Fourth solo studio album by Gary "GZA / Genius" Grice, which recalls his most famous work, "Liquid Swords". Production is provided by Arabian Knight, Mathematics, RZA, GZA, Jay "Waxx" Garfield, Boola, Bink, Tyquan Walker, Jaz-O and DJ Muggs. The guests of the edition are the members of the Wu-Tang Clan Ghostface Killah, Masta Killa, RZA, Inspectah Deck, his son Kareem Justice and the affiliates Streetlife, Armel of Ancient Coins and the Two on the Road, a duo consisting of 12 O'Clocks of Brooklyn Zu and Prodigal Sunn of Sunz of Man. Also present, sometimes uncredited, are Santi White, Anthony Allen and the Governor Two's. The cover is reminiscent of the noir, dark and futuristic aesthetic of "Blade Runner" (1982), movie to which "Liquid Swords" is sometimes compared.
The album opens with a splendid light oriental intro in which Young Justice aka Justice Kareem, one of Grice's sons, narrates a short skit about New York as if it were the beginning of a kung-fu movie from the late seventies. The first cut, "Auto Bio", boasts excellent production: Jay "Waxx" Garfield's jazzy boom bap, dusty midtempo drum, light samples between piano and strings, calm, confident, velvety delivery of GZA. There's a good bridge around the hook. Track number three features Boola behind the keyboards: alternative and funky boom bap, slow midtempo drum, eclectic samples, his musical carpet is light, good enough and supports the rapper's calm delivery, in a piece about the executives that is the sequel of "Labels". "Silent" is the first song with guests. Good production by Bink that manages to build a sound that comes close to touching the aesthetics of the Wu-sound of the late nineties, boom bap funky, rhythmic, alternative, good drum, honest samples. Ghostface Killah delivers his verse with a dirty and chanting style, Streetlife performs worthily, GZA in the third verse, confident, calm, flowing. Honest cut with no hooks, but it's far from the classic it could have been.
"Knock, Knock" is the first single of the record, reminds me of Meth & Red's "Da Rockwilder": Jay "Waxx" Garfield's awful, essential and annoying boom bap, in theory, it shouldn't work, but after a couple of plays, he seems to be heading his way to the club worthily. The Genius delivers confident, hardcore, sharp. The sixth choice has the first rhythm of The Arabian Knight: skeletal, cheap, almost annoying boom bap, it's a bad attempt to keep coming up with alternative rhythms. However, the drum hits hard, the samples are good and Santi White's bewitching rnb hook hold the track, plus the slow, hardcore flow of Maximilian. Tyquan Walker and Bink make a captivating glossy production for "Animal Planet": boom bap with dirty and dusty midtempo drum, excellent light samples, beats close to ballad, but well-executed. GZA delivers with great style, calm, slow, velvety and his lyricism allows him to elevate the track far above average.
Mathematics creates a solid soundscape for "FAM (Members Only)": alternative jazzy boom bap, dirty, dusty, hard and midtempo drum, so tightly chopped and looped soul samples and so distant as to be hardly noticeable, swords echoing in the background, intro and first verse of RZA, with his raw, slow, rough, a bit cumbersome style. Master Killer's fluid attack, delivering his verse with a velvety GZA-like style, calm, quiet, confident. Noodles also performs the hook, supported by Bobby Digital, then The Abbot returns with another verse, spitting inspired, raw, flowing. Bobby Steels hook, then Justice finishes the cut, shiny, sharp, calm, smooth. Jaz-O produces the title track and provides yet another alternative rhythm of this LP: jazzy boom bap, skinny tight drum, good eclectic samples, functional hook by Anthony Allen, good rap by GZA, calm, smoothness, finding one of his better verses in the second.
The tenth song boasts an honest and essential jazzy boom bap by Arabian Knight, simple drum, raw, fast delivery by Genius, g-funk bridge on the hook. The album's lead producer also provides the beat for "Highway Robbery": pounding, tense and gloomy boom bap, regular hard drum, eclectic samples, the track uses Governor Two's ragga vocals on the hook, while the MC delivers confident, determined, slow. DJ Muggs makes a robust and dark boom bap production for "Luminal": tight drum machine, dark samples, Maximilian creates a dark story appropriate to the mood of the beat and keeps the delivery style taut so as not to be overwhelmed by the rhythm. Great cut, with female interlude between the verses. "Sparring Minds" is made up of two of the best minds of the Wu-Tang Clan: on a good boom bap rhythm created by Arabian Knight, with heavy, hard, dry midtempo drum, and guitar licks, GZA spits bars together with Inspectah Deck, both with a slow n fluid flow, far from their best days.
"Rough Cut" is the last posse of the project: cheap and poor RZA boom bap, decent sample but looped too tightly, to the point of annoyance, and tight drum. It's one of the worst beats of the edition, in a piece that should serve as a showcase for Armel of Ancient Coins, Prodigal Sunn of Sunz of Man and 12 O'Clock of Brooklyn Zu: GZA steps aside here and exclusively acts the hook, Armel's rap is decent, but not up to par with an official Wu album, then Two on da Road perform more professionally, P Sunn is aggressive, raw, hardcore, the brother of Ol' Dirty Bastard closes the cut with a rough, slow, good flow. GZA produces the rhythm for its latest solo track, "Uncut Material". simple boom bap, basic drum, skinny, decent loop, smooth delivery of The Genius, functional hook.
GZA returns to release an LP three years after the last one. The album comes out during the third wave of Wu releases, at the beginning of the 2000s, and right from the title, it tries to bring the listener back to the times of "Liquid Swords", a masterpiece to which the artist connects several times over the course of the listening. The production doesn't try to recreate the sound of that album, but tries to modernize the Wu-sound of that period, without obtaining many rhythms from the producers most linked to the supergroup: RZA and Mathematics have a beat each, and almost all of the rhythms come from guys outside Wu-Tang. Arabian Knight, an affiliate and producer who previously worked with GZA on his previous solo record, is the lead author behind the keyboards with four choices. Also participating are Jay "Waxx" Garfield and Bink with two rhythms each, Boola, Jaz-O, DJ Muggs and GZA himself with one.
Overall, the set is less erratic and incoherent than what the tracklist might make you imagine, the guys provide fairly cohesive rhythms, not to say similar, with light and alternative choices on which the MC flows adequately. The lyrics have never been a weak point for GZA, here he still excels at times, although he focuses most of his strength on battle rap, braggadocio and themes he has already addressed in the past, showing a substantial lack of new ideas to explore. On the rapping side, the album can also disappoint the listener who comes here straight from the prequel: his style changes from the aggressiveness of the beginnings to more composed and calmer streams, spitting with a velvety flow with which one he doesn't take any risk, playing it safe. The album gets several guests from the Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface, Masta Killa, RZA, Inspectah Deck and affiliates Streetlife, 12 O'Clock, Prodigal Sunn and Armel, as well as several guests for the hooks: no one particularly impresses, perhaps also due to a production that's good, solid, but not memorable. Nonetheless, none of them feel inspired enough or fit enough to rip the cuts and release something "legendary".
Released by MCA and distributed by Universal, the album is praised by critics and achieves some success in sales, entering the pop and rap charts. While boasting a good production, a good rap and competent guests, that is, everything you can and should expect in a Wu-Tang album, the record promises much more than it delivers and ultimately, even in retrospect, disappoints. 7.2/10.
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