School of the Gifted — School of the Gifted

School of the Gifted, formerly Illuminati Network aka Wuminati, was born as an experimental music project consisting of four main members and a fifth hidden member, and is based on a Marvellian-inspired concept, in which comic book heroes join forces and secretly work to save the world.

Replace the heroes for Killa Beez, the Marvel universe for Wu-universe, and the world for hip-hop, and get School of the Gifted. To make it a little more complicated than it already is, the performers get new pseudonyms, therefore, the components are (clockwise in the cover): Shaka Amazulu the 7th aka Black Stone of Mecca, Dexter Wiggle of West Coast Killa Beez aka The Brown Dracula, Rubbabandz of GP Wu aka Max Maximus, Solomon Childs of Theodore Unit aka Red Heroine, Napoleon of Wu-Syndicate aka Kingpin With Da Inkpen, and the ghost member of the Al-Hajar-Ul-Aswad group, Shaka Amazulu's alter ego.

The music section is managed exclusively by Shaka Amazulu the 7th. Rapping is split equally between the performers, Napoleon, Shaka Amazulu and Solomon Childs participate in 10 tracks, Rubbabandz is present 9 times, Dexter Wiggle 6. Guests arrive from the Wu-Tang Clan and are RZA, Raekwon, Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Killah Priest, all credited with other monikers, The Abbott, The Chef, Johnny Blaze, Tony Starks, and Iron Sheik from Middle East, respectively.

Now, between rap and rhythms, the album is one of the most generic products you can find exploring the huge Killa Beez discography. Little could surprise and little could hold back the casual listener, guest contributions are some of the top moments, despite the group having good chemistry. Behind the keyboards, the homage present in "In Inceptum Finis Est (Beginning of the End)" to "Murder of Don Fanucci" by an extraordinary Carmine Coppola from the soundtrack of "Godfather 2" (1974) deserves to be appreciated.

Curious is the marketing proposal offered by Black Stone of Mecca and by the group that decides to sell 11 versions of this album in a single package that include additional EPs of 4 tracks by each of the members of School of the Gifted (including the ghost one), an edition of the "Semester" series that compares School of the Gifted with some of the major Killa Beez acts, two instrumental discs and one bonus.

Ultimately, recommended for the hungriest fans of the Wu-universe, even if I find it far from the hottest releases of the year. 6/10.