Third in a long series of mixtapes that serve as a prelude to Raekwon's new album. The Wu-Tang rapper places 31 very short tracks for a total of about 62 minutes of listening. There are no credits in production and among the guests you can identify the MCs of the Wu-Tang Clan Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, Ghostface Killah, the affiliates Polite & Lord Superb of the American Cream Team (group linked to The Chef) and the "external guests" Ill Bill, Fat Joe, Brolic, Gravy, Steele & Tek of Smif-n-Wessun.
The tape is a sort of runaway train that wanders on its own from station to station, casually: every now and then, it seems to come off the tracks (3-5; 9-12; 18-26), but it's always rearranged thanks to very strong pieces that seem to arrive as randomly as the worst ones. I have no idea how well thought out the tracklist is. The start is weak, it's up to Ill Bill to bring some hardcore back to the tape at choice number six. "Cocaine World" is among the best productions of this project, boom bap dark, obscure, jazzy, ma-fio-so, then the product returns to pretty low levels. Raekwon is at his best on "Go Home", "Where You At" follows: simplistic, hopping boom bap, poorly executed, the MC is fine, but the piece clearly wobbles. The closure, however, is a masterpiece: Eddie Murphy's scene from "Coming to America" (1988) in which, from the balcony of an apartment, he greets his new neighbors in an original way. The middle part leading towards the end is really hard to get past, except for Smif-n-Wessun, there isn't really any good up to the mafia beat of "Pulled Over", so come the final three joints.
"It's What It Is" is the obvious classic with Tony Starks and Noodles on a tight, very tense, very dark boom bap, with dark cornet, where the three spit out bars with a hardcore and smooth, fantastic style. Lex Diamonds is tough, Master Killer is at that level, skit, then, Ironman delivers a great attack and kills the beat. Great track. "Russian Cut" boasts a tense, dark, mafioso solid beat, NY cut with Lord Superb slicing the music carpet with excellent flow, then the tape is closed by a duo with Ghost on another good dark-mafia production.
Non-essential tape, hard listening even for completists, not recommended.
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