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REVIEW:
Overall Rating:
 
Lyrics:
Beats:
Written By:
The Reccollectah
For three
weeks now every Wu related blog or forum has been discussing
and posting opinions on Rae’s new album as if their lives
depended on it. Fans are going back and forth on topics such
as the lyrics, the type of beats, song titles, the kung fu
samples, the features, whether this album is better than
OBFCL II or not, if Rae delivered as promised when he first
mentioned this project after the 8 Diagrams dispute …
To be honest I’ve been keeping away from all of that since
it started, to keep my view on “Shaolin vs Wu Tang”
unaffected. Once the album arrived I grabbed some essential
provisions, hung a “Do NOT disturb” sign at my Wu Cave,
kissed the Mrs. and kids goodbye and went underground with
it for about two weeks … to resurface this morning with the
finished review ( and some strange rash on my back from
sleeping on my “not-so-ergonomic-as-expected-pile of moss”
).
Where the new album stands in comparison to OBFCL I and
whether “OBFCL II” or “Shaolin vs Wu tang” can now be
labeled ‘best post OBFCL’ album from Raekwon are things that
really have to wait to be answered fairly. The only question
that I needed to get answered during my stay in Caveland was
if Rae had managed to follow up his comeback album OBFCL II
with another solid release …
Before we dive
in: no idea if other reviews mentioned this already but the
artwork is overall pretty impressive ( which really couldn’t
be said about OBFCL II ). A bloody shuriken on the disc and
back cover, a blood dripping Samurai sword, Chinese
characters in the background, the Terracotta Army of Xi’An …
all look great. Especially the drawing of the evening sun
painting some last rays of light on dark pagodes and
mountains reminded me off the artwork we got on the Wu Tang
“Chamber music” project. This immediately raises my old
school Wu feel expectations even some more ( but I must say
the additional Rae posing in his Adidas trainers or Rae with
his shiny new boots kinda dumbed that down again, a shame
really, the booklet would have looked better without them.
Those pics are not as bad as the “Rae and his leather
handbag” we got served on OBFCL II but still … it’s a
combination that doesn’t work I’m afraid).
When it comes
to the music Rae said the following in an interview with the
Source: “This is for the Wu-Tang lovers: it’s gonna have
that Wu sound all the way to the tee. I just wanted to come
wit’ something that I felt was so close to what we had done
in the early ‘90s and at the same time I wanted to evolve
and show people that, yo, we can still have a new sound for
today and still be as powerful as we were back in the early
‘90s.” … which sounds promising wouldn’t you agree?
Luckily for us
‘Wu-Tang lovers’ Raekwon did exactly what he promised: from
the very start we get our beloved kung fu movie samples
accompanied by beats and music that indeed bring back the
feel of the early Wu Tang albums but updated to the sound
standards of today. Especially the first half of the album
leans heavily on the early rugged Wu sound, second half has
more of the soulful Wu feel from some years later.
Turning point
for this is track 8 or the single “Rock n roll” ft Ghostface
and Jim Jones. A lot already has been said about this track
, the least one has to admit is that the whole feel of this
song doesn’t really blend in with the rest of the album. It
has you scratching your head what the hell it is doing on
this album. And why Rae chose to add this and even use it as
a single on an album that started out as a frustrated
reaction to the ‘guitar picking’ RZA and his 8 Diagrams
production ?? It’s not as bad as a lot of people will have
you believe but it’s not as good as it could have been
either … if ever Rae decides he’s gonna go Gold Deluxe
Edition again with this album I would love to see a
rerecording off this song on there. I feel DJ Khalil didn’t
manage to grab the full potential of this song in the
studio. Seeing
Rae
and Ghost perform this one live with the Roots convinced
me there was much more in this song than we got on the
album: just listen how the bass player manages to boost this
song to much higher (energy) levels every time he goes in,
this is so much more powerful than what we get on the studio
version where you hardly hear the bass. Now imagine ?uestlove
going back into the studio with the masters and throwing off
those annoying choruses and getting Blue Raspberry and
Tekitha to do some soulful harmonies instead. Then boosting
up the bass to the forefront to make this the monster off a
track it potentially is and finally erasing the airy, slick
synths and replacing them by a full-on horns section blowing
their hearts out … bulls-eye I reckon!
Now that I got
that out off my system, let’s go back to the first half
again and have a closer look. Tracks as “Shaolin vs Wu
tang”, “Butter Knives” ( one of the best Bronze beats I ever
heard) and “Snake Pond” indeed bring an updated Wu tang
sound that should please any OG Wu addict , although I must
add I have the impression that Rae now and then had trouble
nailing the pace and rhythm of the great Scram Jones
produced title track. Big Kudos go to Cilvaringz: with his
solid “Silver rings” production he enables Ghostface to
catch my attention more than the man did on his entire
“Appollo Kids” album ( Let’s hope Ghost hears the difference
too and changes up his beat choice for SC II as AK sounded
very “been there , done that … ehm, actually several times
lately” ). Rather surprising tracks in the first half are
“Every soldier in the hood” and “Chop chop Ninjas”. From
what I somehow still heard through the grapevine in my
beloved cave it seems there is some discussion if the
“Soldier” track is produced by Eric Sermon, as credited in
the booklet, or by Oh No. If it’s Sermon, then he certainly
also seriously updated his trademark sound … which would be
a plus for him if you ask me. If it’s Oh No, then I’m gonna
have to check for more of his stuff as this track has an
intriguing sound. It sounds a bit out of place here but the
quality of the instrumental pardons this instantly plus we
get a notable Method Man keeping it real:
“A lot of
veterans be calling it quits.
They be calling my flow ill, but still I'm never calling in
sick.”
The “Chop Chop
Ninjas” one is keeping me puzzled though: while the Rae and
Deck verses sound pretty damn good and are basically ‘beats
and rhymes, spiced up with some kung fu samples’ , I still
don’t know what to think of the Estelle bits. Would this
song really suffer from completely cutting off her ( rather
superficial ) intro and while we’re at it all her choruses ?
Or would we then have a real ‘beats and rhymes only’ old-school’esque
track sounding much better ? Maybe an idea to explore on the
Gold Deluxe again ? All in all I found the first half very
entertaining , let’s go to the second half .
Which kicks off with the long awaited Nas and Rae collabo “
Rich and black” . A lot of people will go nuts over this
based on the sheer fact they had to wait so long to see it
happen. After countless listening sessions I can’t say I was
blown away. Nas isn’t really all that impressive. Maybe he
had too much on his plate lately so let’s give him the
benefit of the doubt and hope for a revenge on a next
collabo. Plus the beat isn’t very memorable either, it tends
to just stroll by each time I spin the disc. Only thing
about the song that makes me turn my head and lift my
eyebrows is the interlude beat they hid behind it … now thàt
is a beat these two should have murdered instead !!!
Luckily this is followed by “From the hills” (again with a
confident Method Man) : a heavenly soul joint with Rae
looking over his shoulder:
“In the Polo store, fronting in war clothes, it been like
this
From right in time when I was nine years old
I was a hot mess, smoking cheeba, running with stolen
speakers
Dropped beepers, even wore a victory vest
I run with niggas, digging knots from niggas, running out
the school
Stunting, back of the bus, flashing the ox
Rock the V-Gooses, everything we wore was name brand
Sold three lucy’s, just to get on call plan”
This great song gets followed by two tracks that sound like
OBFCL II material, the first ( “Last trip to Scotland “ )
persuading me more than the Alchemist produced “Ferry Boat
Killaz”. Although Rae delivers, the harpsichord based
instrumental doesn’t rock my boat really. The harpsichord
rather gives me flashbacks of the “Amadeus” movie from the
80ies and the young Mozart with his annoying giggles , not
something I desperately crave for when exploring this album.
No, then I rather spend time with Mathematic’s “Dart school”
( note the harp sample in the back !) which again proves the
Wu Tang DJ/producer is getting his game back together. The
promising title had me hoping for a traditional Wu Tang
posse cut but the Chef decided to go in solo, alas. Next we
get Molasses ft Rick Ross and Ghost. Producer Xtreme beats
recycles the “Shadowboxin“ sample and adds horns a certain
Bobby Digital would have been interested in too, making this
an ode to the Wu sound, pure niceness !!!
Evidence surprisingly also gets a spot and brings us “The
Scroll” , a track many might at first listen underestimate
and ignore as it is a very relaxed cut. For those: please
listen to this with the headphones on, preferably in the
dark so you can dive into the soundscape … I’m sure you’ll
agree this is one of the highlights of this already very
good album. Equally impressive is “Masters of our fate”
featuring Black Thought and a 1941 Winston Churchill speech
sample.
As we get to the end of the album Rae goes into Wu mode
again with the “Wu Chant” outro , a very Moongod and Ringz’
type of beat, aka dope as f…k , and the (unforgivably i-Tunes
only) bonus track “Wu crime” ft GZA and Killah Priest.
Especially the two guests bring their A-level game to the
booth: GZA ‘s verse and its flow sound like something that
was written around the Liquid swords era and Killah Priest
also seems to be getting his groove back as he drops one of
his best verses in years. Add the sinister BT beat and you
get yet another GREAT track and highlight. The second bonus
track produced by Havoc is not bad but unfortunately pales
in comparison to the Uppercuts we just received near the end
of this album.
Final conclusion:
A few songs could have been worked out to a far greater
result and some would have fitted better on OBFCL II (or
III) but Raekwon did EXACTLY as promised: he brought us a
very good album with a very Wu orientated sound which should
please any die hard Wu fan out there … and hopefully
convince some new younger fans to join the loyal Wu
following. Even with some flaws, some less interesting guest
spots (and some OBFCL II leftovers ?) this album still has
lot of replay value. So don’t miss out on this, you wouldn’t
forgive yourself.
Feel free to (dis)agree.
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