In 2013, Ghostface Killah releases his tenth studio album, the first collaborative disk with American composer Adrian Younge. The guests are Wu-Tang Clan members Masta Killa, U-God, Inspectah Deck, Cappadonna, along with Wu-Tang affiliate Killa Sin and William Hart of The Delfonics.
Inspired by RZA and Enio Morricone, Adrian Younge collaborates with rapper Ghostface Killah on his new project, a concept album set in 1960s Italy, in which the author plays Tone Starks. Starks is a hitman for the DeLuca mafia family, murdered by his former bosses after wanting to start his own business and falling in love with the boss's daughter. His remains are cast in vinyl and pressed into a dozen LPs, resurrecting him as the vengeful spirit of Ghostface Killah.
The now deceased Tone Starks announces his return in the form of the spirit of Ghostface Killah ("Beware of the Stare"): a sung hook opens the album's first track. Solid boom bap, subtle, sparse, midtempo, minimal drums, a thick bassline, beautiful, relaxed, stretched samples, a magnetic keyboard, a relaxed organ in the background, and Ghostface's silky, flowing delivery. The bridge to the cinematic soul hook, accompanied only by scattered piano keys and a cymbal crash. The beat returns to welcome Starks' second verse: energetic, flowing, precise, and the final chorus. Stunning cut.
The author describes himself as a career mobster, with all that entails — thefts, robberies, assaults, beatings, the rapid association with the DeLucas, the fast life. After failing to advance to "man of honor" in the criminal hierarchy ("Rise of the Black Suits"), Starks decides to start his own crime family and pursue his business by going against his former bosses.
Simply magical production by Younge here. Synth loops, dry, hard, tough, midtempo drums. Ghostface lets this beat breathe for several moments, then calmly, evenly, smoothly enters, closing the first stanza with a welcome homage to Big Pun, accompanied by a sweet piano key line and a beautiful, ethereal, magical keyboard. Hook, then hardcore, raw, rough, dirty second verse, final chorus. It's a typical mafia song by any standards, magnificent cut.
Throughout his narrative, Ghostface partially exploits some of the real rules of the 1960s mafia, the setting for the entire concept. Thus, our protagonist increasingly distances himself from the DeLucas until he declares war against them ("I Declare War") and starts a mafia war by deploying his own soldiers, first and foremost the loyal Masta Killa, the album's first guest: splendid soundscape, perfect midtempo, dry, dusty drums, smooth bassline, epic dirty violin loops, slow, hardcore delivery with determined steps by Ghostface Killah. Starks' hook is accompanied by a magnificent soul sample from an angelic female voice. Masta Killa is the album's first guest and enters calmly, a fluid, flowing, silky, unstoppable flow, an excellent contribution. Hook, outro by RZA (uncredited).
The mafia war has created a stir among the local media and attracted the attention of the police. Tone Starks spares no one and begins eliminating anyone who opposes him, continuing to enlist cronies ("Blood on the Cobblestones") like U-God and Inspectah Deck, who move alongside him in an escalating violence and threaten to strike anyone who deserves it without being stopped. Intense boom bap, tight loops, dry drums, hardcore rap without concessions from Pretty Toney, Lucky Hands sounds inspired, Rollie Fingers closes with hardcore, a hook-less track that passes rather quickly.
The author adds another piece to the story, describing how he met the boss's daughter, Logan, who later became his lover ("The Center of Attraction"): dreamy atmosphere, female choir singing, rain in the background, sparse keyboards, the song lights up after a minute; splendid production, midtempo drums, phenomenal bass line, magnificent loops, slow, calm, thoughtful, velvety delivery by Ghostface, who invents another mafia rap song, with references more or less freely taken from David Chase's "Sopranos" and Scorsese's "Goodfellas" (1990); Cappadonna enters gracelessly to try to wake his friend from this cathartic, idyllic and utopian "dream", calm, slow, creates an interesting contrast with the rhythm; while Ghostface accompanies it and lets the current of the beat carry him, Don Cappachino scratches the soundscape, advancing relentlessly against it, attacking and challenging it like rust, without abandoning his unrestrained, dirty, vicious lyrical style that made him so famous twenty years earlier. Starks closes the circle with a short third verse, threatening Cappadonna's very existence if he continues to question the relationship, having him killed by the same girl.
However, Starks begins to doubt the relationship after being warned by the guys in his mafia family, and at the same time begins to doubt the loyalty of those around him ("Enemies All Around Me"), only to later reconsider his relationship with the girl, deciding to keep it against the advice of his associates.
Gorgeous beat, energetic bassline, sparse midtempo drums, melancholy, sad piano, slow, fragmented delivery by Ghostface. William Hart does a fine job on the hook, preoccupied in a way that suggests obsession, yet still rather rapid and unreflective, exactly what the lyrics call for, which he interpreted very well — good job by the Delfonics singer. Ghost returns for a second final verse in which he revisits his thoughts on that relationship over a heavenly synthesized keyboard line accompanied by a light, ethereal female choir, Hart's closing chorus. Impeccably beautiful joint, no need to complain.
Tone Starks decided to trust his girlfriend in his war against the DeLucas and shortly thereafter was lured into a trap by the same girl, who handed him over to the rival mafia family ("An Unexpected Call [The Set Up]"), who would eventually kill Starks. The Starks family's soldiers decide to place a bounty on the girl's head, amid a flurry of cinematic references, especially to Coppola's "The Godfather" (1972). Boom bap, slick, sly drums, a slanted bass line, careful and obscure loops, Ghostface's slow, unsteady delivery. Rebel INS on the second verse, slow, velvety, confident, perfect.
RZA, again uncredited, accompanies us as a voiceover narrator on this cinematic concept album, announcing Starks' death by the DeLucas. The former mafia boss has been killed, and his remains have been pressed onto twelve vinyl records, which, when played, bring him back to life in the form of the spirit Ghostface Killah ("Rise of the Ghostface Killah"). Starks then describes his own resurrection on wax and immediately begins to exact revenge on the DeLucas, starting with the crime family's soldiers. Careful boom bap, dry uptempo drums, flashy bassline, intense loops, rich rhythm, smooth, fast, vengeful delivery by Ghostface, who also pays an immortal tribute to ODB.
So Ghostface Killah takes his time preparing for his ultimate revenge against the heads of the DeLuca family and the girl who betrayed him ("The Catastrophe [The Revenge is Sweet]"): sparse, midtempo drums, a heavy bassline, upbeat loops, a hook somewhere between vocals and spoken word. Ghostface proceeds slowly over the beat, charged, heavy, confident, ready for vengeance; Masta Killa and Killa Sin join in the bloody desires of Starks' spirit.
Ghostface and his soldiers describe how they will eliminate their enemies ("Murder Spree"): boom bap, tight riff, sparse drums, mournful piano keys, a heavy bassline. The song is a violent battle in which Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, U-God, Killa Sin, Masta Killa again, and finally Ghostface again. Starks starts hardcore, slow, and relentless. Inspectah Deck continues slow, charged, confident, and clean. Noodles is confident, hardcore, and calm. U-God spits more raw and gritty. Killa Sin unfolds with a velvety, clean, and splendid flow. Master Killer returns, following in the footsteps of Killarmy's emcee, delivering a solid performance with his usual calm. Starks returns to hardcore and closes with an iconic cut that is chosen as the album's first single.
Then comes the time to exact his revenge against the heads of the DeLuca mafia family ("The Sure Shot [Parts 1 and 2]"). Ghostface continues to kill his enemies, but also begins to feel nostalgic for his lost friends and ponders whether he still wants to kill his girlfriend or not. A fast, sparse drum beat, sparse percussion, boom bap, an eclectic bassline, a heavy electric guitar riff, bright, vibrant piano keys, and a fast, flowing, hardcore delivery from Ghostface as he takes his long-awaited, sweet revenge. A second beat then begins: a dry, midtempo drum beat, a gorgeous bassline, a sparse guitar riff, mournful piano keys, sparse percussion, melancholic loops, a synthesized keyboard, a magnificent loop combined with a light female choir in an ethereal background (the same as the previous songs), a thoughtful, velvety, sad delivery from Ghostdeini. Some psychedelic lines also arrive for Starks' third and final verse (on the album as well), which closes his album, a masterpiece, with melancholy and awareness. finally, the narrator of this album-movie RZA, again uncredited, offers a closing passage of the album ("Twelve Reasons to Die") to celebrate the legacy of Tone Starks / Ghostface Killah, the rest of the track is a splendid instrumental by Younge.
Final Thoughts
Ghostface Killah's tenth studio album marks his first collaboration with composer Adrian Younge. The project is a concept album based on a comic book of the same name. The album is narrated by RZA, who also serves as executive producer. Guests include Wu-Tang Clan members Masta Killa, U-God, Inspectah Deck, and Cappadonna, Killarmy rapper Killa Sin, and William Hart of The Delfonics. Most of the guys return to a mafia rap album by a Wu-Tang Clan member after Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Part 2", but this time their mafia aliases aren't revived, with Masta Killa being Noodles, U-God being Lucky Hands, Inspectah Deck being Rollie Fingers, and Cappadonna being Don Cappachino.
This is Ghostface Killah's first solo album (although Adrian Younge is credited as co-writer) after leaving Def Jam. The album was released by RZA's Soul Temple and Adrian Younge's Linear Labs, and distributed by RED. Originally scheduled for release on November 20, 2012, the release date was later pushed back to the following year to avoid competition with RZA's soundtrack for his film "The Man with the Iron Fists". The songs "The Rise of Ghostface Killah" and "The Sure Shot (Parts 1 and 2)" were released for free to promote the album. The album sold 15,000 copies in its first week, debuting at #27 on the Billboard 200, sixth among rap albums and sixth among independent releases.
A week after its release, an official alternate version called "The Brown Tape" was released, produced entirely by Apollo Brown, reissue by Mello Music Group in 2018.
A short, strong, powerful, coherent, dirty, gritty, rock-solid album, among the funniest and most violent of the season. Well-crafted, featuring phenomenal music, raw, hardcore rapping, and sharp, precise lyrics within a concrete mafia concept, it was well-received by critics, included in several year-end lists as one of the best hip-hop albums, and in retrospect, considered one of his last classics. Personally, as a huge fan of mafia music (and cinema), it's one of my favorite albums and a personal classic.
Rating: 9/10.
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