Ghostface was always the most eccentric of the Wu-Tang Clan (except for ODB, of course, but he was on another plane entirely) and this is the one where he finally lets his freak flag fly--there's crime stories that get cut off halfway through, Rocky-ish fight songs, surrealistic drug narratives, Wu-Tang reunion tracks, and Ghostface getting yelled at by a four-year-old kid. This is, in my opinion, the greatest solo album that any member of the Wu-Tang ever put out, and considering the mindboggling quality of a lot of it (I mean, you've got
Liquid Swords and the two
Cuban Linx records there), that's no small compliment. There's twenty tracks here and it's all over in less than an hour but it
still manages to feel epic, Ghostface serving as our weird and psychotic Mephistopheles as we travel through a world of drugs, "Krispy Kreme, cocaine, dead bodies", and whatever pops into his head. Ghostface doesn't focus as much on memorable individual lines as powerful, visual narratives, and a track like "Shakey Dog" is practically its own music video, as Ghostface focuses on little details like the seat being pushed too far up in the car on the way to a robbery. I don't know if you can call this a "masterpiece," exactly, because in any such undisciplined explosion of creativity there's bound to be a duffer or two, but the quality of the best work here is staggering.
MY RATING:
9.5
Ghostface Killah - "Shakey Dog"
