think I want to save any beats from this disaster. The main interpreters of the edition are: Polite (14), PC (14), Stumik (9), DC (8), Raekwon (7), Cigar (6) and Hands (3). Apart from Wu-Tang rapper, these dudes are always overshadowed by guests, who go much faster even on totally irritating beats: it looks like the guys behind the keyboards stole the beats from one of Soulja Boy's worst selections. Their lyrics say nothing, this is gangsta rap done badly by Staten Island amateurs. Consisting of 17 tracks for a total of 70 minutes, it's an ultra-bloated, exhausting album and one of the hardest listening a hip-hop head can face: don't listen to this stuff, it just hurts your ears so much.
If you want to lose five minutes, look at the cover: Raekwon is in front of you, arms folded, black new era, he looks to the left, disgusted, the performers of this record are on the other side, enclosed in four boxes. Polite, Stumik, PC, DC. I don't know in what order, neither here nor during listening you can recognize them. Raekwon's name on the top right, under the Ice Water's name in small, below there's the name of the disk. Among Raekwon's merits, there's the fact that he hasn't put the Wu-Tang logo anywhere, a sign that the stans can easily ignore this effort and go to sleep peacefully.
Rating: 3/10.
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