Ghostface never really fell off. Sure, Wizard of Poetry was a weird R&B debacle, and Apollo Kids had some good songs on it,
but when you’re the guy who made Ironman
and Supreme Clientele, some good
songs isn’t nearly good enough. It’s hardly a coincidence that Ironman and Supreme Clientele, his two best records, are the only two Ghostface
albums executive produced by RZA. While most of the Abbot’s beats haven’t exactly
been helping his legacy over the last few years, his vision and ability to
oversee an entire project hasn’t really diminished. That RZA is executive producing
Ghostface’s new album Twelve Reasons to Die
is just one of several reasons why it’s one of my most anticipated albums of
the year. Two other reasons: First, the album is produced by Adrian Younge, the
sonic architect behind the amazing soundtrack to Black Dynamite and his own Something
About April album. Younge produced the Delfonics’ new album, their best
since their self-titled album in 1970. The backing tracks on Adrian Younge Presents the Delfonics
sound like the kind of things that RZA would have sampled on the first round of
Wu-Tang solo albums. Adriane Younge has become better at channeling the classic
RZA sound than the RZA is these days, and he’s able to do it without
sacrificing his own style in favor of rote imitation. Fittingly, the Delfonics
appeared on “After the Smoke is Clear,” one of the best songs on Ironman, and will also be making an
appearance on at least one song on Twelve Reasons to Die.
The other reason to be excited is “The Rise of the Ghostface
Killah,” the first track released from the album. RZA delivers a great spoken
intro, and the kung-fu soundtrack beat sounds it could have been an Ironman bonus track, while Ghost is
spitting criminology raps and non-sequiturs with an urgency unseen since at
least the Fishscale days. It sounds
like Adrian Younge would probably have done a better job of scoring The Man with the Iron Fists than the RZA
did. If the other Wu-Tang members that guest on this record sound this good, and
Trife and Sheek Louch don’t show up to drag down any of the songs, we’ll have a
Wu-Tang classic on our hands. Hopefully the other generals have Younge’s number
in their rolodexes.
Twelve Reasons to Die
is out on April 16.
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