46 Revolutions.

This week I wanted to take a rest on the Map of Shaolin to talk about Ol' Dirty Bastard for a couple reasons.  First, were ODB still alive, he'd have turned 46 less than two weeks ago.  Second, he passed away 10 years ago the week before last.  Third, we're at the spot on the Map between studio albums (Masta Killa's No Said Date and U-God's Mr. Xcitement) in which ODB passed.  It's a weird coincidence to hit all these milestones at the same time, but it speaks to the essence of the man himself: he was always one of outside chances and beating the odds.  It's a damn shame he died, and it's a miracle the world had the chance to hear his superb third album, A Son Unique.  He overdosed while finishing up work on it in the studio, and in due time I'll review it for the Map, but for now I'd hoped to just share my thoughts.

Listen to his other albums and tell me he wasn't borne of the same weird machine that produced Dr. Gonzo's lawyer in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  As Hunter S. Thompson wrote, "One of God's own prototypes - never even considered for mass production.  Too rare to live, too weird to die."  Like a kid's crazy uncle, he was equal parts man, legend, spectacle and folk hero.  From cashing his welfare check on MTV to his lyrics - including "Nigga Please's" "I'm immune to all viruses / I like the cocaine, it clears out my sinuses" to breaking out into a chorus of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" on "Goin' Down," it's impossible to separate the truth from the fiction.  And that's where he really shone.  Blurred in the fog of reality and fantasy, built up to some kind of provable urban legend - that was the real ODB to me and countless others.

Here's proof.  Between RZA's Wu-Tang Manual, multiple album liner notes, interviews, rumors and even a first-hand account of my own, I carry a good collection of ODB stories with me in the chambers of my heart.  These are my favorites.  It almost doesn't matter which ones are true, because the more you know about him, the more believable they all are.  

I heard on tour he used to take couples back to whichever hotel where Wu-Tang was staying that night and he'd use RZA to keep the boyfriend distracted/occupied so Dirty could sneak the girlfriend in the other room and have sex with her.  A couple years ago, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, a fan successfully secured the FBI file on ODB, which included a pending RICO case against Wu-Tang.  One story in the file involved a shootout with police in which Dirty was charged with illegal possession of body armor.  One of my friends told me he saw an interview with Dirty prank-calling one of his babymamas and telling her she wasn't getting any of his money, before hanging up and telling the camera crew "Yeah, I gots like 10 kids but I only really like about four of 'em."  He may have stolen a $10 folding table from a live show in Hawaii where concert footage from the famous "It's Yourz" video was filmed.  He was the first one to do what made Kanye famous - he heckled a Grammy winner onstage.  He even complained that he'd bought a new suit, expecting to win, but then lost.  Dirty infamously took a limo to cash his welfare check live on MTV, raising questions about welfare reform and celebrity culture purely by accident.  But the best story I ever heard was that he was walking down the street with some Wu-Tang fam and a few guys rolled up next to them in a van.  One of them stuck a shotgun out of the window and tried to rob ODB - who, without hesitating, grabbed the gun out of the guy's hands and turned it around on him, forcing the van to drive off.  If that happened to anybody else on earth, their head would likely have been blown off in the struggle, but Dirty was something else altogether.

In the words of RZA?  "There's only one Ol' Dirty.  The world couldn't handle another."

Russell Jones.  1968-2004

Step Thirty: Masta Killa: No Said Date.

Artist:  Masta Killa
Album:  No Said Date
Release Date:  June 1, 2004
Producer:  Allah Mathematics, True Master, RZA.

Review:  With a bit of turbulence in the early 2000s for the Wu, it's my sincere pleasure to discuss Masta Killa's debut LP, No Said Date.  RZA let me down a bit with Birth of a Prince, and Method Man's Tical 0 left a lot to be desired, but the entire Wu-Tang Clan come back into razor-sharp focus on this June 2004 record.  There are so many high points it's hard to select few enough to fit into a review, but I'll do my best.

The album starts with a dialogue sample from the kung-fu classic Five Deadly Venoms, about a martial arts student who tracks down his master's former pupils who have gone off on their own, potentially doing evil with their skills.  There's no more fitting theme for the Wu, who - according to some critics by this point - had dropped the crown.  And despite releasing a full decade after Method Man kicked off the solo Wu catalog with Tical in 1994, No Said Date is as classic a Wu album as any pre-Forever debut.  Its closest cousin is probably Liquid Swords with the grimy funk and kung-fu film samples and sheer hungry talent poured into the mic from front to back.  The spark is simply set by the Five Deadly Venoms sample.

Then, this latest-blooming and most mysterious Wu general lights off with "Grab the Mic," which is one of those rare hip-hop tracks so smooth you can barely tell when it dips into and out of its hook.  It's as much a quick-fire mantra or poem as it is a rap track.  Even when it does, MK doesn't want to let the listener off that easy: instead, he leaves words out and expects us to stretch our imagination to fill in the blanks: "Drop that shit that make you get... / Down on ya face with a gun to your... / Ladies in the club, they frontin' like..."

The music behind is sexy, bass guitar-filled and a great opener.  It paves way for the urgent title track (produced by RZA), which is the latest possible point you can be excused for stopping and trying to understand the insane flow of Masta Killa's lyrics.  The most fascinating thing about Masta Killa is how he endlessly sounds as though the beat is about to get the better of him, but he always escapes it.  His style is like Jeet Kune Do (more on Bruce Lee later).  In this track, though, there are so many rhymes thrown around like a Jackson Pollack painting as to almost seem random, but they all come together in an oddly satisfying way.  Here are a few lines from this woodwind-led track for you to wrap your head around.  Keep up with the rhymes; they're all over the place.

"Legend of Brooklyn, master craftsman
'Lord, when you droppin'?' - No said date
Thought premeditated, well-calculated
The air's been tested, the people can't wait
So ahh we agreed to send one, to swim from lost and found
See, truth be the life preserver we can't drown
Drunk with the victory, the Wu cavalry
Bomb the seminar, the last hoorah for chivalry
Classical Yo-Yo Ma, laced in the bulletproof fabric
Crafted and mastered in space
What better place of birth than the Earth when a star is born?"

So he rhymes the album title "No Said Date" with "people can't wait," but in between there's a one-two combo of "premeditated, well-calculated."  Then he rhymes "lost and found" with "we can't drown" followed immediately by the similar sounds of victory, cavalry and chivalry before name-dropping classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma and making a threepeat rhyme of fabric, crafted and mastered.  Those may sound familiar because they ring back to the beginning of the selection with "master craftsman" about eight lines earlier.  It closes with the line ending "in space" coupling with the middle of the next line "better place" and the quick turnaround of "birth" and "the earth."  It's enough to make your head spin but it flows effortlessly from Masta Killa's notebook.  The meaning of the verse itself details the highest aspirations of the Wu: to take any listeners of their music and deliver them from any restless places in their lives ("to swim from lost and found") with the Wu's stories ("truth be the life preserver we can't drown") to a better place.

We get a chance to breathe with the more laid-back but still great "Last Drink" and "Love Spell" before the album's second skit, "The Future."  It's cool to hear a couple actual children from the Wu family shine, giving the impression that Wu is no single-generation flash-in-the-pan, but it neither amps up nor detracts from the rest of the album.  It isn't until the seventh track, "D.T.D." (Do the Dance) that Masta Killa lets any Wu guest spots share the spotlight, and he kicks them off with the legendary duo of Raekwon and Ghostface Killah.  MK starts the track with tongue twisting thoughts ("Cherry cream glean, leather seats lean / Goose in the canteen, dutch leaf green")  before Raekwon answers in kind with tight lines like "Radioactive roll that accurate, what? / Roll that backward, flow went back / I stand as a man, the gameplan repped your name / The greatest fam we play in the sand."

The song that really got me into the album is "Whatever," featuring Streetlife (whose many appearances on Method Man's albums long ago earned him a place in the Wu family) and Prodigal Sunn (of Sunz of Man).  Its upbeat brass and addictive verses (brought to us by Mathematics, who also produced "D.T.D." and "Last Drink") deliver from the first line (Streetlife's "I got the drop on you don't flinch / Pop niggas like John Lynch") to the last (MK's "Ghetto life had to rough up in the housing / They only make 'em like us every 25,000").  There are rooster calls and braggadocious hooks ("We all in this together, forever and ever, down for whatever, whenever") and it's just a blast every second of the way.

Method Man appears for a solid verse and to help hype MK and a verse by Killah Priest on "Secret Rivals," which offers a hell of a drumbeat.  It's said that Masta Killa narrowly beat Killah Priest out for the ninth spot in Wu-Tang back in 1992, so it's good to hear them complementing each other so well here.  The last skit on the album (another quick kung-fu sample to keep the motif from "Born Chamber" and the intro to "Last Drink" as well as the upcoming "Masta Killa") precedes the only lukewarm song on the album, "Digi Warfare," which features U-God and RZA on backing vocals.  It would've been great to hear U-God do a proper verse on "School" or "Silverbacks," but the album still hasn't disappointed so far.

And if you're afraid those are the only tricks No Said Date has up its sleeve?  "Old Man" features Ol' Dirty Bastard, in his final performance before his death, repeatedly trying to order a Big Mac in-character as Fred Sanford (missing ingredients, calling someone a "big dummy") - and the song is based on the theme from Sanford and Son, with Dirt doing an instrument line a cappella ("Dun dun dun DUN daaaaaa...").  It's RZA's second production effort on the album (the third being the darker "School") and it's a fun laugh with killer verses - RZA raps "My daily toil is to protect the Earth so the seeds won't spoil / Your Frankenstein-type mind like Peter Boyle."

Speaking of RZA's lyrics, he's more on point than he has been in years on "School."  Check it:

"Phat shoelaces and tri-colored sneakers
I stood like a man then I questioned my teacher
'Why don't we speak about the wisdom of the sages?
And how did Europe black out in the dark ages?
And when they got the light did they whitewash the pages?
And the Inquisition - Why was Christians thrown in cages?'"

The A-game brought by other Wu-Tang members ends successfully on the airtight "Silverbacks" featuring Inspectah Deck and GZA spitting masterful rhymes over flanged guitars, wavy keys and thick drums.  "Silverbacks" has music by True Master, who also produced "Secret Rivals" and "Queen" on this album.  It's interesting to note that the three most common producers (Allah Mathematics, True Master and RZA) on No Said Date are also responsible for the vast majority of Wu-Tang's highest-selling album, Wu-Tang Forever.  It shows in the consistency of the album, being both listenable and unmistakable.

The album closes with the Chinese-influenced "Masta Killa," which finds the artist making classic analogies between lyricism and martial arts, sprinkled with Bruce Lee quotes about being as adaptable as water is to its container.  The music features traditional-sounding Chinese vocals and a zheng (a tabled Asian stringed instrument) in a pretty perfectly-balanced realization of hip-hop and Wu-Tang's Eastern roots.

In short?  What an album.  What a fucking album.

Legacy:  In the midst of some of the wildest ups and downs the Clan has seen, Masta Killa released his debut 10 years after the first solo Wu release (Tical) and five years after the previous solo Wu debuts (Uncontrolled Substance and Golden Arms Redemption).  There are classic chronological milestones there (not to mention the final living performance by Ol' Dirty Bastard), but more than anything, No Said Date is a call to the Wu to return to their roots, as is evidenced by the samples, sounds, guest spots and overall feel of the album.  It's criminally underrated besides the fact, and sheds a bit of light on one of the least-known Wu generals.  It's a great sign that in the middle of some rocky times (Cappadonna and U-God were both about to have major fall-outs with the group), the Wu can still bring classic albums with maximum ease.  No Said Date and Inspectah Deck's Uncontrolled Substance are two of the albums that made me want to pursue Map of Shaolin in the first place, so I can't stress enough how badly you need both in your library.  No Said Date is an oasis in the midst of some of the least impressive albums in the band's catalog (Tical 0 we already discussed, but Mr. Xcitement and Ghostdini are tough pills to swallow as well), so enjoy and take it as evidence that Wu-Tang is forever.

Recommended Tracks:  Listen to this entire album as soon as possible.  But here are some I really love:  Whatever, Grab the Mic, Old Man, Silverbacks.

Step Twenty Nine: Method Man: Tical 0: The Prequel.

Artist:  Method Man
Album:  Tical 0: The Prequel
Release Date:  May 18, 2004
Producers:  Various

Review:  On the opposite end of the spectrum of Inspectah Deck's The Movement, my biggest hesitation in starting Map of Shaolin was that one day I'd have to review Method Man's Tical 0: The Prequel.  The reason I worried about this point is because Method Man may have the best flow in Wu-Tang but Tical 0 is just a bad album.  And it pains me to say it.  I hate dissing on anything Wu-related, since they're some of the world's best emcees - and Meth is one of my personal favorites - but I can't in good conscience ass-kiss or dick ride an undeniably weak release.

So what happened?  In an interview with MTV two years after the fact (and just before the release of his fourth LP, 4:21 - The Day After), Method Man said "On the third LP, it was suggested to bring in Harve Pierre and P. Diddy.  Who am I to argue?  Puff knows how to sell some records.  But that wasn't the direction to go in, and I know that now.  [...]  I just wanted to get my album out.  Def Jam was going through their transition, and I felt that if I didn't get my album out, I wasn't gonna be at the label."

He continues, "I wasn't true to myself for the simple fact that, look who I was working with.  I'm not trying to take nothing away from Puff - he's the biggest artist on Bad Boy.  But Puff with Meth don't mesh.  We don't party the same way."

That's damned obvious by the time we reach the one track Puffy is fully credited for producing - "Say What (Ft. Missy Elliott)."  Nothing against Missy Elliott, but it comes across as an overproduced mess.  Backing vocals of a crowd shouting "Ohhhh!" at the end of every bar and a blown whistle precede anything else; the dollar-grabbing hook does nothing for a Wu-Tang fan:  "When they play this in the club (say what?) / Go 'head tell that nigga 'bump that' (say what?) / Throw ya hands up like 'Nigga what?'" etc.

Unfortunately, "Say What" is just one example of how Tical 0 was more a creation of a label than one artist - and it's a creation almost exclusively intended to sell records.  In the Wu-Tang Manual, RZA says that Method Man never wanted to be known as the heartthrob of the Clan, but tracks like "We Some Dogs," "Rodeo" and "Baby Come On" are the exact opposite - proudly claiming that Meth will never be more than just some guy who loves getting laid.

Some of the guest spots reveal Def Jam's influence as well.  On the one hand, it's not surprising to hear Wu generals Ghostface, Raekwon and RZA on Tical 0 (RZA even produces one track).  It makes sense to hear Snoop Dogg make an appearance, given his work with Wu-Tang on The W; Busta Rhymes also guested on The W and Tical 0.  Long-time Method Man and Wu-Tang associate Streetlife shows up, as does Redman (who had already guest-starred on The W and Tical 2000, released the collaboration Blackout! with Method Man and co-starred with Meth in the 2001 film How High).  But appearances by Ludacris, Kardinal Offishall, Black Ice and Saukrates can't help but feel more like a Def Jam showcase than talent scouted by Method Man to fit on the sound of his album.  And that's not to take away from them - Kardinal Offishall even seems to fill in on the ragga front for Suga Bang Bang or Junior Reid - it's just that when the liner notes have an ad for six albums releasing that year and only two of their artists don't appear on this record, it's hard not to take notice.

Of course it's a little unfair to write off the whole album as shitty.  Despite the production generally sounding commercialized, mainstream and a bit syrupy-sweet, there are a couple decent tracks.  "The Prequel," which features Streetlife and is the first proper song on the album, is good enough that it ends up making a promise the rest of the album can't keep.  Same with the Busta Rhymes-boasting "What's Happenin'."  Meth's rapid-fire lyrics include "Ain't it obvious how I'm hittin' it?  Meth for president / Be in Hell with gasoline drawers just for the Hell of it / And I ain't delicate, flows hot as the kettle get / Now if you ain't fuckin' with that, you must be celibate."  A good track that belongs on a better album.  "The Motto" is curious and creepy and would sound more at home on Tical 2000: Judgment Day than here.  It even features some good classic Wu-style rhymes like "Where the bastards at and where they habitats? / I send they asses back to foldin' sweaters at The Gap."

It's hard to misfire with RZA producing "The Turn" as Method Man and Raekwon trade verses, but anyone hoping for another "Meth Vs. Chef" came to the wrong place.  Rae tongue twists lovely near the end of his verse ("Rae we gotta generate lord, I feel the ditech, the mildew / Buy jets and vehicles, steal a little / We wrap up the whole rap government") but most noticeably disses Wu's first label, Loud Records.

Sadly, "The Turn" is track 7 out of 17 on Tical 0 and for my money it's the last good song on the album - and some might argue that that's being too generous, as RZA's beat is far from his best.  After that, there's 10 more tracks of Luda, club beats and missed opportunities.

Legacy:  Meth took a punch to the gut over this record.  Despite three or four good tracks, Tical 0 is mostly a series of misfires, nonsensical guest spots and attempts to please the lowest common denominator.  It's a painful listen for anyone, maybe the most for the Ticallion Stallion himself.  Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but feel like he got in the studio to make the record and just kept getting leaned on harder and harder by Def Jam (possibly its president Kevin Liles, who was Tical 0's executive producer) and Puffy to minimize the Wu/Meth sound and make it into a Def Jam Summer 2004 catalog.  Who knows.  But I stand by Tical 2000 as immensely underrated, and 4:21 The Day After and Wu Massacre have a lot of very solid tracks too.  Couple that with the verses we've heard from the upcoming Wu album A Better Tomorrow and it's true what Mr. Meth says: Never count him out, just count him in.

Recommended Tracks:  The Prequel, What's Happenin', The Turn.

Step Twenty Eight: Ghostface Killah: The Pretty Toney Album.

Artist:  Ghostface Killah
Album:  The Pretty Toney Album
Release Date:  April 20, 2004
Producers:  Various

Review:  Ironman and Supreme Clientele both absolutely killed and Bulletproof Wallets was - at the very least - a good album.  The Pretty Toney Album is Ghostface's fourth solo record in under eight years.  He's long since become the most prolific Wu general with a solo career, currently clocking in at 10 albums with an 11th on the way in 2015.  But turning out nearly a dozen albums in under 20 years doesn't mean anything if they're not good, so the question remains: is Pretty Toney a quality record?

Short answer: Yes.  Yes it is.

To date, my least favorite Ghost records have been Big Doe Rehab and Ghostdini: The Wizard of Emerald City - and that's not to say they're ostensibly awful albums; they just don't grab me the way some others do.  On the other hand, it wouldn't do Pretty Toney justice to simply say it's a pass or a fail; let's take a look at some of the individual tracks.

Opener "Biscuits" reminds me of one of my favorite things about Ghostface Killah.  Regardless of who's producing, he still finds the old-school soul-inspired music over which to rhyme.  Here it's True Master with syrupy horns and piano dipped in the 1970s providing the backdrop for comfortable verses by Ghost and Trife.  This immeasurably entertaining music permeates much of the rest of the record: "Beat the Clock," "Save Me Dear" and more sound like that perfect mixture of classic black cinema andthe tried-and-true Wu-Tang sound.

"Metal Lungies" is an interesting track because it's killer on its own but, as a huge fan of Masta Killa, I really love the alternate version that appears on his mix Masta Killa Presents: The Next Chamber, with Ghost's verse and one by MK (lifting a couple lines off his verse from his solo record track "Whatever") replacing the appearances by the admittedly competent Sheek Louch and Styles P.

Truth be told, I could do without "Tush."  That's not a judgment on Missy Elliott; it just lacks the fire that the first half of the album brings.  The lyrics are little to write home about either ("You wanna get up in my tush, tush, tush?  You could slide in the bush bush bush" and "If you ain't slurpin' you're better off jerkin'").  It and "Last Night" are just a six-minute lull before things kick back in with "Holla," a Ghostface-produced track that brilliantly samples The Delfonics to keep the feel of the album alive.

By the time the album nears its end with "Be This Way" and "Tooken Back," it should be apparent that Pretty Toney is just a pleasure to listen to.  It may lack a little of the lyrical finesse of Supreme Clientele that makes you stop what you're doing and listen on repeat in awe, but Ghost never turns in a rusty verse throughout this solid 49 minutes of rap.  It ends with a bang on "Run" and settles down with the end credits-esque "Love," which may as well be somebody saying "See?  I told you so.  Wu-Tang is forever, motherfuckers."  It's just that enjoyable.

Legacy:  I got really heavy into Ghostface a year or two after this, with the seemingly back-to-back releases of Fishscale and More Fish (which are coming soon on the Map), so it's interesting to see him hammer out his distinct style on Supreme Clientele and Pretty Toney before breaking into those.  Supreme Clientele is probably Ghost's best in his portfolio, though I'd rank 12 Reasons to Die a close second.  Even still, despite those highlights, Pretty Toney is a quality listen - especially musically.  It also comes just before Method Man's Tical 0: The Prequel, which is - I'm sorry Meth - a terrible album, so it's good to see GFK holding down the fort before Meth's least impressive album.

Recommended Tracks:  Metal Lungies, Biscuits, Run.