Almost exactly a year after his last studio effort, Ghostface Killah releases his seventh CD. A third of the record is produced by Sean C & LV, with the remaining beats being done by Davey Chegwidden, Ant Live, Anthony Acid, Scram Jones, Frequency, Ghostface Killah, Baby Grand, Syience, Patrick Stump, and S*A*M & Sluggo. The guests include Theodore Unit members Solomon Childs, Trife da God, Sun God, Shawn Wigs, and Cappadonna, as well as Wu-Tang Clan rappers Method Man, Raekwon, U-God, and Masta Killa, and outsiders to the Wu universe Beanie Sigel of State Property, Kid Capri, Ox, Rhythm Roots Allstars, Chrisette Michele, Gym Class Heroes, and Tyga.
Skit with a rhythm similar to that of "Scarface" (1983), when the main characters meet Lopez plugs in the car.
2. "Toney Sigel A.K.A. the Barrel Brothers" (ft. Beanie Sigel & Solomon Childs, the latter uncredited)
Honest boom bap, raw bassline, minimal downtempo drums, distorted guitar riff, scarce samples from Al Wilson's "Falling (In Love With You)", first production from The Hitmen Sean C & LV on this CD. Hardcore delivery from Ghostface Killah that rips the cut. Short verse from Solomon Childs (sometimes uncredited), former member of Tony's group Theodore Unit: good entrance, slow, fragmented, stuttering heavy hardcore delivery that opens the way for Beanie Sigel verse. After getting out of prison, the Roc-A-Fella's State Property emcee delivers in a slow, dirty, hardcore style, destroying the beat with an extra-verse, providing what is considered one of the greatest moments on this album.
3. "Yolanda's House" (ft. Method Man & Raekwon)
Nice work by Ant Live behind the keys, deep thick vibrating bass line, sweet dusty dirty strings in the background, beautiful violins, rare purity, fantastic soul samples, dirty, dusty, amazing midtempo drums. Thematically, it resembles a sequel to "Run": the author runs away from the police, in a piece that quickly shifts to sexual backgrounds. Dope delivery by Ghostface with his breathless style on this vintange Wu cut along with the pillars Method Man and Raekwon. Tical comes in with a top entrance and delivers bars with some of his best flows, velvety, smoothness, clean, crisp, unstoppable, boasts one of the most beautiful flows in the game. Raekwon comes in and devastates the beat with a dirty, smooth, brilliant, phenomenal execution. Fantastic cut, mandatory for Wu stans. Magnificent. High point of the record and of GFK's discography.
4. "We Celebrate" (ft. Kid Capri)
This track is destined to be the album's lead single. Here, the Stapleton MC creates a festive tune that celebrates hip-hop, women and alcohol. Boom bap rhythm with looped synth guitar riff, poor midtempo drum, sample from Rare Heart's "I Just Want to Celebrate". Starks is clearly not inspired here, while Kid Capri screams in the background. Unmemorable cut also due to the annoying and questionable rhythm by Sean C & LV: break on the shouted and terrible hook, break in Latin salsa, tune for radio and clubs.
5. "Walk Around"
Female soul sample from Little Milton's "Packed Up and Took My Mind", poor downtempo drum, fresh lively bass line, sunny rhythm, tight violin loops, regular hardcore delivery by GFK.
Lyrically, the rapper dives into a crime narrative that is considered to be among the best on the CD, detailing the psychological repercussions of committing a murder during a quiet, casual walk. Rare solo by him on the album and in recent years in general, second hardcore verse, long outro closing on the beat. The whole track goes over three minutes with the beat breathing when the song could have ended at two.
6. "Yapp City" (ft. Trife Da God, Sun God & Solomon Childs, the latter uncredited)
Snaking and dark rhythm created by Scram Jones, vibrant bass line, minimal sparse midtempo dirty drum, tense strings, good samples, slow energetic delivery by Starks, slow chorus by Solomon Childs. Second verse to Sun God in this joint that is performed by the guys from Theodore Unit. Good rapping by Sun God who travels serenely on the current of this rhythm. Hook that precedes the last verse, delivered by Trife, who tears the cut with a good energetic, confident, regular rap. The rhythm doesn't send this piece among the strongest of the tape.
7. "White Linen Affair (Toney Awards)" (ft. Shawn Wigs)
Scram Jones stays behind the keyboards to assist Frequency in production. Starks at his annual awards ceremony, limits himself to a long name-dropping and various tributes, the piece is quite boring and is considered among the worst recordings of his entire discography.
After a minute of skit, a heavy boom bap emerges, hard dirty drum midtempo, pressing bass line, sample from Soul Generation's "That's the Way It's Got to Be (Body and Soul)". Hardcore delivery by GFK, the mood remains Theodore Unit because at the mic the author is joined by Shawn Wigs, also a member of the Staten Island group Othorized FAM. Break on which Wigs launches the second verse of Pretty Toney, who returns hardcore on a beat that is neither bad nor exceptional. A comic Shawn Wigs descends to rapping and begins a slow name dropping that says nothing, Ghostface returns to revive the track, which is now gone.
8. "Supa GFK"
Minimal boom bap for this piece, GFK and Anthony Acid credited on the rhythm. Soft bass line, poor drum, ballad samples from Johnny Watson's "Superman Lover". It's not really a sample: the author decides to use the entire song as a background while he recites his lyrics over Watson's song, just like he had already done a few years earlier with his previous track "Holla" ("The Pretty Toney Album"), which unlike this one is rightly considered a classic. Here the boy sounds tired, spits braggadocio without logic and seems truly devoid of inspiration and imagination. Ghostdeini puts down two verses, closing with an interlude and an outro accompanied by the sample which replaces a third verse that just didn't fit on this incomplete beat.
9. "Rec-Room Therapy" (ft. Raekwon & U-God)
Dry midtempo drum, minimal bass line, cheerful loop of flute sampled from Isaac Hayes' "(They Long to Be) Close to You", slow steady calm delivery by Tony Starks over a regular boom bap by Baby Grand and Davey Chegwidden. Short simple hook with Raekwon, second verse by Ghostface. Third verse left to Lex Diamond, slow, steady flow. Almost better Lucky Hands, who seems to interpret the rhythm better, with a sing-song, loose, effortless flow. It's not the best sign in the world when U-God, often wrongly considered one of the weakest members of Wu-Tang, trashes you on your own album.
10. "The Prayer Skit" (ft. Ox)
Ox sings overbeat for a minute.
11. "I'll Die for You"
Classic sample from The Independents' "It's All Over", boom bap of fine workmanship made by Sean C & LV, who surprise at times on this record. Beautiful pure bass line, minimal poor downtempo drum, sparkling piano, brilliant keyboard, orchestral samples. Silky rap by GFK after his intro, almost spoken hook, second verse with the same inflection. Hook, third verse, final hook, tune among the highest moments of this project.
12. "Paisley Darts" (ft. Raekwon, Sun God, Trife da God, Method Man & Cappadonna)
Tight looped soul sample from The Originals' "Lie No. 2" to reproduce the chipmunk soul sound typical of a few years before. Dry hard midtempo drum, vocal samples in chorus to accompany the first, rough bass line. Regular energetic delivery by Ghostdeini on this boom bap created by Sean C & LV that for once doesn't suck, fortunately. Shallah Raekwon enters on the wake of the previous verse with a silky, slow, effortless, dirty, excellent rapping. Sun God picks up the mic and is the author of the third verse, good rapping, he's confident, dirty flow, good contribution. When a fourth stanza also arrives, you understand that you are in a cypher even if you have not looked at the tracklist.
Inside Trife, now a historic collaborator of Ghostface and present in all his latest records: the boy enters with energy, hardcore flow, good rapping. Method Man blesses the cut at the fifth verse with a casual, loose, flowing, dope, commendable style. A first chorus arrives at this point, interpreted by Tony Starks together with Cappadonna, called to close the cypher: the boy has just been made official as a member of the Wu-Tang Clan and has been one of the pillars of the Theodore Unit for years, marking the union of these two groups in this cut. The Don enters hardcore and destroys the beat going straight for straight with a raw, rough, hardcore delivery, excellent contribution. The track at four minutes would have ended, but on for another minute and a half with a skit.
13. "Shakey Dog Starring Lolita" (ft. Raekwon)
The song is a narrative sequel to "Shakey Dog" ("Fishscale", 2006), where the boys kill Frank during a robbery gone wrong. The cut deals with the story of the hitman Lolita, here encountered and eliminated by the duo. Starks would like to spend time with the dead body of the young woman, but is prevented by the rapid arrival of the police, creating one of the most curious, interesting and enveloping narratives of his new project.
Ghostface immediately starts dropping bars with a calm, slow, clear, clean, flowing, loose, effortless flow on a soft beat. Light boom bap by Sean C & LV, soft bass line, rough dry hard drum midtempo pressing, plucked acoustic guitar, good samplesfrom El Michels Affair's "Musings to Myself", good horns, dusty horns. With the same style, Chef Raekwon goes flowing, dirty, confident, slow, effortless. So begins a back n forth between the two in the style of "Heaven & Hell".
14. "! Skit" (ft. Rhythm Roots Allstars)
Half a minute of Latin salsa instrumental with credit to Davey Chegwidden amidst gunfire, credited to Rhythm Roots Allstairs.
15. "Killa Lipstick" (ft. Method Man & Masta Killa)
Ghostface Killah and Anthony Acid behind a classic beat. Great thick bass line, minimal downtempo drum, cymbals accompanying with Christmas bells / jingle bells in loop, great samples from "Riding High" by Faze-O, haunting female phantasmagoric vocal sample. Smoothness velvety energetic delivery by Starks, on the killer hook by Method Man the haunting sample disappears to return on the second verse of Ghost, again energetic, smooth, dope. Hook, memorable entrance by Masta Killa, who delivers with his slow, monotonous, effortless, smooth style, great interpretation of the beat. Amazing soundscape.
16. "Slow Down" (ft. Chrisette Michele)
Chrisette Michele, singing the intro hook, launches the last track of the album, which promises to be a banger. Ghostface Killer makes a song about his ease in spending money, while the girl reminds him that he should slow down to appreciate it, and this happens just as the beat slows down for the girl's hook, a wonderful detail. Boom bap of Syience's workmanship, Starks flies with energy on this beat, which slows down for Michele's soft rnb hook. Minimal downtempo hard dry drum, orchestral samples, excellent bass line. Double hook by Michele after the second verse of Ghostdeini, his outro together with the hooks, where the boy finally slows down after going at full speed for fifty minutes.
Bonus track
17. "Clothes Off! (Stress Remix)" (Gym Class Heroes ft. Tyga and Ghostface Killah)
Remix of Gym Class Heroes' "Clothes Off!". Dance beat credited to Patrick Stump, S*A*M & Sluggo. Quick rap verse by Travis McCoy after Patrick Stump's hook, second verse by Tyga, honest, slow, smooth rapping. Final verse by Tony Starks, hardcore on this radio-bound beat.
Final Thoughts
One year after the last, Dennis "Ghost Face Killer" Coles returns with his new studio album, the seventh. He publishes his eight official effort in the decade counting the collaborations and the tenth including two compilation. The author enlists the Sean C & LV from Puff Daddy's celebrated production team The Hitmen to create part of the ideal set for his new album, which is rounded off with production from Davey Chegwidden and Anthony Acid, with three rhythms each. Ghostface shares the mic with Wu-Tang, Raekwon is the main guest of the record, ahead of Method Man, then there's room for Theodore Unit and Beanie Sigel.
Thematically, the album is more or less clearly different from the topics covered by Ghostface's recent albums, leaving aside coke rap and everything that surrounds it and dedicating to celebrating himself, his team (Theodore Unit) and, if there's time, a little bit of the others too, which never hurts, bringing out braggadocious, violent, thug, criminal, sexual, vicious verses, and finding himself in a dreamlike rehab due to being addicted to having too much money, hence the title of the album. With his new effort, the emcee proves once again that he's one of the best storytellers in the hip-hop scene, in case there was any need for another demonstration from him.
Musically, Ghostface Killah relies mostly on unnamed beatmakers and a third of his album is produced by Sean C & LV, who at the time were mostly linked to the solo albums of the Terror Squad (Big Pun, Fat Joe, Remy Ma), but who had already worked with Ghost on a pearl of his album "Fishscale" ("Momma") and who in the same year produced most of the new album by Jay-Z — with whom they had debuted on his debut album over ten years earlier — "American Gangster", acclaimed by critics. This choice behind the keyboards ends up being the ruin of the album, as the chosen musical set drags the tracks down and ultimately sinks the entire product.
Deprived of any proper promotion from his label, the album ends up containing both some of the most underrated tracks in his catalog and some of his worst, reminding fans that up to this point Ghostface has done practically nothing wrong and has released albums that are either masterpieces or close to being so, at least as far as his strictly solo discography goes. As a result, this is his weakest album so far, although it's still at the level of the best of the season on the rap circuit. Originally, the release date is in conflict with another important album, "8 Diagrams", the one from Wu-Tang Clan who hasn't released an album in seven years. RZA keeps a tight lid on the release date until he reluctantly decides to push the Wu-Tang album back to the following week.
Released by Def Jam, distributed by Universal, the sales results are disappointing and similar to those of his previous disk "More Fish", due to the leaks on internet: it enters in the pop chart (#41) and goes strong among rap releases, peaking at 5, becoming one of the best-selling rap albums of the season. The record is welcomed greatly by the critics, less-well by fans: in summary, with this disk basically devoid of solo tracks, Ghostface Killah takes a step back from the previous albums, gives up the throne of king of New York and leaves it vacant for whatever reason we don't know, in order to care of his group Theodore Unit hoping to promote it as best as possibile.
Rating: 7/10.
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