Album: Fly International Luxurious Art
Producers: Various
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Review: Raekwon the Chef returns for his first full-length record since 2011's Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang, keeping in mind that The Tonite Show was only about a half hour. I'm not crazy about the cover art for this one, but don't judge a book by its cover on this one - the contents of the record more than make up for it.
Fly International Luxurious Art (F.I.L.A.) opens with an intro skit about Raekwon's passport being too full to fly anywhere else, amid fans, press and square white people being excited by his presence. It kicks off right with the bangin' "4 in the Morning" featuring Ghostface Killah, and Rae wastes no time showing us that he's still got the same skills that made Cuban Linx 2 such a hot record. It continues with "I Got Money," which is a grower but a rewarding one. My limit with braggadocio usually ends before listening to a hook that taunts "I got money, nyah nyah na-nyah nyah," but Raekwon, guest ASAP Rocky and producer S1 for making it so listenable. There are Caribbean-sounding wood xylophones, an effective bassline, simple piano and a good light tone throughout.
But maybe the broad range of the album is first apparent by its follower, "Wall to Wall," with huge drums and piano and synths backing it up. It has a large, crashing sound that doubles down with the growl of Busta Rhymes, who once again slays his guest spot on a Raekwon record. Lyrically it's not Busta's best verse ("Difficult to predict, I'm calculated like algebra / 'Cuz the money traced back to them diamond mines out in Africa"), but he has real presence and energy that help keep it afloat and we all know Busta can spit. Cut straight to "Heated Nights," a wavy, echoing Miami-style late-night track that's all Rae. He looks back on how far he's come from his early days with good lines like "Dreams and schemes to make a knot / Sat on the stove and wrote 'C.R.E.A.M.,' one blunt 2 o'clock."
Weirdly, "F.I.L.A. World" is one of the only tracks I'm really not into. The beat is interesting but it's not for me, and the lyrics are alright but there's better elsewhere - "1, 2, 1, 2" for example. Snoop is smooth as ever with his rhymes - "Glock hot, crock pot on the block with The Chef / Out of bounds on the ground with a hole in your chest" - dropping two 12-bar verses.
Then comes "Sound Boy Kill It," which I could listen to all day. The production on the verses can get a little minimal (just drums and one two-tone keyboard), but everything else picks up the slack and delivers a killer song. Raekwon sets the song up with a good first verse, then Melanie Fiona offers a beautiful sung verse with the hot stinger "Raaaekwooon kill it!" before Assassin annihilates us with furious Jamaican rhymes. Assassin has worked with Kanye as well as Kendrick Lamar before (thanks to genius.com for the info on that) and he really brings some flavor to F.I.L.A..
"Revory (Wraith)" makes up for "Sound Boy"'s quiet verses with big bass synth, guitar, background vocals. I hate to say the verses range from decent (by Ghost and Rae) to not good (Rick Ross: "Tatted on my back, chest and palms / Then it's me and Diddy, dice games at the Palms"). It's not terrible, but Rae finishes strong with "Nautilus" and "Worst Enemy." "Nautilus" is dark and violent with some classic scratching on the hook and "Worst Enemy" ends the album on a serious note with excellent singing by Liz Rodrigues while Raekwon expresses uncertainty about a situation he's in. Maybe it's just storytelling, but it's cool to hear him sound almost vulnerable, talking about getting no sleep and unable to find his girlfriend before turning to some extreme violence. Is he his own worst enemy, as the hook implies?
I can't say I'm as in love with F.I.L.A. on the whole as I am with Cuban Linx 1 or 2 or Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang, but I definitely prefer it over Immobilarity, The Tonite Show and maybe even The Lex Diamond Story. While a couple tracks don't bring the fire the way you'd hope, there are some really great ideas executed here in production and lyrics. Rae's at his best at the beginning and the end, but he entertains the whole album; his guests are memorable and several tracks are real gems.
Recommended Tracks: 4 in the Morning, I Got Money, Wall to Wall, Sound Boy Kill It.
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