Album: Wu-Tang: The Next Chamber
Producers: Various
Release Date: November 16, 2010
Review: I actually enjoy rarities collections; they save me hundreds of dollars buying CD's I wouldn't normally buy just for one track. And that's what this is - 14 tracks not found previously on Masta Killa's No Said Date or Made in Brooklyn but featuring MK on vocals. This digital-only release, Wu-Tang: The Next Chamber, runs through a complex web of MK's collaborative career and other unreleased material, so we'll go through it track by track.
But first I have to give a shout-out to the blog Hip-Hop Isn't Dead - Max runs a thorough and knowledgeable blog and I didn't know where some of the songs on Wu-Tang: The Next Chamber came from until I Googled it and came across HHID's review of it.
The Next Chamber opens with "Rhyme Time Freestyle," with Masta Killa riffing over a sample from "Inna Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly. The biggest sin committed here is the thing that keeps me from buying mixtapes in general - the watermark laid over the track that really distracts from what's going on in the studio. Here it's someone saying "EXCLUSIVE..." every 20 or 30 seconds. Ugh. Thankfully this is the only track with a watermark.
It segues into "Unstoppable Threats" from GZA's 2005 release Grandmasters. We already looked at Grandmasters several months ago, so I'll just say this DJ Muggs-produced track is good to hear again. GZA, Masta Killa and Prodigal Sunn spit solid rhymes over a phat beat.
Next up is the short-but-sweet "Scram," which takes its beat from The Mohawks 1968 track "The Champ" (but is also recognizable in Coldcut's 1997 song "More Beats and Pieces") and its lyrics from Masta Killa's verse on "Secret Rivals" from his 2004 debut No Said Date. It's actually odd that "Scram" would take MK's verse from "Secret Rivals" but not Method Man's, because Meth ends up the only member of Wu-Tang not present on The Next Chamber. Even still, it's good to hear Masta Killa's sick verse remixed over The Mohawks, waxing ominous like his verse in "Triumph" with lines like "So patient, they sat there in the aisles and waited for the testimony / Hungry for a statement from the one and only / Thirsty for the ceremony" and more grounded lines like "I'm strong as a nuclear bomb, dangerous armed / Have you not prepared yourself? You been warned / Gun shot to the informer, killa bee swarm."
Then comes a cut-in-half version of "Just A Thought," another Masta Killa and GZA collaboration, this time from Prefuse 73's 2005 album Surrounded by Silence. I really like Prefuse's light beat, playing with simple key tones and electronic percussion that sounds like vinyl pops or an outtake from Bjork's Vespertine. On the other hand, the lyrics don't stand out as much to me, with MK and GZA both hitting it and quitting it inside a minute 20.
After that is "Money Comes First" with RZA, which dates back to 2008 under the name "Cash Rule Seeds & Power U." It's a decent track, but Masta Killa recycles a couple lines from "Secret Rivals" again for this track before getting into the rest of the verse, which is new. The first break in the music comes at the end of this song, since "Money Comes First" wants to segue into RA the Rugged Man's "Chains" but the tempos are too drastically different. Still, it's handled well, with a quick cut and echo into the new track and slower speed.
And let's face it, "Chains" is amazing. It has a good ragga-meets-jazz beat sampled from Massive Attack's Horace Andy and RA's verse is incredible. If you only know RA from the Wu-compilation Think Differently Music, you'll probably remember his sick rhymes on "Give It Up." He follows suit here with enough interwoven rhymes that you'll wonder how it all makes sense - but it does. He describes himself and his lyrics as "Hospitable, hittable 'cooler than Digable' criminal / Miracle lyrical, take every syllable literal / It'll riddle - profitable, visible, irritable / Little brittle pitiful fists will do little but tickle, you typical."
Then we spend a few minutes back on a GZA record - this time a clipped version of "Fam Members Only." Even though this is taken from Legend of the Liquid Sword, I figured since it's on a different album (not one intended to be curse-free like Legend) they should've taken this opportunity to un-censor the swear words in it, but sadly it's still edited. Missed opportunity to get the dirty version if you ask me, but still a cool track with a head-nodding beat. Booming bass drums, one-tone keys and the team of RZA, GZA and Masta Killa - good shit. Although to be honest I'm wondering, since they took MK's guest spots on GZA's albums Legend of the Liquid Sword and Grandmasters for this album, why not include "Pencil" from Pro Tools?
"Brain" continues the excellent use of samples on the record, borrowing from the theme for the Animaniacs short "Pinky and the Brain." Unfortunately, like "Scram," it borrows Masta Killa's lyrics from a track on No Said Date - this time it's his verse on "DTD." Cool remix, but this makes the third song out of eight to bite from No Said Date.
After that we've got more of a rarity than we've seen so far - "Armored Truck" from the shelved Timbo King album Fort Knox. Timbo and Masta work well together, and you have to respect Masta Killa's lyrics with references like "Straight to ya gate I deliver / Flow like the Kwantung River." Classic Wu style.
However, I think "Always NY" is a bit livelier. This track is lifted from Mathematics' album Love, Hell or Right - Mathematics is, of course, a long-time Wu producer and a good one at that. I personally like the beat, even if it's a bit repetitive, and Masta Killa's street life verse is really fun. "Snatch mic, bash face and fight / Red light scope at night / Movin' through the Snow dressed in White / It's the ninja from the rooftop site."
Masta Killa also provides "Black Mamba" here for anyone who didn't want to buy the Kill Bill Vol. 2 soundtrack. I can do without it, to be honest; it's meandering and doesn't live up to much of anything. Probably the weakest link on the album, but for completionist's sake I'm glad to have it - but just barely.
Things pick back up with "Noodles Pt. 2," which was also released as a b-side for the vinyl single "Things Just Ain't the Same" from 2012's Selling My Soul. I'm gonna take a minute here to talk about Loyalty is Royalty, which Masta Killa had been talking up since releasing his sophomore album Made in Brooklyn in 2006. What little MK has said about The Next Chamber is that in addition to the collaborations and rare tracks of his, it teases fans with a few songs intended for his upcoming album, Loyalty is Royalty. Several of the tracks he'd intended for Loyalty were eventually released on Selling My Soul, which ended up being Masta's third album, released in 2012. Who knows if we'll ever see Loyalty is Royalty or not, but this downtempo track offers a possible glimpse into what might have been. Synthesized strings, minimal drums, ragga guitar and storytelling - all work together pretty well.
Getting to the end of the mix is "The PJ's" from Pete Rock's 2008 album NY's Finest. The bass guitar, wah-wah soul guitar and piano are classic '70s, Raekwon flows smoothly and Masta Killa bobs and weaves like Bruce Lee around his verse. Good shit all around.
Maybe the rarest track on the album is this demo of "Metal Lungies" from Ghostface's Pretty Toney Album that closes the mixtape. In the final version, Sheek Louch and Styles P guest, but MK provides a formidable appearance on this horn- and synth-heavy track. His first few lines are the same as his opening lines from "Whatever" off No Said Date, but he veers into original territory after a few rhymes.
Legacy: I'll admit I'm a pretty big Masta Killa fan, so I really enjoy The Next Chamber more than most people probably would. There's some overlap with songs I already own on different albums, and a couple tracks ("Scram" and "Brain") are copy-pasted vocal performances from No Said Date over new-ish beats, but damn if this isn't a fun and listenable mixtape. I will say I wish some other MK appearances were on here, since despite being 14 tracks it clocks in at just 37 minutes. Maybe some songs didn't fit the style, or licensing agreements couldn't be reached for other Masta Killa tracks, but I would've loved to have more non-album songs like "The Day After" or "Eyes a Bleed," or even the Mathematics tracks "Break That" and "USA." Oh well.
As a segue between Made in Brooklyn and Selling My Soul, The Next Chamber is a good appetizer. The only real gripe I have is that since it's available as an mp3-only release, there's a noticeable gap between songs when they're playing in your iPod, Winamp or CD player. This wouldn't matter if it weren't a mix intended to flow continuously. My advice to Masta Killa would've been to set up a standalone website and sell the mix directly as lossless .wav or .flac files so they'd flow together non-stop like they're clearly intended. As it is, I ended up batch converting all 14 tracks from my Amazon-bought mp3's to .wav's and trimming the beginnings and ends of every single track just so I could listen as a seamless mix. Even still, I recommend copping this album. There's a lot to love as long as you're not expecting a full studio project like his previous albums.
Recommended Tracks: Chains, Brain, Armored Truck, Always NY, Metal Lungies (OG Version).
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