We dont do many reviews on this site, but every now and then something comes along that is so good - it deserves some words of praise. This CD is one of those things. When I initially received it i wasn't sure what it was going to sound like. The cover art is a bit corny, and it was one of those ideas that could either work really well, or fail miserably, Wu-Tang meets the Indie culture. I popped it in the car and rocked it to work and back for a few days. I've listened to it through about 10 times now, and there is only one track that I skip. This is a REALLY good album. Production is solid the whole way through, being handled mostly by Bronze Nazareth with contributions from Rza, DJ Noize, Allah Mathematics and Preservation. I'm not going to harp on about it too much (and i could), but imagine every really good Wu track you've heard and thats what the production is like. The list of Mc's is as long as your arm, so i'm not going to type them all out - but its an impressive roster.
Its real hard to pick stand out tracks on this one, as there are a few of them. So i'm just going to go through the whole thing with a quick note on each track. The first actual track is 'Lyrical Swords' by Gza and Ras Kass - and this proves to be a brilliant combination, which is why i guess they appear together a little later on 'Verses'. Next up is 'Slow Blues' which starts off with Vast Aire. I'm not a huge can ox fan, but the real glory on this track goes to a russian female mc by the name of 'Byata'. She kills it on this track, and again on 'Street Corners' later on. Track 4 is 'Still Grimey' ft. U God, Sean price, Prodigal Sunn and C Rayz Walz. I didn't really feel this track too much. Its ok, but not quite up to the standard of some of the others. Casual from Heiro opens up 'Think Differently', with a dope laid back verse. Tragedy Khadafi, Rock Marciano from the UN and Vordul Mega also drop heat on this one. Dope track. Next up is a team up that makes perfect sense, the Rza and MF Doom on 'Biochemical Equation', produced by the RZA. The drums only come in on the hook which began to bug me after a couple of listens. After this is a DJ tribute to Old Dirty Bastard, put together by DJ Noize. All the quotes are from Wu members with a couple of apt sound bites in there, and as you would expect from a 3 time world DMC champ - the cuts are on point. Ok, the next track I skipped every time. Its Del the funky homosapien with 'Fragments'. The off key singing at the start of the track fucks it up. It doesn't really get much better either, so i hit skip and got 'Street Corners'... which is dope. Tales of street life told over a slow and sorrowful (i think i just made up a word) beat, MC's are Bronze Nazareth, Solomon Childs and Byata. 'Listen' is next, if it were on its own - this track would be much better than it is amongst the rest of this CD. Its somewhat eclipsed by the tracks that precede and follow it. Khalid drops a nice one on it though. The next track is called 'Verses', and this is great. Scaramanga Shallah, LA the darkman, Ras Kass and the Gza. How can you fail? Especially when Ras Kass starts dropping knowledge. This moves straight into 'Preservation', produced by the man of the same name. This beat is one of the standouts to me - its just a simple piano and guitar loop with a drum, with a nice horn coming in to stir things up - but Aesop and Del's verses fit over it perfectly. 'Cars on the Interstate' is a bit more up tempo, Division keep it hyped up and it comes off well. The unlikely combination of RA the rugged man and J Live is next over 'Give it up'. RA sums it up well by saying "I can hardly believe this / i never thought i'd be rappin on no record with school teachers". They go together well though. The last track is \Black Dawn' by Bronze Nazareth, its another one of those 'good but not quite as good as the rest' tracks.
So there you go.
Mp3: 'Verses' - Scaramanga Shallah, LA the darkman, Ras Kass, Gza
