Step Fifty Eight: Wu Block.

Artist:  Ghostface Killah & Sheek Louch (Wu Block)
Album:  Wu Block
Producers:  Various
Release Date:  November 27, 2012

Review:  Wu-Tang Clan + D Block = Wu Block, or at least to an extent.  Primarily, Wu Block is comprised of Ghostface Killah and The Lox's Sheek Louch (with other Wu-generals and members of D-Block Records guesting along the way).  At the end of the day, it's 14 tracks that make 52 minutes of hip-hop collaborating between two legendary groups.  Let's get right into it.

At this point, even pretty ardent Ghostface fans have to be asking themselves "How many fuckin' albums can this guy put out?!"  Answer:  Plenty.  His solo and collaborative catalog is in the teens right now, even besides his work on Wu-Tang group albums and guest spots on other solo records.  And it rarely gets old, either:  With the exception of the dirtiest of the dirty ("Stapleton Sex," "Gihad" etc) I never get remotely sick of his stuff.  I also never feel like I'm hearing the same shit over and over; he's always got fresh rhymes and metaphors and new stories to tell.  Having said that, when you buy GFK you usually know what to expect and Wu Block is no different.

It starts with "Crack Spot Stories," which uses the ever-popular sample of "Much Better Off" by Smokey Robinson - which has also been sampled by Masta Killa ("R U Listening"), A$AP Rocky, J Dilla and several others.  It's an even split between Wu stars (Ghost brings Raekwon along) and D Block cellmates (Sheek Louch brings Jadakiss, who also appeared on Cuban Linx 2 three years prior).  The album flies along with a decent guest spot by Cappadonna on "Pour tha Martini" over some funk instruments and the bigger, darker-sounding "Pull tha Cars Out" with Method Man.  The latter has a really fun hook ("Pull the cars out, we gettin' money over here / Them bottles on the table, the weed in the air / The women starin' at us, the haters ice grillin' / Wu block, y'know we in the building") and Method Man does a good job balancing out Ghost's and Sheek's more aggressive styles with his typical bounce.

"Guns for Life" uses more great '70s sounds.  As many times as I call them out for how good their funk/soul/blaxpoitation sound is, I never get sick of hearing it.  There's something about those brass loops and ballsy drum machines and top-notch rhymes that always, always sound great.  It's also fine by me when Wu branches out and tries something new (eg Tical 2000 or 36 Seasons), but they're pretty dependable when it comes to bringing old-school cinema sounds to hip-hop.  Raekwon returns for "Comin' for Ya Head," which slows it down again and inspires Sheek and Ghost to bring some real fierce delivery for their lyrics.  Respect to Styles P for referencing Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, a classic novel about the black man's sociological struggle in a primarily white privilege society.

"Drivin' Round" will excite Wu fans for including both GZA and Masta Killa on it, and Erykah Badu provides a quick but lovely hook.  It's a great laid-back summertime driving song: Masta Killa spits rhymes like "His music loud, windows down, summer heat vibing / It's live when I'm gliding, I'm smoking while I'm driving" and GZA replies with his opener "What is the key to life with no ignition? / Another jump start then I'm on my mission / I keep my ID, insurance and registration / Wu music, good hemp for stimulation."  The energy's back on with "Different Time Zones" due in part to big Apollo Kids-style drums and part to Inspectah Deck appearing and bringing fire.  "Stick Up Kids" utilizes an urgent Cuban Linx 2 beat and the classic line "Brrrrr stick 'em, ha ha-ha stick 'em" that's been in more rap songs than Timbaland.  Next up is "All in Together," which makes the third Wu-related song of the same name.  The first was in a pre-Wu group by ODB, RZA and GZA; the second was on ODB's sophomore release Nigga Please.  Most confusing, though, is that none of them seem to have anything to do with one another.  Different beats, different lyrics, different producers, different emcees.

Acoustic guitar and two-tone violins lead the intro on "Do It Like Us" before the main beat brings fat tuba and descending piano notes for a gangsta sound under the Ghost-Louch duo supported by Raekwon.  Of all three of his appearances on Wu Block, this is my favorite.  It doesn't hurt how live Ghost sounds here, but Rae has more energy than he did on "Comin' for Ya Head."  Hard to put my finger on, but it's just a solid flow.  The same goes for Method Man guesting on "Stella."  I've probably only heard Meth really struggle with a verse once or twice in my life, and "Stella" isn't one of those times.  Although on the other hand, the beat sounds really bizarre.  It would sound at home on More Fish with its Doom-esque sound, except for the weird piquing (and treble-loaded) drum machine and frequent pops that come from an overload on every up beat.  Not sure what happened here, but it's a bit distracting.

"Been Robbed" is the last listed track on the album, but there's also a hidden one, "Bust Shots."  "Been Robbed" brings that crazy street energy back that's been so frequent on the album, but it's so silly (in a good way) it reminds me just as much of Redman on Blackout! as anything.  "Bust Shots" ends the album on an uptempo note, featuring Inspectah Deck and some turntables on the hook.  Pretty fun, and a good way to wind it up.

Legacy:  I'm amazed that in 2012, reviewers were still crying out for RZA to be producing every Wu-Tang solo effort.  As great as the first round of solo joints were, it's been 15 years, guys; time to get over it.  None of the Wu-Tang emcees are one-trick ponies.  They've found great ways to work with other producers and really strike out on their own between regrouping for Wu-Tang Clan albums.  By now, they'd put out fantastic tracks with other Wu producers (Mathematics, 4th Disciple, Cilvaringz, Bronze Nazareth etc).  Method Man had worked regularly with Erick Sermon by now, bringing plenty of fire for Blackout!; both Ghost and Masta Killa had successfully worked with MF Doom beats; The Revelations had shown that they walk the walk with Chamber Music and Legendary Weapons.  I could go on but why bother?  Production gripes aside, Wu Block was received with lukewarm reviews (most of which should've been at least a point higher), with most critics praising the involved artists' consistent quality and styles working well over unfailing '90s beats.  It shows that Ghost and other Wu generals can step back and share the mic for an entire record, splitting it 50/50 with another group (obviously D-Block).  Overall, tight album; you could do much worse in your library.

Recommended Tracks:  Pull tha Cars Out, Drivin' Round, Bust Shots.

Step Fifty Seven: The Man with the Iron Fists Soundtrack.

Artist:  Various
Album:  The Man with the Iron Fists Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Producers:  RZA, Frank Dukes, Badbadnotgood etc.
Release Date:  October 22, 2012

Review:  Much like Ghostface Killah's Ghostdini, you'll have to take this review with a grain of salt, since two or three of the tracks really aren't my kind of music.  Anyway, this is the soundtrack to RZA's directorial debut The Man with the Iron Fists, for which he also co-wrote the screenplay with Eli Roth.  Of course it's a big deal that RZA developed a film's story and co-wrote its screenplay, then directed and starred in it, but I'm going to focus on the soundtrack primarily here since the movie and the CD are separate purchases.  Also, some of the insider knowledge on this comes from an article at complex.com where RZA breaks down the soundtrack song-by-song.

Things kick off with RZA's character's theme song of sorts, "The Baddest Man Alive," with The Black Keys providing the music.  It's not a bad track - and the video is hilarious if you're in the mood - but there are better on here.  By the time RZA's verse kicks in, it feels pretty similar to his theme for the first season of Afro Samurai:  charging beat, even vocal rhythm, lots of lines about being a bad motherfucker, etc.  Having said that, there are some fun lines - "I'll tell a great white shark to go and brush his teeth" is funny enough that RZA laughs on the track himself, and "Take a gasoline bath then I walk through fire" is a good throwback to Method Man's old line "I put my gasoline boots on then I walk through Hell."  The Black Keys previously worked with RZA on the BlakRoc project, where they collaborated with 11 artists (also including Wu alumni Raekwon and Ol' Dirty Bastard as well as Yasiin Bey) to produce a side-project album a la Unkle's Psyence Fiction.

Next up is "Black Out" by Ghostface, M.O.P. and Pharoahe Monch/Pharaoh Monk.  Fizzy Womack provides the music, which is a good representation of the film setting - kung-fu flutes meet big funk brass, all over a slow and plodding beat.  It's a good East-meets-West, old-meets-new vibe.  The rhythm and energy on Ghost's verse carry better than the actual lyrics, which are occasionally problematic and goofy:  "Guacamole, my shit is fat, I call it Roly Poly / Niggaz is screamin' like 'Damn Ghost!  Holy moley!'"  Pharoahe Monch ends it on a high note though, with some very Wu-like lines including "Pull out the ratchet, this is not rappity-rap shit / It's liver than Superfly saliva when the mack spit" and "Tumultuous tragedy, infamous infamy / These egregious statistics will increase exponentially."

Time to be honest:  I don't like Kanye West, so I have a hard time with "White Dress" - which RZA not only said was written for the movie, but he thinks is a great rap.  There's just something going on with Ye that rubs me the wrong way entirely; apologies to him and his fans but I never find myself feelin' his music (with the exception of "Jesus Walks").  The hook is autotuned beyond all possible belief and the lyrics include the lines "Quote unquote: ''Cuz her girlfriends got girlfriends' / On the phone hollerin' that 'niggaz is whatever'" and "We had problems but it's all in the past / Everybody got problems baby, algebra class."

The Revelations and Tre Williams cover the classic "I Forgot to Be Your Lover."  I respect the Hell out of it, but it's not all my kind of music so I'm not as excited about it as I honestly should be.  I honestly think the only problem with the track here is me; find it and listen and appreciate the talent that goes into revitalizing an old favorite.  The Revelations, of course, did the music for the Wu compilations Chamber Music and Legendary Weapons and returned in 2014 for Ghostface's 36 Seasons.  Great music, great singing, not my forte.

Talib Kweli and Res bring us "Get Your Way (Sex is a Weapon)" as Idle Warship, and it's a terrific groove by Frank Dukes and Badbadnotgood.  Res's singing is a great break between verses; Talib Kweli is mad talented too (see also Black Star).  His lyrics occasionally get really dirty ("The moisture that you're deploying is taking us on a voyage") but his flow is undeniable.  This is also a good place to spot how Badbadnotgood hooked up with the Wu (this February they released a short album with Ghostface).

Frank Dukes and Badbadnotgood return for the music on "Rivers of Blood," the first officially-labeled Wu-Tang Clan song (featuring Kool G Rap, who has appeared on most soundtracks RZA has done up to this point).  It mixes the score with original live music, and a voiceover intro in-character by RZA's blacksmith.  The guitar on the track grinds angrily as the bass guitar and drums drop a reliable four-on-the-floor charge while building up to an urgent and bleating trombone-and-sax line that has to be heard.  Raekwon opens with a solid verse, U-God's hook fits perfectly with the movie and Wu-Tang ("Bones - crushin' - smooth - kicks / Blades - choppin' - through - bricks / The master of the weaponry sells to both cliques / ...The blacksmith with the iron fists").  Ghost also brings some classic violent/one-two combo lines like "Black magic, leave your fuckin' skull in a soup pot / Machiavelli vamoose like 2pac" and "Ox 'em, duff 'em, stuff 'em in trash bags / Without gettin' no blood on my fresh rags."  Kool G Rap also slays, although Rae and U-God are the stars here.

Method Man, his cohort Streetlife and Freddie Gibbs bring "Built for This," which is a good track but not as noteworthy as some others.  According to RZA, they brought Killa Sin on board to do his track "The Archer" because of how well "Drunk Tongue" came out on Legendary Weapons (although RZA mistakenly refers to it as being on Chamber Music).  Sin annihilates this one long verse, but the music is distractingly odd.  It almost sounds like an improv session, which is weird because it's produced by Frank Dukes (who did great his last couple tracks).

RZA returns to hip-hop for his first time since the opening track on "Just Blowin' in the Wind" with Flatbush Zombies.  RZA's music is great, with a lumbering drum beat and quick pulsating synths.  I'm not as excited by the first two verses' lyrics, so in a way this track is the opposite of "The Archer," but Meechy Darko of Flatbush Zombies brings some life into it at the end.

Corinne Bailey Rae wrote "Chains" for the  movie and recorded her vocals on a two-inch tape "to give it that old, soul sound," says RZA.  It's a really great vocal performance with a nightclub jazz feel so slow it almost stops - and it works brilliantly.  Meanwhile, Pusha T, Raekwon, Joell Ortiz and Danny Brown bring "Tick, Tock," which I find to be a little lukewarm.  Nothing wrong with anyone, but it doesn't stand out to me as much as most of the other tracks on the record.

Frances Yip performs a lovely and updated version of "Green is the Mountain," which perhaps best personifies RZA's (and, by proxy, Wu-Tang's) vision for music.  Traditional Chinese lyrics and vocals backed by blaxploitation funk.  Brilliant and endlessly fun.  Next up comes "Six Directions of Boxing," the other bona fide Wu-Tang joint on The Man with the Iron Fists.  The music reminds me of their darker Iron Flag or The W material, and features much more of a full Wu-Tang appearance than "Rivers of Blood."  I think I prefer the feel on "Rivers" overall but its only Wu verses are Ghost and Rae - U-God just does the hook, as badass as it is.  Here, we get verses from U-God, Ghostface, GZA, Masta Killa, Cappadonna and Inspectah Deck.  All are at least good, with GZA and U-God stealing the show.  As much of a Masta Killa fan as I am, this isn't quite his best verse.  It's not bad at all, just not as memorable as he's been before and since.

We get more old soul with "Your Good Thing (Is about to End)" by Mable John.  It's a great old song from Stax Records, and would be just at home in a Scorsese film as here.  The soundtrack ends with "I Go Hard," performed by Ghostface, ODB's son Boy Jones and Wiz Khalifa.  It's catchy, but the pacing and overall tone end the album on a strange note.

The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack is, overall, better than I can make it sound.  My personal favorite sounds for each Wu member aren't as present on here as I'd like, but none of them are bad or even notably weak when they appear.  Each Wu-related track is at least good, but more likely to find a home as background music for me - with the exceptions of "Rivers of Blood," "Six Directions of Boxing" and "The Archer."  In terms of the rest of the album, the soul tracks are good ("Your Good Thing" outshining the cover of "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" although The Revelations blew me away two years later with "Thin Line between Love and Hate"), the hip-hop tracks are alright and Kanye throws me off.

Legacy:  It was received well, with most critics granting it between a 6 and an 8 on a scale maxing out at 10.  Not every track is a winner, but there are some standout cuts here that got a lot of attention at their release.  It doesn't always feel as cohesive or unified as Ghost Dog or the Afro Samurai soundtracks, but that's pretty understandable since RZA was busy directing and starring in the film while working on the soundtrack.  He spread himself pretty thin, although the album's continual flow seems to be the closest one can come to saying anything "suffered" for it.  All in all, my favorite tracks are worth the price of admission for the whole album, and the others are a good treat to have otherwise.

Recommended Tracks:  Rivers of Blood, The Archer, Green is the Mountain, Six Directions of Boxing.

Czarface: Every Hero Needs a Villain Review.

Artist:  Czarface (Inspectah Deck, 7L and Esoteric)
Album:  Every Hero Needs a Villain
Producers:  7L and Todd Spadafore
Release Date:  June 16, 2015

Review:  If this is your first time visiting this page, welcome!  I don't rate albums, so don't expect to count stars or read a verdict based on arbitrary "__ out of 10" scores.  Next, Map of Shaolin is a weekly Wu-Tang retrospective, so over the last year I've been catching up from 1993 to 2015 covering one new album every Wu Wednesday in chronological release order - only breaking the timeline for new releases (e.g. 36 Seasons, Sour Soul and A Better Tomorrow).  So here's an advance review of Tuesday's upcoming release Every Hero Needs a Villain by Czarface (Inspectah Deck, 7L and Esoteric).

As would be expected in the follow-up to 2013's debut release from this team, Every Hero Needs a Villain makes its mark with a distinctive late-'90s production style.  Dramatic intros, turntables and a fusion of rock instruments and street hip-hop all appear, topped with comic book references and sweet guest spots.  The copy that came to me in the mail is the deluxe edition of the CD, with a hardcover case binding a 70-page book.  The book features a CD-sized comic book that includes a scene where the police show up and shoot at Czarface because they "have a long history of shooting the wrong guy" and are "trigger-happy, shoot-first-ask-later swine."  Oh yeah.  It goes there.  Even better are the fake ads for ridiculous products like dinosaur eggs and x-ray eye patches.  It's fresh from the pages of golden age Adult Swim and it's great to flip through and get into the retro comic book style of the album itself - which, you'll come to see with its near-constant references, is utterly steeped in geekdom and nerd culture.

After the intro "Don the Armor," things start off with a bang on "Czartacus."  The fat roadhouse rock guitar is fuzzy along the lines of Jimi Hendrix or early White Stripes; Inspectah Deck and Esoteric bring the hype to open the album up.  Deck's opening line is "Yo there go the speakers / I'm natural glowing, blowing sativa / Amazing display of art, unique as the Mona Lisa / Non-believers, they bitching like R&B divas."  We don't get a breather with the next track, "Lumberjack Match," which has an even quicker and more intricate rock guitar line.  Props to Deck for name-dropping Miami Dolphins defensive tackler Ndamukong Suh in his second verse ("Fear me coming like Ndamukong Suh / Bottom line I'm a problem for dudes").

Up next is "Nightcrawler" with an appearance by Method Man.  The vocal sample used throughout (sorry I don't have the source handy) makes it as Wu-Tang-sounding as the album's been so far, but not by much.  But that's not a complaint; Deck references the Wu several times on Every Hero Needs a Villain but it's clear this is an independent endeavor.  Also, Esoteric shines for the first time here (in my opinion).  He spits some really tight braggadocio lines in his verse like "Tight kicks, flow holy water like Christ spit / Ice pick, swing that motherfucker like a nightstick."  Ticallion Stallion brings it with his verse, and this is the first we've heard him since he dominated Wu-Tang's latest album A Better Tomorrow.  It's not as brilliant a verse from Meth as some of his off that album ("Keep Watch" and "A Better Tomorrow" come to mind)...but he bounces off the beat like a fucking rubber ball.  It's a thing of beauty, and you need to hear it.

"World Premier" feels darker and more like the "hardcore" side of rap than the rest of the album so far - and that's a good thing because it shows that the album varies and doesn't depend solely on its main (albeit brilliant) go-to sound.  "The Great (Czar Guitar)" brings things back to normal, even though the guitar is vicious and great and simple in that 1990s sense, and Esoteric brings a great comics reference with "It's Czarface, back to attack your heart again / Destroy your ass like Drax from The Guardians" (obviously Guardians of the Galaxy).

Then comes "Red Alert" where Esoteric drops another sweet Marvel reference with "Drunk off that Jameson / On my J. Jonah, and I'm out," but not before a hilarious metaphor with "It's that high-end shit, I'm on another level / Like I'm in Macy's and can't find the men's shit."  Much respect to Juju for sticking with one rhyme his whole verse on "Junkyard Dogs" ("Look at you, can't even hold that Hennessy / Never gonna like you, we don't have chemistry / Old No. 7, only throw back Tennessee / Ain't tryin' to feel you and I don't have empathy" etc).  Another great reference comes from Esoteric who calls out The Silence of the Lambs' secondary villain with "Nurture beats like Buffalo Bill, it puts the lotion on the track," which helps to save this verse which is more all over the place than usual.

Now, I have to pause and pay respect to Inspectah Deck here on "Junkyard Dogs."  Deck gambles big to cement the nerdy side of the album with lines like "Wordplay wizard, my mic is Harry Potter's wand / Czarface nominated at the comic con," and it pays off.  In The Wu-Tang Manual, RZA devotes a whole section to comic books and hip-hop, since Ghostface Killah uses Ironman/Tony Starks as one of his alter egos (a riff on Iron Man / Tony Stark) and Method Man is also known as Johnny Blaze, aka Ghost Rider.  If the conceptual nature of Czarface, their artwork (see above), the included comic and Esoteric's Marvel references haven't tipped you off, Deck goes all in on fanboy culture with the nod to Harry Potter and comic conventions.  It may be his ballsiest move on the record, even if the verse ends a little loosely.

7L's rock-n-roll overdrive guitar comes back strong on "Sgt. Slaughter."  The drums play a military-style snare-heavy beat that's a bit on the nose for me, but it's saved by INS's strong lyrics:  "Call the coroner for this immortal orator / Drop game like Doc Strange, sort of a sorcerer / No slumber, pullin' odd jobs for odder numbers / Dart runner, lay my hammer like the god of thunder."  Deck has always been one to repeat vowel and consonant sounds to build strength in a rap.  Just look at the soft O's and long E's in "Triumph" - "I bomb atomically / Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses..."  It works pretty well here too, but he blows himself out of the water when he drops his next verse, on "When Gods Go Mad."  There, Deck sounds as young and live as he did on The Movement, which is my favorite Inspectah Deck album (and the one I asked him to sign when I saw him live last year and he warned us to look out for this record).  Some of his lines on "When Gods Go Mad" need repeat listening to digest, like "Of course ready steady, winning the feeling / The rain heavy confetti, bet he toastin' up Pepsi and Henny / Plenty before him had bored him / But all that saw him had soared him."  GZA guest stars on this track, once again dropping teasers for his upcoming record Dark Matter.  He did this on "Ruckus in B Minor" on A Better Tomorrow with his opening rhyme ("Forms circles like the rings of Saturn / Dust, rocks and ice in a particular pattern"), and here he spends some time on the earth's interior:

"The lowest and hottest places on Earth
Large pools of sulfuric acid mark the turf
Giant land masses that pull away
A crack in the crust, no trust, and the killers are willing to pay
Eruptions for years in lakes of lava
Huge dome of rock on the block that's from the plaza."

And it's working great.  If GZA's testing the waters to see how the public will react to his science bent, I have some feedback:  Dear GZA - Drop this album on us!  We get it, we want it, we need it!

DOOM appears on "Ka-Bang!" but as good as it is to hear him, the beat is the star of this show.  It's all weird percussion for half of each verse - obvious drum machine kick-and-snare, occasional random cymbals - and an eight-note cheap keyboard teetering on the left channel like Frankenstein walking.  There are also scattered samples of distorted vocals and strings, and it makes for a comically eerie sound that damn near distracts from these three emcees shining (DOOM, Deck and Esoteric).  The track ends with a clip from an old X-Men show (fitting since Esoteric references Scott Summers aka Cyclops in his last line), presumably backed by the music that DOOM sampled for "Beef Rapp" in 2004.  "Deadly Class" uses oodles of Ennio Morricone-sounding guitar and serious monotone trumpet along with more drum machine and what sounds like an upright or acoustic bass being played slap, although big skratching returns too.  The result is similar to Ghostface's 12 Reasons to Die.

Getting down to the end of the album, "Escape from Czarkham Asylum" is an eight-minute opus with plenty of bass and big drums to fill up the track.  But be warned - this is a weird-ass number. If you decide you like it, it probably won't be on the first listen.  It's pretty standard fare for its first three minutes, but then it basically switches up to a completely different song every minute or so after that.  Each beat nearly/barely resembles the first, but the change-ups are so sudden and frequent that it's easy to get thrown off.  The closest thing to compare it to is Smashing Pumpkins' 23-minute "Pastichio Medley," which was a random collection of 5- to 10-second clips of dozens and dozens of demos that SP never put on albums.  It's a little off-putting at first listen (complete with a sample of a kid saying "Czarface - fast like car chase" and '80s industrial synths near the end), but it doesn't ruin the album.

"Sinister" brings a guitar loop and cleverly buried piano with singular notes straight from a suspense movie.  Lending to the horror influence is Esoteric's first verse with lines like "Catch bodies like possessed Rotties off the leash / Less shotties more zombies 'cuz I wanna feast / And if I ain't being fed I'm seeing red I'm Evil Dead / People bled, I am Sam Raimi don't you be misled."  It's the most clearly horror-esque vibe I've caught from any Wu-related track since Method and Red's "Cereal Killer."  The last track is "Good Villains Go Last" with R.A. the Rugged Man.  The four-on-the-floor crash cymbals let you know Czarface is ready to go out big.  It's pretty wise they let R.A. go last on the track, because he slays his verse as always and his style flows best with the beat.  Deck and Esoteric hold their own, but for my money R.A. ekes them out for the strongest verse on the song.

Bottom line?  Cop this album from Get On Down if you're ready for popping rhymes from all emcees involved, a unique sound that blends '90s rap with other retro genres, a near-constant trip to geek pop culture territory (comics, horror movies and science) and a clear sequel to the original Czarface.  Deck has regained the energy on these Czarface projects that he seemed to have lost on Manifesto, Esoteric stands out more to me here than he did the last go-around and 7L's production has enough to it that you'll find yourself splitting your listens between focusing on music and focusing on lyrics.  It's a cool, weird monster that looks like an evil lovechild of Adrian Younge, Jack White, Rage Against the Machine and Cypress Hill.  The only reason not to pick this up is if you're only looking for an album from Inspectah Deck that sounds like Uncontrolled Substance or The Movement.

Please check out the rest of the blog at MapofShaolin.blogspot.com - we're currently up to 2011's Legendary Weapons.  Or, if you're into comics and superheroes as the boys in Czarface, pick up my book Penny Cavalier from Amazon.  It's an investigative journalism project about real-life superheroes - actual masked vigilantes that roam the streets.  It reads like a cross between Apocalypse Now and Kick-Ass.  Also, like our company A Carrier of Fire on Facebook.  Otherwise?  Until next Wu Wednesday, keep it real!

Step Fifty Six: Legendary Weapons.

Artist:  Wu-Tang and The Revelations
Album:  Legendary Weapons
Producers:  Fizzy Womack, Noah Rubin, Andrew Kelley, etc.
Release Date:  July 26, 2011

Review:  Wu-Tang and The Revelations teamed up in 2009 for a collaboration/comp called Wu-Tang: Chamber Music, which featured plenty of hip-hop legends and indie artists including Kool G Rap, AZ and others (read my review here).  All in all, Chamber Music produced a classic Wu sound with live instruments, solid verses from most of Wu-Tang and some exciting guest spots, although with half the tracks being short vocal clips and the entire musical portion of the album clocking in at 25 or so minutes, it's hard to call it a full album.

The 2011 follow-up is Legendary Weapons.  The album kicks off with "Start the Show," featuring Raekwon and RZA.  The music is more rock than usual, which for my money works but could throw off some listeners.  On the other hand, Rae and RZA both deliver tight verses, delving more into politics than usual.  For example, Rae spits "Then stop, check my brothers and sisters in Africa / We know that's theirs, yes, we been actin' up / Bush fucked the world up, and left our soldiers / Out in Iraq, bless them with roses" while RZA rhymes "The beast must pay a price for his wickedness / Politics is the trickiest / Business on the planet, the bandits are the slipperiest."

Going back to music, I feel like overall Legendary Weapons is darker than Chamber Music, which felt brighter and more retro.  Here, aside from the opening track, The Revelations provide murkier backdrops for Wu-family rapping than in the past.  The first examples of this on the record are "Laced Cheeba" and "Diesel Fluid."  "Laced Cheeba" has thick trip-hop drums and a two-note bassline with the occasional quick vocal sample, giving it a Liquid Swords feel behind some classic Ghostface Killah couplets:  "Like Mr. Dash I blast, I'm a Menace like Dennis / Young Ghost in the bathroom, a six-month sentence."  With "Diesel Fluid," on the other hand, the muddy drums return but this song uses a staccato two-tone keyboard to give it an almost-Dre sound on the verse.  However, longer open-note keys shimmer and give the song a sad and ominous feel.  Some of the best beats on the record.  Method Man and Cappadonna feature on this track, although their verses aren't as memorable as they've been before and since.

"The Black Diamonds" uses the partnership of bass and piano to sound melancholic but intriguing over more bassy drums while Ghostface, Roc Marciano and Killa Sin rap.  Roc Marciano (who you may remember from Think Differently Music) delivers an especially solid verse, even though he repeats some words, by sticking with one rhyme for the first half:

"Loose cannon, 40-deuce flicks to Paris
Way back at the Palace
Like Mike Harris, Callous
Fly nicest, metallic, bang mallets
Fly your whole carriage to Paris
The black Pat Garrett, carats on Donna Karans
Guys die tryin' to drive the McLaren
Islamic burn chronic out on the terrace."

Some more moody keys come in on the title track, sounding more like flutes and holding those open notes to evoke wariness and mystery.  Sure, the drums are pretty similar to how they've been the last few tracks, but I find it to be a case of "If it ain't broke don't fix it."  Ghostface partners with AZ and M.O.P. here, which is a good preview for Ghost, AZ and The Revelations collaborating for 2014's 36 Seasons.  It also speaks to The Revelations' range, because "Legendary Weapons" sounds nothing like 36 Seasons whatsoever.

Things brighten up a bit for the soul-inspired "Never Feel This Pain" with Inspectah Deck, U-God and Tre Williams, although INS's and U-God's verses are like Method Man's earlier: good, but not so great as they are elsewhere.  And it's interesting to note that this is just two years before Deck slayed it on Czarface and U-God delivered maybe his best solo album yet on The Keynote Speaker, so if anything these verses are a quick hiccup between greatness.  Killa Sin returns on "Drunk Tongue" and brings much more skill than "The Black Diamonds" with Deck-inspired lines like "All you do is mention I, general exemplify / Sin City been gritty 10-city enterprise / About to make it 25, utilize my witty mind / To improvise my goal to reach the all-time city high."  I never had a problem with Killa Sin, but this verse really put him on my radar.

With the weightiest line-up so far, "225 Rounds" features U-God, Cappadonna, Bronze Nazareth and RZA.  U-God finds the energy he'd lost on "Never Feel This Pain" thanks to The Revelations' big band horns; Cappadonna tightens up his usual loose flow for an easier-to-follow verse than he usually provides as well.  RZA brings some fun lines ("No man can sever this, I complete jobs effortless / Use tiger, crane, snake style and the leopard fist") but his best verse was on "Start the Show."  Bronze Nazareth also shines with some cool lyrics, channeling his inner Masta Killa near the end.  RZA closes out the album with "Only the Rugged Survive," which may have his most internal-rhyme-happy lyrics but have more of a braggadocious Bobby Digital feel than his RZA persona, so I still vote for "Start the Show" even though his lyrics here are more intricate ("Sippin' bitches, Cabernet grape, steaming halibut steak / Gold plate is stainless, four forks scrape the single plate").

Legacy:  Although not every song stands out as an instant winner, I'm really surprised that Legendary Weapons only ended up with a 61 out of 100 on Metacritic.  The biggest let-downs are some placeholder verses from some of the Wu-Tang generals (and where are GZA and Masta Killa?), but if we let a couple lukewarm verses spoil a whole record, we'd hardly listen to any rap at all.  As it is, the music is tight, there's closer to a full album here (with 10 music tracks to Chamber Music's eight and the interludes spaced fewer and farther between) and there were some really pleasant surprises along the way, especially from Killa Sin and Roc Marciano.  And I have to reiterate that some of the beats on Legendary Weapons are so damn intriguing they get stuck in my head for days.  I'll admit that by this point, it had been four years since 8 Diagrams and some felt that that record was a misstep, so I imagine some people were ready for a full-on Wu-Tang Clan album with RZA producing, but that hole wasn't filled until 2014's A Better Tomorrow (and we'll get to that and where it worked and where it didn't in a couple more months).  In the meantime, these standalone collaborations/compilations with The Revelations are pretty good appetizers for the meal.  Cop this album if you haven't; it's a good "middle ground" album with plenty of representation from Wu-Tang and their disciples.

Recommended Tracks:  Gotta step outside the usual "overall best songs" mode today.  Some of my favorite beats have some of my least favorite lyrics and vice-versa, so here's two categories.  Best Beats:  Diesel Fluid, Legendary Weapons.  Best Lyrics:  Start the Show, 225 Rounds, Drunk Tongue.

Step Fifty Five: Raekwon: Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang

Artist:  Raekwon
Album:  Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang
Producers:  Scram Jones et al.
Release Date:  March 7, 2011

Review:  It's been occurring to me over the last few weeks that there has been, undeniably, a shift in the overall Wu-Tang sound at least twice in their last 22 years.  There was the original chunky all-RZA sound leading up to Wu-Tang Forever, the pitch-raised/brass-laden feel of albums like Think Differently Music and a slow leaning towards a fuller and cleaner musical sound as has been evident on releases like GZA's Pro Tools, Ghostface Killah's Ghostdini and even Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. 2.  Each of those sounds has its place, and each have had hits and misses along the Map of Shaolin.

But for all the shit that people love to give Wu for any albums released after 1997, and all the articles asking "where Wu-Tang fell apart," Raekwon's Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang is a really great album that manages to mix several sounds from his own catalog and remind listeners of every era of the Wu.  It doesn't hurt that, RZA aside, virtually every regular Wu producer is here.  Bronze Nazareth gets behind the controls for "Butter Knives," Alchemist brings "Ferry Boat Killaz," Mathematics brings "Dart School" and Cilvaringz produces..."Silver Rings."  And here's where the personnel gets interesting from a history/storytelling perspective.  Cilvaringz has only brought us a few tracks on Wu-general albums, but is wholly responsible for being in the booth for Wu-Tang's upcoming and controversial single-copy album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.  If "Silver Rings" is any indication, it should be a tight-sounding record - if anyone ever hears it.  The only producer to have more than one or two tracks on this album is Scram Jones, whose first job working directly for Wu-Tang was on Ghost's Big Doe Rehab from 2007.  Scram also produced several tracks for other Wu albums since then, including Wu-Massacre, Cuban Linx 2, Apollo Kids and now Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang.

There's also a bit of tangible networking going on with several producers and their tracks.  Scram Jones produces "Last Trip to Scotland" here with guest star Lloyd Banks, who may have been called up due to his past work with Scram on Banks' 2004 song "Work Magic."  Erick Sermon follows suit, producing the Method Man-featuring "Every Soldier in the Hood."  Sermon, of course, worked extensively on both Blackout! albums but first popped up on the Map for his work on Meth's Tical 2000: Judgement Day.  And while we're talking guest spots, there's Method Man on two tracks, Ghostface on three, Inspectah Deck, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Radio Raheem, Rick Ross and Black Thought.  Nas and Rae date back to the first Cuban Linx in 1995, and Busta has worked with members of Wu several times in the past, but I'm guessing Radio Raheem and Black Thought both got on Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang through Ghostface's address book (having appeared on Ghostdini and Apollo Kids, respectively).  I'm not particularly broken-hearted at the absence of members of American CREAM Team or Icewater Productions, because to be honest this record really doesn't need them.  It's a seamless/non-stop album that's full to bursting with sounds and names to get your blood pumping - which, by the way, it's about damn time we got down to.

The album starts off with a bang: a title track that also samples the film after which it's named and a fast and furious two verses from Raekwon.  They're all short lines often sticking with the same rhymes within each line as well (not too dissimilar from RA the Rugged Man's appearances with the Wu), which adds a real sense of urgency.  "The gear dresser, the chop bagger, Marvin Hagler / Rap stabber, eat you alive, gold tarantula" is just one quick example.  The beat is tense with a super-short violin loop and it leads directly into the next track (as just about every song on this album does).  In this case it's that Erick Sermon/Method Man collab "Every Soldier in the Hood," which is only slightly more relaxed of a beat.  It's a good track, but Meth does better later.  For now, the first killer beat on the album for me is "Silver Rings" (which makes the Once Upon a Time in Shaolin secrecy sting a little more).  It's like violin buzz notes and blues guitar loops that add up to better than the sum of their parts.  It gets a little weird halfway in when it stops to fade into "As High as Wu-Tang Get" and come back, but overall it's a crazy awesome, blink-and-you'll-miss-it song with a verse from Ghost that's as live as his work on Ironman.

Another bright point on this album is that its sung bits work much better for me than a lot of previous Wu stuff has.  "Chop Chop Ninja" has a protracted hook by Estelle and "Rock n Roll" contains a good deal of labored singing by Kobe...but both are just stellar.  Estelle uses great harmonies singing about "the true keys to being a ninja" and Kobe sounds sincere without being melodramatic. I can't say the same for Radio Raheem's falsetto on "From the Hills" but we'll just sweep that under the rug.  Inspectah Deck shows up for a quick spot on "Chop Chop" which is good enough but with few standout lines beside "I'm straight tear, tell 'em don't play fair / Then retaliation I'mma shake 'em just for scraping my suede pair."

Rae goes dolo again, for the first time since the intro, on "Butter Knives" and "Snake Pond."  "Butter Knives" has a solid beat by Bronze Nazareth - who I think is underrated, especially after the first time I heard "The Road" - and "Snake Pond" has a beat that reminds me of the song "Masta Killa" from MK's solo album No Said Date.  Light Asian instruments in the back make a really unique texture.  Busta Rhymes shows up for "Crane Style" and I think the only thing I don't like about him at this point is that I feel like he always has to have a line where the producer drops the pitch in his voice until it sounds like a weird late-'90s B-horror film monster for a minute.  He's a great emcee; he doesn't need the special effects.

It's hard to believe you're already halfway through the album at the end of "Rock N Roll," but if you look there's good reason for that:  Despite there being no skits on the album (and thank God for that), there are four tracks out of 17 that clock in under two minutes.  "Last Trip to Scotland" reminds me of "Sonny's Missing" from Cuban Linx 2 with its fast gangster storytelling and bright, clean, engaging beat.  "Ferry Boat Killaz" is another Cuban Linx 2-esque track, with faint violins and a harpsichord-like keyboard for effect.

"Dart School" might have Raekwon's best lyrics on the album since the intro track - and as great as this album is, Rae's rhymes just don't always stand out as much to me.  Here, though, it's all smiles.  His first verse has his trademark style, using a metaphor of young animals to explain how his crew run compared to the always-serious hard life in prison:  "So many soldiers, no soft niggaz in the slammers / We run wild like lil' gazelles and baby pandas."  He finishes up with an instant classic rhyme:  "So when it's over I'mma fly to my lady's mansion / And get riced up, some Japanese baby salmon."  "The Scroll" also has some tight rhymes, especially its opening:  "Kinda brief from the gold teeth era / Bro dreaming on C.R.E.A.M. / Complimentaries and beef."  It's cool to hear that long E sound and the recurring rhyme of "brief" and "teeth" coming back two lines later for "beef."  He's either describing RZA's quick brush with fame pre-Wu (as in he's still just dreaming of writing "C.R.E.A.M." from Enter the Wu-Tang) or someone else who was inspired by Wu-Tang but burned out quickly.  This is because "gold teeth era" could be a nod to either the late '80s and early '90s (e.g. Flava Flav) or late '90s and early '00s (when everyone from Method Man to Trick Daddy was rockin' a grill or gold teeth).

Legacy:  It's hard to believe it's a full 49 minutes all in, since so many tracks seem so short and there are no real gaps to speak of between songs.  And besides leaving you wanting more, it also gains a couple points with nostalgia.  Weird beats like "Silver Rings" remind us of albums like Tical 2000 in 1998, the sung hook on "Chop Chop Ninja" makes me think of "Wheels" from 2002's Iron Flag, cleaner-produced tracks remind me of latter-day Wu solo albums like Pro Tools from 2008 and INS's Manifesto, and several of the tracks are reminiscent of Cuban Linx 2.  Also, the fuller, overproduced sound of tracks like "Rock and Roll" seem like they took the ideas of Ghostdini or Tical 0 and did them right.  Even bringing back such an extensive amount of kung-fu samples for intros and outros is a great throwback to original Wu-Tang outings like Enter the Wu-Tang  and Liquid Swords while sampling speeches from political figures like Winston Churchill is a good look forward to A Better Tomorrow.  Sure, the lyrics don't often stand out as much as some of Rae's other stuff, but this is a quality record.  Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang arrives just 18 months after Cuban Linx 2, which gets so much mention on this entry because it's one of the most widely recognized, undisputed successes from any Wu member in the last 15 years.  He'd also recently appeared on 2010's Wu Massacre with Method Man and Ghostface Killah.

We can also use this opportunity to change our gaze from the past to the future.  Since this album came out, Raekwon appeared immediately after this on the Wu comp Legendary Weapons, released a short collaboration album with DJ Fresh called The Tonight Show, made nice with RZA in time to appear on several tracks from 2014's A Better Tomorrow and he just released a brand-new LP, Fly International Luxurious Art.  In terms of the entire group, Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang was released about 2 1/2 months after the well-received Ghostface album Apollo Kids and they kept our attention after this release with RZA's directorial debut The Man with the Iron Fists and what's appearing to be a collaboration-centered Wu-Tang renaissance.  For example, Ghostface Killah has paired with Adrian Younge for two albums in their comic-based 12 Reasons to Die series as well as working with live bands for 36 Seasons and Sour Soul; and Inspectah Deck has partnered with 7L and Esoteric to release two albums as Czarface - both featuring a late-'90s sound with comic book art imagery.  U-God also released what may be his best solo record yet - 2012's The Keynote Speaker.

Recommended Tracks:  Silver Rings, Chop Chop Ninja, Rock N Roll, Dart School.