Artist: V/A
Album: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - The Album
Release Date: April 11, 1999
Producer: RZA
Review: The RZA-produced soundtrack album for Jim Jarmusch's film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is the first of eight Wu-Tang releases of 1999 - more than any other year in the group's history. 1999 includes RZA's first film score and soundtrack production, a video game and soundtrack for the band and the debut solo albums from Inspectah Deck and U-God, plus four more releases. It could be called The Year of the Wu, and it sure as hell started off with a bang with this album. Its contributing artists read like a mail-order catalog of Wu-affiliates, so I'll do my best to lay them out in a straight line and save you a plethora of Google searches.
From start to finish on the album's 12 songs (plus seven tracks of Ghost Dog's star Forrest Whitaker reading excerpts from The Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai), RZA's production is simply untouchable. Anybody who listened to Bobby Digital in Stereo's keyboard-centric production and worried that RZA had lost the plot should feel immediately and indefinitely silenced upon listening to the classic Wu beats on the Ghost Dog soundtrack. The unmistakable guitars and horns of funk-inspired RZA production surface by the 10-second mark of the album's first proper song, "Strange Eyes." "Strange Eyes" features members of the Wu-Tang-recruited act Sunz of Man - namely, 60-Second Assassin and Prodigal Sunn - along with a verse by Ol' Dirty Bastard's cousin 12 O'Clock and support vocals by Blue Raspberry. Blue Raspberry was previously featured on tracks like "Release Yo' Delf" from Method Man's Tical as well as "Rainy Dayz" from Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (among other performances on both albums).
The West Coast Wu-related group North Star performs the next track, "4 Sho Sho," leading off with a verse by Christ Bearer (who recently gained notoriety for severing his own penis in a suicide attempt). North Star used to include the next performers, Black Knights, who split off before recording their Ghost Dog track "Zip Code." It's easy to see why they found a home under the Wu-Tang umbrella as their member Monk rhymes "Here's a book to read like weed'll leave your brain sparked / Plant seeds, caught three to seam, got dark." Chock full of tight wordplay and intrinsic slang, reminiscent of Ghostface Killah and Raekwon.
The beats so far would work on any early Wu-Tang record - "4 Sho Sho" and "Zip Code" especially remind the listener of Tical - but when Kool G Rap and RZA face off with verses on "Cakes," the upbeat '70s drums and bass guitar earn the music a real spot in first-gen Wu-Tang country. Then things take another pleasantly surprising turn with the Suga Bang Bang track "Don't Test/Wu Stallion." Suga Bang Bang would later return for guest spots on Wu-Tang's Iron Flag, the Afro Samurai soundtrack and Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. 2, but this is a landmark debut performance. Here, the rapper spends five hypnotizing minutes singing in a heavily reggae-influenced style and Jamaican accent over a slow soul beat. I was impressed by this step taken so far outside the hip-hop genre by RZA, especially as the first track in a one-two combo followed by "Walking Through the Darkness. "Walking Through the Darkness" is an interpretation of Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street" as sung by Tekitha (who provided the chorus on Wu-Tang's 1997 single "Impossible"). Its lyrics get occasionally repetitive, but Tekitha has a beautiful singing voice and these songs make a great breather at the album's midway point.
Next up is "The Man," performed by Masta Killa and Superb (aka Lord Superb). Most interesting is that this marks the first Wu guest spot by Superb, who was recruited by Raekwon for his group American Cream Team and later had a falling out with the Clan that resulted in him claiming to have given Ghostface his style and releasing a mixtape called Superb Clientele as a response to Ghostface's critically-acclaimed sophomore release Supreme Clientele, on which Superb also appeared. The following three proper songs are listenable - by artists Royal Fam & La the Darkman, Melodie & 12 O'Clock, and Jeru & Afu-Ra respectively - but they're not as great as the album's first half nor as utterly explosive as the last two songs.
RZA ends on a high note for the last two songs of the album. First is the brand-new Wu-Tang song, "Fast Shadow," which boasts appearances from Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, RZA, U-God and Masta Killa. Over a fast-paced, subwoofer-busting beat, Method Man moves through his verse with a Bruce Lee level of impact and flow: "Iron Lung, boy me can done, army of one blaze yo' bun / I'mma get you none, accept challenge / Ran a mile with a racist, they iced it, I aced it / Placed it right up in they face 'til they faced it / Hard to the dome like a chrome microphone, I'm b-b-b-b-bad to the bone to the bone." RZA returns from the id-driven Bobby Digital to his insane vocabulary as well with lines like "My third eye electronic dragonfly spiral observe / Can record your words and your lies and approach you." Masta Killa closes with a verse that glides from top to bottom and could be called his breakout performance with the group: "Duffle bag his head for the price of nothin' / He's a glutton / What I'm manifestin' each day is a lesson / Y'all faggots came to the School of the 36 Chambers / Copied on papers of scholars that earn dollars."
Finally, the album closes with "Samurai Showdown (Raise your Sword)" by RZA. The beat is considerably slower than "Fast Shadow," but as addictive as heroin-dipped tobacco. A keyboard that sounds like the press of a touch-tone phone, plodding drums, swelling string samples and more lay the background for RZA's incredibly strong lyricism. "Hailin' from the slums of Shaolin, golden claw talon twirlin' / One swirl of the fatal sword splits your eyelid / Wu killa bees' stingers back on the swarm again / [Buzz sound] the alarm again, six direction weapon deflectin'." There are simply too many fantastic lines awaiting the listener: "Kept his mind focused, meditation position half lotus / Abbot's sword novas couldn't match his magnum opus." The last lines make a promise that the Wu isn't going anywhere after delivering this extended family compilation: "I get the verbal weapon, won't hesitate for one second / To break your back like Big Jack from Tekken."
Legacy: Ghost Dog was called one of the finest rap albums of the year, and it was proof that even after RZA's five-year plan of dominating the Clan's endeavors came to an end, they were far from finished. If anything, this regrouping of some of their discovered acts was proof that the Wu's influence was spreading and becoming its own sovereign nation in the music industry. It was a much-needed signal to raise, as some of their hardest times lay ahead.
Recommended Tracks: Strange Eyes, Don't Test, Fast Shadow, Samurai Showdown.
No comments:
Post a Comment