Remedy — Remedy Meets Wu-Tang

In 2021, Ross "Remedy" Filler released his third studio album, entirely self-produced together with Danny Caiazzo. The guests all come from the Wu universe with the notable exception of Griselda's spearhead Conway the Machine. At the mic, in addition to the aforementioned Conway, Remedy also features Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Cappadonna, Masta Killa, Method Man and RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, Killah Priest of Sunz of Man, Trife and Solomon Childs of Theodore Unit, Streetlife and Shyheim.

The album opens with "Modern Day Miracle". Skit from a kung-fu movie. Boom bap with an oriental mood, bare drum downtempo metallic, melodic sample in loop, synthesized keyboard in the background, heavy raw bass line. The first beat made by Remedy and Danny Caiazzo welcomes the first of many guests, most of which come directly from the Wu-Tang Clan: there's Ghostface Killah to open the album after the kung-fu skit, just like in "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)", even if this comparison has absolutely nothing to do with it and could even pass as blasphemy for Wu purists. I don't care. I wanted to put it there randomly. Remedy wanted to go there, bring the listener back there, it's pretty obvious. Look at the cover.

Tony Starks drops some bars in stream of consciousness with his dope style, slow, raw, flowing, dirty, hardcore. Remedy only comes down to say the name of the track, then leaves some room for Ghostface, this is basically a solo, he comes back and closes the cut, a great opener for an album that promises great things at this point after this dope launch. The rhythm also breathes for half a minute at the end, deservedly, like RZA in his best period, sensational. It's a Remedy album, we have to remember that. Absurd.

Remedy himself finally comes down to the mic on the second track, "Death Defying", on a good boom bap, raw deep bass, downtempo bare drum, solid, robust, haunting samples. The boy drops the mildest battle braggadocio you can hear and his hook is actually weak both in lyrical content and execution. Rebel INS comes in and destroys the rhythm with a slow, confident rapping, far from his best moments, but still in a league that Remedy was denied permission to participate in. "Sparrow" is one of the author's few solo tracks. Correct vibrating bass, drumless beat accompanied only by a cymbal and no samples, Remedy delivers bars for a couple of minutes with a flow quite below average and without energy, disappointing. A female soul sample arrives for the hook, which gives the song its title. The boy also in the second verse cannot continue during his battle, also due to a difficult breath control.

Remedy and Danny Caiazzo create a fantastic production for the posse "The Pulpit": boom bap, bare metallic drum, magical violins, deep and heavy bass line in the background. Cappadonna enters hardcore from the second number two with a long hook and whose messy style fades into the background thanks to a drum that is a bit syncopated and that beats irregularly compared to the norm. Conway has the honor of obtaining the first verse on a Wu-Tang album. This is a Wu-Tang album. In any case, almost everyone is there so there's no point in being picky. La Maquina makes a slick entrance and delivers bars with his silky flow, killing the rhythm. Ghostdeini in the second stanza, hardcore, focused, confident, smoothness, dope track so far. Then comes Remedy, of course. The quality drops and now I understand better why that drum is beating in a syncopated way, the boy can't keep going, he has an irregular, stuttering, shaky rapping, he stops too often and even the details start to bother me, like when he stops the music for half a second at the end of his verse. Cappadonna comes back for the hook, restoring dignity to the piece. A shame because thanks to Don Cappachino, Starks and The Machine the joint is practically a gem, also thanks to the rhythm of Caiazzo and Remedy, [almost] unlistenable on the mic.

It's pretty clear what Remedy is trying to do with "Crazy 8's". Wu-Tang Clan has had few great memorable posses in its history and at least one every album since its debut, rarely have they all been together on a track by a solo artist like in "9 Milli Bros." by Ghostface Killah ("Fishscale", 2006) or "Wu-Tang Forever" by Logic ("YSIV", 2018). Remedy tries the epic effort again in 2021 by placing Wu-Tang Clan as a featuring. Kung-fu movie skit, solid boom bap conceived by the duo Remedy & Caiazzo, splendid bass line, tough drum dusty underground midtempo, haunting and dark samples.

Ghostface Killah also introduces this cut, energetic, slow, fluid delivery. Inspektor Dek in the second verse, starts as if he were in the sighting lap, a bit with the brakes on and to go and test the track, irregular, syncopated, a bit slow, not at his best, even if lyrically he still shows signs of random scattered brilliance. Solomon Childs enters hardcore, hard, raw, slow, does what Deck had to do even if it's not memorable. Remedy in the fourth verse, swallowed by the rhythm that definitively obscures him, flows with too much effort, Method Man eats both him and the beat with the fifth verse and kills the posse with a devastating unstoppable contribution, does what the other four should have done before him and does it better, absolutely exceptional. Street Life in the wake of his friend Tical, delivers hardcore, fluid, velvety, with energy, desire, conviction and confidence and is the second best of the posse behind the MVP. Another sample, then space for Masta Killa who arrives with his cautious, slow and calm style, but with a dirtier contribution than usual. Cappadonna closes in stanza number seven, hardcore, scattered, irregular, chaotic. Kung-fu outro skit, but the posse for many reasons doesn't descend into the history of the genre or of the Wu anthology, because most of the guys here did not really feel like spitting, not even Cap, crazy.

Caiazzo and Remedy create another fantastic soundscape in "Supreme Intellect", introduced by a fresh sample of ODB and a sample of flying killa beez. The soundscape seems to have just been stolen from Daringer & The Alchemist, it sounds partly like Havoc 95, except for a drum that's even too clean and clear. Creepy dizzying boom bap, dark piano keys that plot, graceless and scared bass line in the background, dry, hard, midtempo, clean, crystal clear drum, unfortunately even too much. When you expect Westside Gunn to arrive at any moment with his "ayo", RZA enters hardcore and delivers syncopated, irregular, on a disturbing and somehow appropriate production. Sample of BZA, then it's Remedy himself who goes on the mic for the second verse, with his pretty shoddy and messy style, closing the track with a casual battle verse in which he pays homage to RZA, Clan and affiliates. The beat breathes for a few seconds at the end of the piece, deservedly, shame about Remedy's contribution, even the Steelz verse alone would have been a pearl on this extraordinary production.

"To Say the Least" is another solo cut by Remedy, who ruins one of the best musical carpets on the record, created by himself with Danny Caiazzo. Boom bap, drums lean skeletal clear clean, raw broken bass line, dissonant violins, soulful magnificent chorus, rattle, beautiful beat. Too bad there's once again Remedy on the mic who ruins everything with his annoying voice, his irregular stuttering flow and his lyricism of a remedial class in elementary school, despite the conscious track had better intentions than the final result. "Greatness" boasts an electric guitar riff to drive the rhythm, dirty midtempo drums, soul samples only for the hook, slow hardcore delivery by Trife of Theodore Unit who curiously enough is metrically good in the first part and no longer finds the drum in the second, ironically closing with "I'm in the metrics". Simple hook delivered by Remedy, irregular slow hardcore delivery by Solomon Childs who pays homage to Biggie.

"The Recipe" boasts a solid boom bap, beautiful chopped soul samples, sparkling keyboards, sudden switchbeat, then the production fades and another one is born. Boom bap with sparse drums, good samples, raw bassline, an effortless energetic bouncy hardcore delivery from Method Man, much more in shape than the other performers here, without a hook leaves room for fellow Wu-Tang Clan emcee Cappadonna, who delivers the final part of Ghostface's verse from "Ice Cream", Raekwon's track from his debut and combines it with some of his own opening lines from the same cut to build his contribution on this cut; something is wrong here. It's not enough, because Remedy comes out of nowhere to bring the track to the bottom with a decent but still questionable contribution, with a bit of a poor style for a Wu-Tang album with Wu-Tang guests and Wu-Tang rappers despite the record being his own. Cappadonna returns to deliver that sort of hook that's made up by everyone with random bits from "Ice Cream".

Another great rhythm for "The Art Basel". Solid boom bap, dirty dusty uptempo drum, solid bass line, haunting melodic sample, tight looped haunting flute sample, Tony Starks energetic smoothness hardcore delivery destroying the beat. Simple hook paying homage to 2Pac's "If I Die 2Nite". On the second verse there's Shyheim with a dirty, loose, effortless style, good contribution, following the flow of the uptempo production. The joint is ideal until Remedy arrives on the final verse, who only comes to uselessly mess with the music, negligible. "Calculated Risk" is another solo cut by Filler. Caiazzo and Remedy himself create a classic beat for this track, extraordinary. Equally extraordinary is the fact that this guy goes to destroy (in a negative way) the piece, with an amateur flow and no attitude. Boom bap, great sax sample, soul sample, perfect bass line, perfect midtempo dirty dusty drum, great ethereal samples, brilliantly composed production, it sounds as a RZA at his best, it's spectacular.

"Killa Bee Invasion" boasts a solid boom bap, deep bass line, poor drum, poor hi-hat, excellent samples, intro hook by Cappadonna, slow rapping by Remedy in a joint that is a tribute to Killa Beez. Solomon Childs on stanza number two with a rough and ragged style, on point. Don Cappachino closes the game on the third verse with a straight hardcore delivery. "Noir Story" is actually "North Story", an old Priest track from 2009 for his unreleased bootleg album "The Eternal Thought of Killah Priest"; this piece is credited as a remix of the song. Remedy asks and gets to have it and bring it to his new official studio album, having also produced the track at the time with John Ashline. Danny Caiazzo cleans it up and ends up behind the production credits also with Remedy: driving synth keyboard, poor hi-hat, piano keys in the background, deep bass line, solid samples, silky dirty smoothness delivery by Killah Priest, who gives Remedy the best cut of the album by a margin. The record closes with the obligatory Remedy choice, "Never Again", which you should already know from Wu-stan.

Final Thoughts

Raised in Staten Island, going to school with some guys who would later become part of the Wu-Tang Clan, Remedy soon became an affiliate, collaborated on their records, debuted as a solo artist in 2001 and later produced CDs for Cappadonna, Inspectah Deck and Ghostface Killah. Twenty years after his debut and eighteen after his last album, Remedy returns to the game with an iconic title and one of the best covers of the season that pays homage to the inaugural album of the Wu-Tang Clan: in the middle of the night, in front of a Shaolin temple, nine hooded and face-covered swordsmen are holding a man in chains who, despite everything, has managed to free himself from the handcuffs. The sky is lit up by a Star of David on the left that develops upwards towards the Wu-Tang logo, on the right the title in yellow.

Remedy is the producer and main performer of the project, despite the high presence of Wu samurai. Together with Danny Caiazzo and with a mixing handled by Josh Gannet and Ray Scavo, the Staten Island boy creates what is overall one of the best productions you can ever hear on a contemporary album by a Wu affiliate. On the rapping side, Remedy is present almost everywhere with poor contributions that ruin every piece and lower the quality of the album which is high, but not as high as in the best records of the boys. The Theodore Unit represents in this record, the boys are the main guests of the edition: Ghostface Killah and Cappadonna appear four times each, Solomon Childs makes his way on three tracks, plus there's Trife da God. Method Man is a guest twice with memorable contributions and you have the chance to listen to Inspectah Deck twice in the first quarter of an hour, while all the other guests appear only once. Method Man stands out and is the MVP of the album. By removing all of Remedy's verses and replacing them with random verses from other members of Wu-Tang or the most talented affiliates, this could be one of the best tapes of the decade, thanks to a practically untouchable production, it's fair to point out. As it's fair to reiterate that the album deserves a worthy remix.

18 years after his last official album and 11 years after his last mixtape, "Remedy Meets Wu-Tang" finally brings Remedy back to rap, and it was really missed: seasoned with a stellar cast, with a masterful production and a rapping [performed by almost all] with autopilot that if it weren't for the fact that artificial intelligence wasn't yet fully developed otherwise it would make me have serious doubts, the project helps to give Remedy back a niche of fans linked to Wu and gives him the greatest work of his artistic career. Distributed by Ruffnation Entertainment, it's appreciated by critics with reason (the music is good) and hated by fans with reason (Remedy's rapping is awful), in any case it remains difficult for him to match in the future both for the heaviness of the guests and for the quality of the final product.

Rating: 7/10.