Artists: Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge
Album: Twelve Reasons to Die II
Producer: Adrian Younge
Release Date: July 10, 2015
Review: Our awesome readers may remember that a few months ago we did an advance review of this record. I managed to get a copy of it several days before its release so I did my best to give my first impressions and let you know whether or not you should pick it up (you should). So now we're back up to it properly on the Map of Shaolin and it's time that Twelve Reasons to Die II got a full retrospective.
Years after the Da Luca family kill Tony Starks and he seeks his revenge as Ghostface Killah, there's a new player in town - Lester Kane (played by Raekwon the Chef). Kane finds Tony Starks's remains (still pressed into vinyls owned by the Da Lucas) and calls upon the Ghostface Killah so the two of them can finish picking off the Da Luca family. Raekwon guests on five of the album's 13 tracks - one of his strongest per capita presences since Ironman in 1996. Lester Kane is a good character, as well; as a living and ambitious figure, he's a good counterpart to the seemingly immortal Ghostface.
Adrian Younge (who performs most of the live instruments himself) and Raekwon make a beautiful start to the record on "Return of the Savage." The tremolo guitar and steady drum loop set the stage for Raekwon to drop his sick flow with storytelling rhymes like "They was slow on the draw so I blammed 'em / Takin' they top off like a convertible drop burgundy Phantom." RZA returns to narrate again, once again lending to the melodramatic grindhouse feel of the Twelve Reasons saga. His narration on "Return of the Savage" segues into "King of New York," a quick bio of Lester Kane in which Ghost spits a four-bar so tight I have to quote it a second time.
"A few million-dollar cribs, Liberace jewel box
Gold Ox' ostrich-leather shoes, Egyptian socks
Tailor-made suits, built like a brick house
Six foot nine, son, the god had to duck in his house."
Scarub guest stars on "Rise Up" (and again later on "Death's Invitation"), bringing a good throwback line with "Lester Kane clan ain't nothin' to fuck with" and some other good rhymes. The music is definitely amped up too, faster and higher energy than the previous two mid-tempo tracks. "Daily News" clocks in at under a minute, giving us an all-too-brief view of the story from a newspaper's perspective, and it's right here that I realize my one and only beef with the record. Much like Sour Soul, this is one short-ass album. I threw some shade at the record length last time around, so I'll just summarize today. Let's look at some numbers.
You could fit both Twelve Reasons to Die II and Sour Soul onto one CD with about 20 minutes of space left on the disc. There are actually three tracks out of the 13 on Twelve Reasons II that clock in at less than 60 seconds each, and two more that are shorter than two minutes each. Grouping them all together makes five songs that play through in five and a half minutes. Only two songs ("Get the Money" and "Death's Invitation") see the four minute mark on the whole album. I don't care so much about the individual song lengths, but when you add them up, the record plays start to finish in about a half hour. It's great shit; I just wish there were more of it.
Anyway, getting back into it, "Get the Money" comes next and it sounds fantastic. The prog-rock bass, guitar and drum lines may be the closest we ever get to another Mars Volta song. They're jerky and awkward in all the right places, making you want to listen to the song 10 times in a row just to make sure you can hum the bassline and groove with the drums even before you listen to the vocals. It's followed by "Death's Invitation." The intro for "Death's Invitation" has RZA narrating a scene in which Lester Kane breaks into Lou Da Luca's house only to find Ghost's ex Logan (who betrayed him to the Da Lucas on the first Twelve Reasons, which led to Tony being killed) and her son, who is secretly Tony Starks's son. Ghost kidnaps them both for ransom/revenge, outlining the plan with an a cappella verse before Adrian Younge breaks out with a 5/4 drum beat with steady accompanying bass guitar and occasional keyboard and guitar stabs. All the guest stars (Lyrics Born, Scarub and Chimp XL) rap fast and furious over the beat, which can be a bit tricky to follow but is still an incredibly unique track on the record.
With "Let the Record Spin," RZA tells us that Lester Kane offers Ghostface his body so Ghost can live again in exchange for Ghost lending his powers to Lester until their revenge is complete. Younge's wavering church keyboards take center stage on this track, which help build the image of '70s film tension and unease that are set up by the Argento-like cover art. A bloody brawl ensues on "Blackout," which features awesome Raekwon lines like "Caught up in my spell, smell exotic blend from different trees / Black gloves, bullets will fly when the nine squeeze." The music pops here as well, with another live jazzy drumbeat and more funk-inspired bass, although the spy movie keyboard is the real star.
On "Resurrection Morning" and "Life's a Rebirth," Ghostface tells Lester Kane to kill himself so Ghost can take his body. Lester agrees, but as he dies, Ghost decides instead to inhabit his own son's body so he can live again, starting life over with all the wisdom and experience of his old life and the youth and longevity of his son's. It's a wonderfully dark turn of events and a crazy twist ending, since Lester commits suicide amounting to nothing, Ghost makes the selfish decision to take over his son's body, and the boy has no say in the matter as his own life (or at least his freedom) is snuffed out by his father.
And so ends Ghostface Killah's third concept album. By the end of the record, it does seem like the journey has lasted longer than its 30 minutes. I'd like to put both Twelve Reasons albums together and listen from front to back; they're similar enough to flow together and make one epic horror-tinged mobster drama that would likely be as satisfying as it is epic. Then again, there may be a third chapter to this story...
Recommended Tracks: Return of the Savage, Get the Money.
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