That's interesting, because 8 Diagrams is a considerably better record than The Big Doe Rehab. It genuinely sounds like nothing else, whereas Ghost's record is a real step down for him, pretty off the peg uninspired production no matter how great his performances are. There's nothing on Big Doe as stand out-awesome as that moment in Wolves when the music suddenly cuts out and Masta Killa delivers a near career-best drop in to just the drums.
8 Diagrams is a surprising record, and one that ultimately doesn't really work as a whole. The Clan seem to be in a subdued frame of mind, the album almost feels gentle and melancholic in places. However, like Wu-Tang Forever it feels half-finished, without the requisite attention to detail and polish to bring it up to scratch. This can be heard in the details; the number of songs that fade out rather than end (I love a skilfull fade out, hate it when they sound like someone not bothering); the number of times a track will loop without any real direction for too long after the MCs have finished; too much filler; the tiny structural gaps after an MC finishes their verse and the chorus kicks in or the next MC starts seeming like gaping holes revealing too much about how none of them were in the same room at the same time or with little time spent by RZA thinking about how to make the track sound seamless and flowing.
Plus there's far too much singing, with a lot of it being rather aimless or detracting from the rapping. Life Changes, for example, would have been far better had RZA not chosen to bracket EVERY SINGLE VERSE with that same sung chorus. I've got nothing against it as a chorus besides the manner in which it repeats far too often and cuts out the energy of what could have been a decent whole posse cut with at least the illusion of passing the mic. Perhaps this is the point, and a case could be made for its sense of the dislocation and the isolation of each MC being a more skilled evocation of grieving than many of the verses. If that's what RZA's going for then it's a brave choice that I don't really think works the way he'd intended it.
But there's a lot to like about 8 Diagrams. RZAs skill for creating atmosphere from next to nothing is still almost peerless. There's an understated sense of the unexpected, tracks veer in unanticipated directions or begin as one thing and then become something very different. The sense of tension created from deferred climaxes and subverted expectation lends it an uncomfortable, difficult presence. And there are some standout performances, with Masta Killa getting better and better with each verse and Method Man being on the best form I've heard for a while.
This is very much a Wu album in the vein of Forever. It's alternately surprising and frustrating with jaw dropping moments competing against filler, frequently witty and unpredictable, too often stodgy and half-formed. |
