Nine months after releasing his previous album, Ghostface Killah releases his sixth solo studio album, which takes its title from his March effort. Production is by Anthony Acid, J-Love, Ghostface Killah, Fantom of the Beat, MF DOOM, Madlib, Hi-Tek, Mark Ronson, Lewis Parker, Ronald Frost, Koolade, K. Slack and Xtreme. The guests include Theodore Unit members Trife da God, Cappadonna, Sun God, Solomon Childs and Shawn Wigs, Killa Sin of Killarmy, Redman, Mr. Maygreen, Sheek Louch of The LOX, Kanye West, Ne-Yo, Amy Winehouse, Eamon and the Willie Cottrell Band.
Ghost intro with Tracy Morgan over traffic noises. Long skit, the actual cut starts around the two minute mark. J-Love and Ghostdeini himself behind the keyboards: thumping bass line, dry frenetic drum, vocal loop, tight trumpet loop, uptempo beat, boom bap, sampled from Eric B. & Rakim's "Juice (Know the Ledge)". Fast hardcore delivery by Ghostface that immediately tears up the cut, elementary scratched and fast hook taken from a sample of "Apollo Kids" from "Supreme Clientele" (2000) that gives the title of the cut, ironically, because it's assumed that Ghostface is coming from a long break, when he instead released his last effort a few months before. Starks returns in the second verse, fast, energetic, fantastic, and destroys the beat with his relentless rapping. Third verse short by Ghost that sounds like the requiem of the beat. Outro by Pretty Toney that pays homage to Theodore Unit, Trife, Wigz, Du Lilz and finally Wu-Tang with Cappadonna and Raekwon. The record starts off strong with a powerful and heavy cut.
2. "Miguel Sanchez" (ft. Trife da God and Sun God)
The second track chosen for this CD is quite curious. The beat comes from a guy affiliated with Wu such as Phantom of the Beat, inside there's the Theodore Unit, that is only Trife da God, rapper of TMF, and Sun God, the son of Ghostface. Tony Starks doesn't appear on track number two of his album. Plane taking off, heavy drum poor midtempo, bass contained in the background, sample from Earth, Wind & Fire's "Love is Life", annoying loops in front of the rhythm to support the somewhat standard rapping of Trife da God who opens the album with a calm style, there's a break in the middle of his verse, then the beat returns for the last bars, showing to have a notable note in the narration of this drug lord. Sun God enters in the wake of Trife's verse and delivers hardcore, slow, smoothness, clean, great attack and flow, taking the cut. Wise choice not to put a hook, two verses, rough dry beat, one of the best pieces of the album.
3. "Guns N' Razors" (ft. Trife da God, Cappadonna and Killa Sin)
This cut is a classic in the discography of Ghostface Killah and Theodore Unit. The beat is a masterpiece by MF DOOM, taken from "Dragon's Blood", one of the instrumentals of Metal Fingers released a few years earlier, which in turn pays homage to a "Spider-Man" film from 1966. Cinematic rhythm, comic book style boom bap, rattles/tambourine of almost Buckwildian Christmas origins, dry dusty midtempo drum, liquid horns left to breathe, circular loop that envelops you almost sweetly and then wants to crush you.
Intro by Ghostdeini, then his verse, the boy attacks hardcore, rough, raw, energetic, he lets the rhythm envelop him, then tries to free himself with a gritty rapping sharpened at breakneck speed, the beat keeps coming back in circle, there's no hook, the rhythm breathes. Trife da God to the stanza number two, starts regularly, there's a short shrill loop of those horns, then it's back to normality as the boy rattles off his bars with a fluid, liquid, flowing rapping, he advances in the middle of a dark and gloomy rhythm in the jungle.
Trife seems to be left alone in the middle of the jungle when Cappadonna makes his way with a machete, who stomps along with his boots through the mud and slime in his straight-forward style, ignores the beat, ignores the darkness, ignores the jungle, ignores the snakes, ignores the dangers, ignores Trife and Ghost, he seems to be in automatic mode, conscious only of having to move forward without knowing very well what his real destination is and perhaps without even wanting to leave the jungle, his natural battle habitat.
Suddenly the boy pulls out a machine gun from behind his shoulder and unloads a couple of random bursts in the middle of the forest just for the fun of it, fantastic. Lyrically, the Don indulges in gangsterisms, offering a verse that could generously be described in a botched way as cinematic, during which he describes in his own way how the boys of the Theodore Unit are dedicated to robberies and violence and then party and relax basking in the holy trinity of braggadocio: women, drugs and money. His hardcore rapping is incredibly suited to the beat, his contribution is phenomenal.
Donna may have closed the track, however at the fourth verse there's Killa Sin of Killarmy, the joint continues to offer pleasant surprises: the best emcee of the group affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan destroys the beat with his own style. While Tony Starks, Trife and Don Cappachino have chosen a hardcore execution to keep up with this sublime uptempo soundscape, Killa Sin descends on the rhythm with a calm, silky, velvety delivery, he waits for the beat, hypnotizes the rhythm, takes it at his pace instead of being forcefully carried away, he charms it and takes it with a smoothness, dope, incredible rapping, offering some of his best flows. Beautiful cut, amazing.
4. "Outta Town Shit"
Lewis Parker behind the keys for the fourth choice. Fresh bass line, fresh drums midtempo dirty, fresh piano, excellent samples from Alan Tew's "Drama Backcloth", rare solo cut by Ghostface Killah. Hardcore first verse, hook sung by the performer himself, the second stanza is an extra-verse by the Wu-Tang rapper who closes the piece with the chorus and an outro by Big "O". A choice strong enough to keep the quality of the album high, but not up to the best of his discography, with the vivid narration offered by the author immersed in a dice game in Minnesota that has unexpected implications.
5. "Good" (ft. Trife da God and Mr. Maygreen)
Pop rap cut. Pop dance rhythm made by Koolade and Ronald Frost with a dance drum, uptempo, sparse, horns, honest pop samples from Earth, Wind & Fire's "Love Music", commercial mainstream rhythm evidently born for the radio. Intro by GFK and Mr. Maygreen, who provides the hook, verse by Tony Starks with good rapping. Chorus, second verse by Ghostdeini, another hook, Trife Da God in the third verse with regular velvety rapping, yet another hook, short contribution by Starks added, closes the last hook by Mr. Maygreen. Radio cut made in order to push this album into the charts too, and in the end Ghost was right because this album also went strong.
I don't see this piece in "Fishscale" because it doesn't seem to be able to hold that level of quality, but it had its potential if cleaned up a little in the mix, with one less verse and maybe with a minute less. Moving on to read the opinions of other fans, after having completed several listens of this solid album, I discover that this is considered to be the worst track on the album and one of the worst ever in Ghostface's discography. It certainly does not excel, but it is not as catastrophic as fans claim.
6. "Street Opera" (ft. Sun God)
One of the high points in Ghostface Killah's discography and also Sun God's. The beat is beautiful. Fantom of the Beat behind the keyboards, the boy creates a masterpiece here, props to him. In 1972 Michael Jackson split from the Jackson 5 and made his solo debut, the first song on his album is the cover of the famous "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Whiters released the year before. Fantom of the Beat takes an excerpt from that MJ cover, creates the loop and invents a beat that is a pure classic. Phenomenal sample, drum dusty dirty dry heavy hard midtempo, vibrant bass line, excellent sample in loop, velvety delivery by Sun God, the sample breathes at the height of the hook, elementary chorus by Tony Starks who then goes hardcore on the beat and destroys the cut with an energetic, smoothness, dope flow. Third verse in back n forth between Tony Starks and Sun God, crazy cut, among the best of the year.
7. "Block Rock"
Dance beat for pick number seven, the beat is stopped. A new beat is born, intro by the main rapper, synth beat, deep synth heavy bass line, keyboards, sick guitar, excellent samples swarming from Novalis' "Dronsz", incredible beat invented by Madlib for this Ghostface track. Stapleton's emcee drops hardcore bars with a silky smooth flow. Vocoder hook, hardcore second verse, incredibly underrated and ignored cut in Ghostdeini's immense discography.
8. "Miss Info Celebrity Drama"
Skit.
9. "Pokerface" (ft. Shawn Wigs)
Piece based on an epic poker game with several references to the movie "Rounders" (1998). Sample from "Wichita Lineman" by Sunday's Child, rendered chipmunk, fat bass line, dirty dusty drum midtempo, exquisite samples. Hook by Starks, steady delivery by Shawn Wigs of Theodore Unit that opens the cut, hook, second verse by Wigs, closes the hook by Ghost who doesn't reserve verses in this track, that is basically a solo by his friend and his considered one of the few weak points of this effort.
10. "Greedy Bitches" (ft. Redman and Shawn Wigs)
Anthony Acid features a pretty simple beat for the tenth tune of the album. Sparkling bass line, dry downtempo drum, normal sample without praise from Van Morrison's "TB Sheets", intro, two hooks by Ghost before his verse that he delivers with a slow rapping style, chanted over an almost country-flavored beat. Refrain, then Shawn Wigs returns to the mic after having had ample space in the previous choice, here he descends with his slow, fragmented, cumbersome style, without leaving any particular impressions, unlike the song heard a few minutes before. Redman closes the piece with heavy steps, hardcore, energetic, slow rapping. Unmemorable joint both because of a subdued rhythm and because of a hook that doesn't work, in addition to the somewhat dull rapping. A rare misstep in the entire album, the track is inspired by a girl who enters Ghost's tour bus and eats all the Oreos, no jokes.
11. "Josephine" (ft. Trife da God and the Willie Cottrell Band)
Incredible classic in Ghostface's discography and consequently also in Trife da God's. Soundscape designed by Hi-Tek. Raw lyricism by Dennis Coles about a girl devastated by crack abuse. The piece is a revisitation of the original song by Hi-Tek included in his second studio album "Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip" (2006), which achieved good sales success. Acoustic guitar arpeggio, synthesized keyboard, dry hard drum midtempo lively, vocal samples, vibrant, deep, excellent bass line, pleasant keyboard, other guitar arpeggios. Intro by Starks, hook by Willie Cottrell (father of Hi-Tek), hardcore, energetic, dramatic, velvety first verse by Ghost Face Killer that immediately tears the cut, killer hook by Willie Cottrell.
In the original Cottrell provides a verse after the hook, here he's replaced by Trife da God who enters hardcore and gives a heavy jab to the track, entering without asking permission and dropping bars in a smooth, energetic, clean, clear, fantastic way. Chorus, additional final verse by Ghostdeini with his dramatic style, replacing the closing contribution of Pretty Ugly present in the Hi-Tek album. This version is closed by the original verse by Willie Cottrell which is used as an outro.
12. "Grew Up Hard" (w/ Trife da God ft. Solomon Childs)
Bass a bit held back in the background, soul samples from Inez Foxx's "Crossing the Bridge", sweet lively beautiful strings, dry hard dirty heavy midtempo drum. Trife da God with a calm, slow, regular style, drops three verses interspersed with a Solomon Childs hook in this piece by Theodore Unit. Good rhythm by Anthony Acid, with a better mix and some more detail in the rhythm to enrich it could have remained at the level of the strongest cuts of the project.
13. "Blue Armor" (ft. Sheek Louch)
Ghostface Killah goes hardcore on a hard rock production by Fantom of the Beat. Excellent rocking sample, hard midtempo bare drum, electric guitar licks, good samples from John Farnham's "Innocent Hearts", energetic, slow, heavy delivery by Tony Starks that kills the beat. Sheek Louch of The LOX goes hardcore and tears the cut with a slow, steady, hard flow, he goes down on the mic like a professional hitman and eliminates the rhythm. Pretty Toney returns to the third stanza and buries the production with a hardcore flow, fast, dirty, lethal. Sublime work by Fantom of the Beat behind the keyboards giving a different beat to Ghost on this tape, beautiful. This track is the prelude to the future collaborative project between Sheek and Ghost "Wu-Block", released a few years later.
14. "You Know I'm No Good" (w/ Amy Winehouse)
Another clean classic in Ghostface's discography, here in a duet with superstar Amy Winehouse. The track is a remix of "You Know I'm No Good" by the English singer from her second album "Back to Black", in which the MC is a guest. Iconic beat credited to Mark Ronson. Amy Winehouse opens, then Ghostface enters in the second verse, dropping bars with a hardcore style, energetic, fast, velvety, dirty, unstoppable at breakneck speed, beautiful on a pressing production.
Winehouse's hook, short scratched break by Starks, then his stanza, energetic again, although with a more rhythmic rapping than before, he starts to increase the speed again when the strings become more pressing and the drum starts to beat more frequently, arriving breathlessly even at the end of this second verse. Chorus, another scratched break by Tony Starks, short verse sung by Winehouse, the emcee from Staten Island returns to rapping for the last time with a shorter verse than usual, to then leave room for the last hook by Winehouse.
This version is brilliant, giving more space to the rapper than the original. Strange not to have chosen this piece as a single from the album.
15. "Alex (Stolen Script)"
MF DOOM is back behind the keyboards on this cut, the man is a genius. The beat falls into what you might call "experimental". The soundscape is cartoonish, even a little cinematic if you want, but sci-fi, it's more cartoonish. It would fit in "X-Files". Metal Fingers did a great job here, sublime. Sample from Henry Mancini's "The Thief Who Came to Dinner", vibrant and deep bass line, dry, dusty, hard, midtempo drum, perfect, hypnotizing synth keyboard, sounds a little annoying, but it's not and disappears for a few seconds before coming back stronger than before.
Ghostface is waiting for the beat, obviously, how do you deal with it? It's not clear. Wisely, the rapper from Stapleton decides to reel off a long detailed narrative about a drug dealer and killer who improvises as a film scriptwriter and which describes the life of Ray Charles, whose screenplay is stolen and this ends up becoming the basis for the Oscar-winning film "Ray" starring Jamie Foxx. The emcee drops a single verse with a smoothness and velvety hardcore rapping, because any hook or any pause longer than a few seconds would allow the beat to cloak the entire track and captivate the listener, excluding the performer from the track. The soundscape brilliantly designed by Metal Fingers seems to have its own autonomy and understand that Ghost is managing to keep up with him, so it evolves in turn, presenting beautiful dusty violins combined with almost imperceptible horns in the background, that manage to distract the listener's attention from Tony Starks' rapping, they are truly fantastic, cinematic, worthy of a noir movie of the forties / fifties, à la "The Maltese Falcon", wonderful.
Ghostdeini resists and advances at a determined pace, the ethereal synthesized keyboard returns, the boy has not stopped yet and is dropping bars for two minutes, the beat seems to have won and wants to win against one of the best ever, he also stops for a few moments leaving only the drum in order to catch the emcee out, who however does not fall for the trap and continues to spit regularly without stumbling, bass and keyboards return, Starks goes forward, the brilliant, dirty, dusty, magical violins return together with the horns, Ghostface resists and in the end he's the one to beat the rhythm, which surrenders after three minutes of historic battle, fading into a pur-purri of falling winds while the boy delivers the last bar. It's one of Ghostface's iconic narrations in one of his greatest tracks ever, on a fantastic production. Everything perfect. Classic cut.
16. "Gotta Hold On" (w/ Shawn Wigs ft. Eamon)
Anthony Acid in production with a classic. Funky bass line, soft downtempo drum, samples close to perfection from The Crusaders' "Hold On (I Think Our Love is Changing)", sweet soundscape pure mainstream ballad, song that sounds destined for the radio. Shawn Wigs has his moment to shine, good attack, regular delivery, fragmented, slow, velvety, flow suitable for the beat. Rnb hook by Eamon together with a soul sample. Shawn Wigs delivers a second verse with the same style, always talking about his girlfriend who left him with two children, chorus by Eamon and his killer verse with which he takes the tune on sparkling keys. Crazy joint. This too in retrospect is considered one of the weak points of the album, not particularly appreciated by fans.
17. "Back Like That" (Remix; ft. Kanye West and Ne-Yo)
Remix of Ghostdeini's hit "Back Like That" released a few months earlier on "Fishscale". Xtreme behind the keyboards, the beat doesn't change, sample from Willie Huthc's "Baby Come Home". Intro, hook by Ne-Yo, Kanye West introduces himself and delivers the first verse with a calm, velvety, flowing rapping and launches the joint. Hook, Ghost Face Killer tears up the remix with an energetic second verse that contrasts with the sweetness of the beat, chorus, final verse by Ne-Yo and his hook with which he goes away. Good remix, not excellent.
Final Thoughts
The album is a direct follow-up to "Fishscale", coming out nine months later and in the same year. With six LPs, Ghostface overtakes GZA and becomes the Wu-Tang rapper with the most albums of all, the first to release two solo albums in the same year (in 2004 he had already released two CDs, one solo and one in collaboration with his group Theodore Unit). Given the high rate of guests and the wide freedom granted to friends — Starks only keeps three solo cuts and in a couple of tracks he leaves them in charge of the controls — "More Fish" seems more like a group effort with Theodore Unit (whose name appears, not coincidentally, right in front of the album title on the cover), in a sort of sequel to both "718" and the disk with Trife "Put It on the Line", with Trife da God as the main guest boasting five appearances followed by Shawn Wigs with three appearances.
Released by Def Jam with Universal distribution, the album sold 36,000 physical copies in its first week, entering the pop (#71), hip-hop (#13) and rap charts, where it climbs up to number six. Welcomed positively by critics and with suspicion by fans, it features few big names behind the keyboards such as Madlib, MF DOOM and Hi-Tek. The production is solid, tight, fresh, cohesive, probably not at the very high level of the album released months before, but it is still enjoyable and at times excellent. Wu-Tang Clan isn't seen behind the keyboards or next to the main rapper in this hour of material and their contribution is replaced by affiliates, most of them coming from Ghostface's group Theodore Unit. Composed of material believed to be discarded from the sessions of his previous album, the LP appears with the look of a compilation mixtape elevated to the level of a studio album purely to increase sales. Overall, the album is compact, polished, robust, hard, the guests sound more or less all good, it's a pleasant listen and full of pearls for fans of Ghostface & Friends, certainly recommended to aficionados.
Rating: 8/10.
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