Album: The World According to RZA
Release Date: April 28, 2003
Producer: RZA ("Ich Weiss" co-prod. by Jose Reynoso and "I've Never Seen" co-prod. by Xavier Naidoo and Michael Herberger)
Review: For this Europe-exclusive release, RZA lends his name and production skills to over a dozen European emcees from different countries. In theory, it's a great idea: take one of hip-hop's best producers and send him across the Atlantic to get verses from some of Europe's hottest rappers. In practice, it's almost as great an idea, with a couple caveats.
The first thing to sort out is what we really get from this compilation. With a title like The World According to RZA, one may expect team-ups of various rappers spanning the globe from Brazil to Russia, from China to Istanbul; beats akin to RZA's Ghost Dog score; guest spots from GZA and Inspectah Deck and Method Man; maybe one RZA verse per track. What we get instead is 70 minutes of Bobby Digital-style beats from about 15 rappers exclusively from six countries in Western Europe, two RZA verses and guest spots from U-God and Ghostface Killah. And that's not to say it's a bad record - it's actually really enjoyable and a very different part of RZA's plan for world domination than we usually hear. It's just the title that throws us off, but then again I guess Western Europe Produced by Bobby Digital doesn't have the ring to it that The World According to RZA does.
Having said that, once the listener adjusts to the final product, it's actually a really good album. The artists come from...
Sweden (Feven, Petter)
Norway (Diaz)
France (Saian Supa Crew, Bams, Passi, Iam)
Germany (Curse, Nap, Xavier Naidoo, Afrob, Sekou, Fuat, Bektas, Germ)
England (Bronz n Blak, Blade, Skinnyman, Mr. Tibbs)
Italy (Frankie HI-NRG)
Enough of the lyrics are in Swedish, French, German and Italian that it's hard for me (a native English speaker) to pick up on too many favorite lines or rhymes, but some of the emcees sound especially at home over RZA's electronic-based beats throughout the record. Feven, a Swedish female rapper, dominates on her track "Mesmerize" with lines like "See ya eyes bleedin' and envy Allah in Sweden / Britain Bahamans beamin' hatin' on my achievements, schemin'." Swedish-speaking Petter has a bumping track that follows Feven, and the two team up with Diaz (who features solo on a later track) and RZA on "On tha Ground," over a very Wu-Tang-sounding beat with strings and vinyl pops. It's one of the best early cases for the whole project. Here, RZA has two brief verses between the rest of this Scandinavian crew. RZA returns to do the hook on the following track, Diaz's "The North Seas."
Ghostface has a verse on Saian Supa Crew's "Saian," and U-God follows in an uncredited performance on Bams's "Please, Tends L'oreille," both of which would sound at home on The W or Iron Flag with their very uptempo "Gravel Pit"-esque music. Curse's "Ich Weiss (On My Mind)" is another highlight musically and lyrically, blending the newer Wu sound with rapid-fire rhymes. "Black Star Line-Up" samples Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake to provide the backdrop for some phat German- and English-language rap by Afrob and Sekou; and the last high point on the album comes in the form of the back-to-back songs from the English rappers Blade, Skinnyman and Mr. Tibbs on "Boing Boing" and Bronz n Blak on "Make Money, Money."
Without seeming to have a central place in any Wu general's career (lying just on the fringe of RZA's career six months before his next album, Birth of a Prince), The World According to RZA knows what it is - a great-sounding tour of European emcees corralled by RZA - and it does exactly what it sets out to do. It's an entertaining and refreshing break from the usual New York-dominated Wu-Tang catalog that's perfect for frequent casual listening at home or while driving. There's not as much to say about it as most steps taken on the Map of Shaolin, since 95% of the verses are from rappers not even remotely connected to the Wu besides their appearance on this album, but that's not a complaint. These are top-notch hip-hoppers piquing in their own careers who earned spots on a RZA-produced compilation, and a series of beats somewhere between Digital Bullet and Ghost Dog to keep us nodding our heads along. This is a confident and worldly 73-minute collection to add to your library that - while night and day from usual Wu outings - never wears out its welcome. It's really a great album to hear, even if it doesn't immediately inspire a more lengthy discussion.
Legacy: The World According to RZA foreshadowed the Wu-Tang-related compilation projects to follow over the next decade - like Dreddy Krueger's Think Differently: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture, RZA's Afro Samurai soundtracks and the Wu-affiliate albums Chamber Music and Legendary Weapons. Each have had their individual focuses (from Think Differently's hand-picked indie hip-hop acts and Legendary Weapons' and Chamber Music's use of live instruments by The Revelations) and this sets the stage: Europe's exploding rap industry. Its striking talent and Wu-Tang seal of approval make it and the aforementioned comps resemble mixtapes made for the world by RZA, which is never a bad thing to hear while waiting between albums.
Recommended Tracks: On tha Ground (Ft. Scandinavian All-Stars), Black Star Line-Up (Afrob & Sekou), Ich Weiss (Curse).
Next Week: Inspectah Deck's The Movement, one of the main reasons I started The Map. Give it a few listens before I review it next week, kids; it's an instant classic and every song on it is dope.
No comments:
Post a Comment