75. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale (2006)

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"

154. Ghostface Killah - The Pretty Toney Album (2004)

Ghostface is without a doubt in my mind the greatest rapper of the 00s (perhaps the greatest rapper of all time) and this album, while it's considered a "minor" album in his canon, is just as good as Supreme Clientele. What helps here are the relatively short lengths of each track; most of them are done in just over three minutes, and each one is accompanied by an ass-kicking soul beat. Nobody is better than Ghostface at re-appropriating these soul beats in hip-hop, and an instrumental version of a Ghostface album would work just as well as a modern funk record. The relatively low-key quality of this album allows Ghostface to loosen up and just do whatever the hell he pleases, which gives the album the relatively rare feeling of sounding both casual and intense--or maybe it's just that Ghost is so good at what he does that he makes it look easy. Both the uptempo tracks ("Beat the Clock") and more balladesque material ("It's Over") are expertly performed and produced, and there's hardly a slow point from beginning to end, aside from a few ill-chosen skits (but thankfully, they're short--nowhere near the 3+ minute skits that were a major liability on Supreme Clientele). It's not as serious as an album like The W, nor does it try to be--it's just a fun, professional record, well-suited for the over-the-top Vegas font of the album cover. It's not nearly as weird as Ghostface's other stuff (he never would have let an obvious dumb pop track like "Tush" on Fishscale) but for what it is, it's great.

MY RATING: 8.7

Ghostface Killah - "Beat the Clock"