Album: Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City
Producers: Sean C & LV, Anthony "Acid" Caputo, etc.
Release Date: September 29, 2009
Review: I'm gonna level with you, readers - modern R&B is not really my kind of music. I appreciate it, I respect it, but it just doesn't do it for me. Outside of a few incredible talents (Erykah Badu and Ne-Yo chief among them), I rarely - if ever - listen to it. So please take my review of Ghostface Killah's eighth album, Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, with a grain of salt. Now, let's get into it.
Don't be fooled by the title. Ghostdini is about as far removed as it gets from its namesake, the RZA-produced '90s New York hip-hop track from Supreme Clientele. Here we get Ghostface Killah offering 14 tracks of R&B-infused rap focused exclusively on love and sex. In terms of themes and genre, it's a great idea. Ghostface gets to depart from the gangsta braggadocio of his previous albums and look at a sincere lady-loving persona, weaving between soulful vocals by John Legend, Radio Raheem and more. However, the result for me is hit-and-miss. I think it's because sometimes the R&B takes over Ghost's rapping as the dominant force on the album, which Wu-Tang often dissed in the '90s. Even on "Intro," the first track on the second disc of Wu-Tang Forever, RZA says "A lot of niggas tryin' to take hip hop and make that shit R&B, rap and bullshit, y'know what I'm sayin'? Or make that shit funk. Fuck that." But maybe times change, so I want to go into Ghostdini giving it a fair shot.
"Not Your Average Girl" sets it off, and it's probably a good idea to ease the audience into this totally difference idea with a track with instant classic Ghost rhymes ("You can have the keys to the boat / Money follow me I got the cheese and the yolk / Plus the juice that's fresh, squeeze with the pulp / Mama got a big butt, Tiffany chain the stones freeze in the throat"). Nor does it hurt that Shareefa's sung hook is clear and concise, showcasing her beautiful voice without grandstanding or note scaling. It also foreshadows Ghost willing to step back and let his collaborator take the stage that will be fully realized on "Love Don't Live Here No More" five years later on 36 Seasons. Excellent start to the album. It also sets the tone for Ghostdini's first act 1) using plenty of live instruments and 2) successfully selling the listener on Ghost's sincere romantic side.
Radio Raheem sings on "Do Over" and "Baby," and here's my first frustration with the album. Raheem has a Hell of a voice (as is evident throughout "Do Over"), but on "Baby" he buries it in autotune. It's clearly an intentional and conscious decision on the producers' part to fit the dreamier side of the song (which has catchy piano and themes of optimistic, expectant parents), but since he slayed it on "Do Over," I think I'd like it more without the autotune. Even when he breaks the fourth wall and asks the producer to drop the beat, his voice is autotuned. Damn.
"Lonely" goes four for four with sincere romantic themes - this time, instead of regretting infidelity ("Do Over") or sticking up for his pregnant girlfriend ("Baby"), Ghost laments his ex and their kids as they move on without him and she finds a new man. "Now he's getting all my kisses, stroking my lovin' / That supposed to be me but I was stupid and stubborn." I heard that, Ghost. I think we all heard that. So it's difficult when all this earnestness is followed by "Stapleton Sex," one of the nastiest tracks this side of "Doo Doo Brown." In just two and a half minutes, this track practically undoes all the work the first four tracks labored over, taking a wrecking ball to the foundation set up in the first 15 minutes.
Here are some typical lyrics from the song (my apologies if my mother or in-laws ever read this):
"Get up, suck that dick, spit on it, slob on that shit
More bubbles at the knob of that shit
It's my word, you's a whore - taste good right?
Turn around, get on all four."
Even the hook is as nasty as it gets, with lines like "You can put my dick in your mouth and play with my nuts / Before I bust babe I think I'll cum in your butt." So much for the sweet, lovelorn Ghost from tracks 1-4. He's a really talented rapper, but you have to wonder: is this secretly the saddest track on the album, with Ghost going full Hedonistic and looking for meaning in the basest of pleasures...or just a dude bragging about getting laid? Question for the ages.
"Stay" has some great bass guitar and a sample from Yvonne Fair's "Stay a Little Longer," but the interludes accompany every four bars half the time so Ghost only gets a couple eight-bars out here and there. "Paragraphs of Love" helps salvage the damage done by "Stapleton Sex." It's a four-minute ode to love at first sight; Ghost sees an engaged pregnant woman and respects her and her fiance but can't resist telling her he's fallen in love with her. It ends a little syrupy, awash in vocal harmonies about how wonderful life and love are, but it's good to get this album's old Ghost back.
Having the tables turned on him, Ghost catches his wife cheating on him in "Guest House." Then comes "Let's Stop Playin'," with John Legend on some understated vocals. Another new theme, here Ghost and a girl he's been secretly in love with for some time find themselves trying to figure out how to cheat with each other without ruining four lives.
After this, the album peters out for me. "Forever" doesn't leave me with a place to hang my hat, possibly because I feel like by this 10th track Ghost's love themes are starting to overlap. "Because I love it like that, stretch-mark fat, plus let me show you my crunches / To burn it off, just lay right on your back / And let me do my love dance, I pop it to the left / I pop it to the right, I get it all night." Meh. "I'll Be That" is another least favorite, with Adrienne Bailon and Ghost trading less-than-memorable lyrics about her being whatever he wants and her giving her the business. "Goner" doesn't stick either, and the bonus tracks are "She's a Killah" (with a phat club beat but little else) and a remix of "Back Like That." And maybe that's the problem with Ghostdini. While some of this idea flourishes, enough songs feel like they're trying too hard to throw back to that single from Fishscale - Ghostface utilizes his excellent but typified storytelling over fresh R&B-based hooks and overproduced sugary-sweet music. This is one of the first Wu-family albums in which I haven't felt the need to pay homage to a lot of the music. There are occasional classic/throwback soul sounds and '70s guitar, and a hot bassline or two, but after you get past the first few tracks, Ghostdini overall is not an album desperately in need of an instrumentals release.
Legacy: Ghostdini received mixed reviews, with some critics loving the humorous side of things and others finding little to enjoy. I think I'm somewhere in between. In my opinion of Ghost's whole career, Bulletproof Wallets and The Pretty Toney Album may not have been my favorite, but I can call them solid from front to back; Ghostdini struggles to rediscover its footing after a solid first 1/3 and an awkward middle. Then again, like I said at the beginning, contemporary R&B doesn't usually attract me, so it's hard for me to mine a lot of gold from this mountain. But despite wearing out its welcome a bit, I really love about half of the record. I admire Ghost's ambition to try something truly different from his other releases, and that hunger has paid off so well in the last three years (with 12 Reasons to Die, 36 Seasons and Soul Sour) that it's worth taking the risks that don't always pay off completely. Good on him for sticking with it instead of trying to copy the impeccable Supreme Clientele with every new release.
Recommended Tracks: Not Your Average Girl, Do Over, Baby.
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