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Mmmm. Way behind schedule, I picked up Iron Flag, and Wallets a couple of days ago, and haven't had time to get really intimate with 'em yet, but a few thoughts...
Production-wise, both these records are really interesting for picking up on the synthesiser/dance music influence on current hip hop in a really interesting way.
The primary reference point for the modern sound is that kind of 80s electro/early 90s techno hoover noise, and the acid-y tweak sound. These are very overtly synthetic noises and combine on a lot of records with a much stiffer beat and groove. RZA has bypassed this by still referencing dance music, but using early house as a start point instead. Both these records feature cowbells and the sort of stuttered 808 snare rhythm that a lot of early chicago house featured. He also uses that Todd Edwards/UK Garage chopped up melody trick subtly on a couple of tracks.
Now these are stylistic quirks that I've always loved from that era of music, so I like it. dunno if anyone else picked up on this? I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that RZA's engineer is DJ Choco, who is a house producer. Most other hip hop producers are referencing ecstasy culture through the bits of dance music that sound most salient to them - i.e. the synth noises, whereas RZA has an insider who knows his history to help him out, hence the difference...
I have to say that neither of these records are, to me, anywhere near these artists' best work. Iron Flag is a supremely competent album. It is full of good production, with some interesting quirks, and solid mcing. It just isn't exciting. On first listen it didn't make me want to jump up and check the name of the track that was playing (unlike the Timbaland and Magoo record, where I did this on practically every tune).
Wallets is a better record than Iron Flag, but it isn't brilliant either. Supreme Clientele will probably be the definitive Ghost album for all time, simply because he absolutely lets go - it's uninhibited rhyming. In his finest moments Ghost forgets about structure, narrative, the way ordinary people use the english language, all of that, and just rhymes. Ecstatically. The whole album is like speaking in tongues - that's its beauty. Wallets doesn't have this - he's reigned himself in a lot. And this has its own merits. i love the stories and the skewed take he has on them, but can't help but feel Raekwon's presence writ large on the record. Chef is an amazing fantasist and storyteller, and that's what this record is about. Ghost is about pure unfettered words, and although he shines through on occasion, the record felt to me like a Raekwon album with Ghostface rhyming on it, more than anything else. and I know what I'd rather have... |
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riginally posted by rizla year zero:
Ok, I'll stop now.