Between his recent tour with Rakim, soon-to-hit-stores action figure, forthcoming book of aphorisms courtesy of MTV Press, prominent verses on the temporarily reconstituted Wu’s 8 Diagrams, and finally with The Big Doe Rehab, now is the winter of Ghostface. The most visible Wu killa bee has been riding high on acclaim both critical and common since last year’s Fishscale, and he’s cashing in like a pro. Fishscale showed GFK charging at high speed into his elder-statesman years by reasserting his place at the top of the game with furious style. Big Doe is the satisfied sound of the man remembering how much he likes it up there.
The album has more than its share of bangers and certainly beats last December’s leftovers casserole More Fish on the killer-to-filler ratio, but Ghost veers too close for comfort to the feel of his worst albums, and it’s no coincidence that those came right after his initial big breaks. Where Supreme Clientele, Ironman, and even Fishscale sprawled brilliantly (if inconsistently), Big Doe at its worst recalls the Ghost who tried to play the mainstream game by making mainstream party records like Bulletproof Wallets and The Pretty Toney Album -- too slick for their own good.
Case in point: lead single “We Celebrate,” which rides a hot, fuzzy sample of Rare Earth’s classic “I Just Want to Celebrate” but sees Ghostface squandering his listeners’ goodwill with obnoxious, uninspired lines like “I’m definitely not lookin’ for love, but if you give it to me right now, I might say I was” and Kid Capri hollering pleas to get up and get down that grate unconvincingly. Like a high school student trying his hand at a creative writing elective, Ghost keeps falling flat because he doesn’t show us how great he is, he tells us. When he sings, “We ‘bout to have a good year,” it’s easy to believe him: the marketing stars are aligned in his favor, with all kinds of products hitting shelves to back them up. But on the next song “Walk Around,” Ghost gives away a hint of uncertainty even while he tosses up some much better verses, rapping that he ain’t goin’ nowhere, he’s aight, but if anyone touches him, he’s blowin’ their heads smooth off. That’s not the kind of self-assured pronouncement you hear from a rapper who feels comfortable where he’s standing.
Wait a second, why so negative? There’s a plenitude of solid jams on Big Doe, like the lead-off “Toney Sigel” that has Ghost voting “for Oprah, Obama, and Eric B.” with Beanie Sigel providing hard support, or the imagined awards ceremony of “White Linen Affair” paying tribute to hip-hop’s brightest lights of the day. The ominous “I’ll Die For You” is an older man’s song, a rare instance of Ghost taking stock of where he’s at and how he got there. The always-reliable Raekwon once again reprises his role as Ghost’s partner-in-crime on highlights like “Rec-Room Therapy” with U-God, the sex-hijinx of “Yolanda’s House” with Method Man, and the continuing saga of Fishscale’s “Shakey Dog.” Method also throws down a great vocal hook on bonus track “Killer Lipstick,” even if the rest of the song feels a little limp. But neither MCs shine quite as brightly on “Paisley Darts,” which (with Sun God and Trife contributing verses as well) should have been a powerhouse centerpiece of the album, Ghost’s inner circle in full effect.
Can this be blamed on the production? On this song at least, probably, as with the four others produced by P. Diddy’s Hitmen, who were also responsible for the lesser beats on Jay-Z’s recent American Gangster. Sure, the nostalgia cycle is swinging back around to the ‘90s right about now, but does that mean we have to let the man responsible for some of the lamest, flattest, canned-sounding beats of that decade (claims that he “invented the remix” notwithstanding) back into the studio with our finest MCs?
But none of the Wu-Tang soldiers sound as hard and hungry here as they do on the upcoming 8 Diagrams, and while that record’s weird, druggy, schizoid vibe is bound to be more divisive than the smooth Big Doe, it’s telling that Ghost’s verses aren’t the standouts on those songs. For better and for worse, Ghostface has been distancing himself from the inner chambers of the Wu-Tang temple and ringleader RZA for years in his bid for solo stardom, and he’s seen results. But at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old head, Ghost did his best work with the classic Wu sound, which was then and is again unlike anything else out there in the electronic ether. Both the mainstream and murky sides of his work have their merits, but it’s hard not to compare and conclude that drinking deep from his success is, unsurprisingly, just plain bad for Ghost’s rhymes.
Consider his rate of flow: Can any rapper (hell, any musician) put out three full-lengths in as many calendar years and still keep a firm grip on the quality control valve? Not to harp on the admittedly minor Diddy connection, but recall what DJ Shadow had to say about “Why hip-hop Sucks in ‘96” way back on Endtroducing…: the money. We all remember who was all about the benjamins first, and more CDs released means more sales, right? Well, not any more, and the state of hip-hop today is all the better for the mainstream rap sales crash of the turn of the millennium. Sure, maybe he took some heat earlier this decade for the long delays between albums, but it’s in everyone’s interest for Ghost to be easy on the release schedule if it means less bitches-and-bling clichés coming down the pipeline.
1. At The Cabana Skit
2. Toney Sigel a.k.a. The Barrel Brothers featuring Beanie Sigel
3. Yolanda's House featuring Raekwon & Method Man
4. We Celebrate featuring Kid Capri
5. Walk Around
6. Yapp City featuring Trife Da God & Sun God
7. White Linen Affair (Toney Awards) featuring Shawn Wigs
8. Supa GFK
9. Rec-Room Therapy featuring Raekwon & U-God
10. The Prayer Performed by Ox
11. I'll Die For You
12. Paisley Darts featuring Raekwon, Sun God, Trife Da God, Method Man & Cappadonna
13. Shakey Dog Starring Lolita featuring Raekwon
14. ! Performed by Ghostface Killah and Rhythm Roots Allstars
15. Killa Lipstick featuring Method Man & Masta Killa
16. Slow Down featuring Chrisette Michele
More about: Ghostface Killah
