| |
|
Initial thoughts: I'm not sure it's quite as phenomenal as Supreme Clientele - but what is? It's certainly more satisfying than Bulletproof Wallets.
It's soulful as hell. Ghost is, as Jay would put it, "a real soulful dude". He's all about emotions (not to mention The Emotions). I find it fascinating that Kanye West has said that the "resurgence of the soul sound" that he made big with The Blueprint was inspired largely by Supreme Clientele, and now Kanye's self-confessed mentor No ID shows up producing a couple of tracks on Ghost's latest. I think there was a definite pressure on Ghostface to raise his game again: if hip hop has gone in a direction in which you helped point it, but you've not quite been given the credit, then maybe you need to remind them. Maybe you need to make a record that takes the soul sound a little further, deeper, higher. And I think that's what's been achieved here.
Roughly speaking, you could split the tracks on this album into two camps: there's the stuff that's really solid but familiar (either because it's in the same vein as previous Wu stuff or other current hip hop) - eg 'Biscuits' (classic '96 era Wu beat), 'Tush' with Missy getting ruder than ever, 'Run', 'Tooken Back'; and then there's the ones where the beat is basically a huge, barely cut-up slab of an old soul track, vocals and all, almost untreated, with Ghost rapping over the top. Serously, on self-produced tracks 'Holla' and 'Save Me Dear' (my favourite so far), he just lets the full verse of some Freddie Scott song or whatever play through, dusty like it was just dug out of a crate in his mom's basement, with maybe some extra drums - and he just does his thing over it. It shouldn't work, but it really does. It sounds old like something that's been left to mature: rich, tangy... Not fucking retro, though. Older than old school, if not lo-fi than certainly reminiscent of an impromptu live performance: just somebody MCing over their favourite records at a party.
My one reservation: I kinda miss the crazy freefrom abstract Picasso poetic style of lyrics that we know Ghostface can do - not that he's dumbed down - he's just going for something more direct and visceral here. Going straight for the heart, or the groin, or the fear... Which is fine, it's just I would have liked some of that 'Nutmeg' shit as well. |
|
|
