Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons To Die II

ADRIAN YOUNGE PRESENTS TWELVE REASONS TO DIE II STARRING GHOSTFACE KILLAH
I kept seeing this cover everywhere on the interweb. It's obviously a homage to 70s Italian Giallo film posters and it got me intrigued so much so that I coughed up the dough to see what Ghostface Killah is up to now, plus I heard it was pretty good. The last Wu Tang Clan related release I bought was his very own Ironman from 1996 (can you believe that's 19 years ago?). I did have taped copies of Wu Tang Clan's The W and Iron Flag and those tapes were ok but they were nowhere near the magnificence of Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) from 93 and the classic run of solo LPs from 94 to 96: Method Man's Tical, Ol' Dirty Bastard's Return To The 36 Chambers, Chef Raekwon's Only Built For Cuban Lynx, Genius/GZA's Liquid Swords & the aforementioned Ghostface classic Ironman. Apparently Ghostface Killah recorded several other post-Ironman classics (during my rap blackspot era) such as Supreme Clientele (2000), Fishscale (2006) and the first volume of Twelve Reasons To Die (2013) amongst others.

I'm used to listening to modern hip-hop with its crisp drum machines, synth keys, electronic bass and general digital textures so it's weird to hear an album like this. When I first heard 12 Reasons To Die II I thought it was deep crate digging at its finest (Ala Paul's Boutique or Entroducing) with samples of Turkish psych bass lines, Allessandroni fuzz, old funk beats from obscure 45s, strange Euro easy listening, divas from Morricone/Nicolai soundtracks, scratchy dub singles, trippy Moog sounds from library records etc. So I thought it was a sampladelic record, but on about the 3rd listen when I started listening closely, it all seemed a bit too smooth and cohesive. Upon further investigation it was revealed that the backing tracks are actually all live instrumentation (I think) from retro arranger extraordinaire Adrian Younge. So Younge has replicated a sample laden hip hop album by playing all the instruments instead of sampling them. I'm not sure if there's a point to this strategy apart from the reactions 'Wow that's quite an effort!', 'Gee These are Strange days indeed!' or 'Is he following the kind of manifesto put forth by Daft Punk on Random Access Memories, whatever that was?' Anyway Adrain Younge seems to have swallowed a cool 70s pill. Several layers of retromania are at play here. Firstly we are put it in a mid 90s Wu zone with the propulsive and intense rapping of Ghostface Killah and his chums Raekwon & RZA and the return of the Tony Starks pseudonym who originally appeared on the brilliant Only Built For Cuban Linx LP. Secondly Younge's backing trax have a Finders Keepers/Lo Recordings/Now Again etc. vibe which is both 70s and post-millennial as most of us never heard this sort of shit until it got extensively reissued in the last 20 years by the likes of these and many other record labels. Thirdly it's a live instrument recording produced by a one man producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist harking back to the days when Stevie Wonder did this kind of thing. I'm not really sure what to make of these observations. It is what it is I suppose.

Anyway when Ghostface Killah's voice appears it's like an old friend showing up like nothing's changed since the mid 90s. Raekwon is a welcome feature on five of these tunes and RZA pops up on a handful of trax too. Twelve Reasons To Die II runs at half the time of Ironman and this leaves you wanting more. Which is better than wishing a quality control editor had been employed to get rid of the filler to keep the LP more concise. I'm not really into comic books and I'm not a 100% sure what he's on about on every track but it sounds so good, what does it matter? It all adds to the Wu mystique and there are no bad tunes here. Who'd have thought Ghostface Killah would be making one of the best hip hop albums of 2015? Dunno, but he has.

Rap Mixtapes - Influx Inertia

They were counting down the days by the second at Datpiff for the release of Luca Brasi 2 by Kevin Gates and I got caught up in the anticipation too. I think I ended up downloading it in the middle of the night. I mean I didn't set the alarm or anything, it just so happened I couldn't sleep. I was looking forward to it though. I still don't get why such quality releases are free. I guess it's hard to stop the pirates so why not? Some of these free mixtapes are for sale as well. In my list of best LPs/Mixtapes of 2014 sixteen of the thirty six were given away free via Datpiff, Live Mixtapes etc. They have become such quality documents I decided to put them along side the proper album releases. I think it was Lil Wayne who started the trend of making mixtapes of such high standard. He even used to say the accompanying mixtapes released around the same time as his proper LPs were better than the official releases.

I've still got around 20 mixtapes in my 'inbox of new mixtapes' playlist that I haven't had enough time to give proper listens to. They're just the recent 2014 ones I've downloaded. A stack more await downloading but it's starting to get ridiculous. Then there are the recommended classic mixtapes as well from like the past 15 years or so. I only got into this scene in the last few years so I've got a bit of catching up to do. I went off hip-hop post Ironman for some reason. I love Ironman so it was probably Wu Tang Forever that stopped me in my rap tracks.

It's starting to get a bit like DJs who I used to see in the specialist dance record shops in the 90s who'd play 20 seconds of a track and have to decide yay or nay, right then and there. I used to think they must miss heaps of good shit especially in the hardcore/jungle scene where the best bits might not happen until 2 or 3 minutes in. Anyway I've had to say nay to Salva, Blanco Huslah Kokane and Og Maco recently so they've been deleted. They may have grown on me but I feel I have to be ruthless. I've said Yay to Kevin Gates Luca Brasi 2, Travi$ Scott's Days Before Rodeo, Zuse's Illegal Immigrant, King Louie's Soprano and YP Spoelstra's Heat Vol 3. Those five artists have good track records though. So once they get the yay they have to await proper evaluation at a later date. Then we've got "the I dunno?" category which is kind of a purgatory for mixtapes. Starlito's Theories, WhoKid Woody's R.E.A.L, Archive Nation a compilation hosted by Lil Silk, AD's Comptonfornia 2 and Dej Loaf's Sell Sole all sound alright but they have to wait until their time comes after the Yays have had their proper listening time. By the time I get around to "the I dunnos" though a whole new batch of mixtapes will be vying for my attention as well as proper rap releases (like Starlito's Black Sheep Don't Grin which sounds pretty good!) and non rap zone releases (The Moon Wiring Club parcel finally arrived). So they may not get a second chance. Hey they are just the ones I've given a go! Still waiting in the wings we've got Archibald Slim, Cheif Keef, Boogie, Future, Sauce Twinz, The Guys, Goldlink, YG, Lil Herb, A$AP Ferg and the list goes on and on some more.

As good as Bullet?

So I can't even give proper reviews to Kevin Gates (sounds good so far, a bit of a cleaner sound but I dunno if it's up there with his past 3 classics: The Luca Brasi Story, Stranger Than Fiction or By Any Means. I mean that's a pretty hard task right there innit?) or Zuse (I don't know if it's as good as Bullet yet). I have finally given King Louie's Soprano a good listen and can say it's the goods. More like a trad rap companion to the more futuristic Tony. That's as deep as I can go at this point.

More good shit from King Louie.

It all reminds me a bit of that story (Sartre maybe?) of the guy who decided to read an entire library but by the time he died he was only up to the authors beginning with the letter E or something like that. This is just a microcosm of the information overload age. I have other interests too (er..well other types of music obviously, footy, wildlife documentaries, philosophy &....well that's about it really) but....

Swamped, inundated, overwhelmed!

Funcrusher Plus - Company Flow

HIP HOP I IGNORED PART 4

I always meant to check this album out. It was critically acclaimed but I guess I never heard it on the radio so I never got around to it. I don't really know what I was expecting as I'd forgotten what all the fuss was about. I think I was expecting some kind of futuristic hip hop informed by Autechre. God knows why. Perhaps I had them mixed up with another group. When I first put the cd in the tray I was a little daunted at the running time of 75 minutes. That's almost twice as long as Illmatic by Nas. I knew there was a white guy on the beats (El-P) and a couple of African American dudes (Big Jus & Mr Len) in the posse. This LP is not really similar to the other 3 albums in this series (Nas, Geto Boys and DJ Paul & Lord Infamous). I don't think they say 'nigga' or 'bitch' until about halfway through the record. Bewildered would be the best word to describe how I felt when it started. Thinking "Another 75 minutes of this? F*%$! What have I got myself into? Is this the underground rap that's meant to be shite?" Persevere I have. It took about ten listens to eventually start getting it. Not listening to Funcrusher Plus in it's time of release makes it hard to pinpoint innovations and where it fits. It was recorded between 95-97. Some of it is contemporaneous with Wu-Tang Clan I guess but not really a step beyond that.

1997 was a strange year for music and for me. I got off the Hardcore Continuum and pretty much missed tech-step (well the records anyway which I later returned to and now rate highly) and speed garage (I tried but...). 1997 was the year I disengaged from the rap scene as well and perhaps there was a reason for that ie. not much good rap. Which could explain why Company Flow were seen as messiahs by some. Wu-Tang Clan released a double cd which I never listened to due to its absurd length and still haven't. The last rap albums for me were Ghostface Killah's Ironman and New Kingdom's Paradise Don't Come Cheap. R&B was in its ascendancy. Timbaland, Aaliyah and Missy Elliot had arrived with The Neptunes and Destiny's Child about to enter pop culture. Germany was still where it was at with arty electronica (Mouse On Mars, Farmers Manuel, To Rococo Rot et al.), to the mellow tech sounds of Basic Channel/Chain Reaction and then onto the more extreme music from labels like Cold Rush, PCP and anything by Marc Acardipane and his several hundred monikers. Nick Cave, Spiritualised, Daft Punk, Royal Trux, Autechre and Portishead all released great LPs. Reissues were becoming more frequent with excellent re-releases from Yoko Ono, The Monks, La Dusseldorf (who I'd never heard!), Pharaoh Sanders, Lee Scratch Perry etc.

Bad Touch Example brings the bad vibes you were expecting from an album with a title like Funcrusher Plus. Haunted beats and distant horns blaze in the background while words are thrown at you at a hundred miles an hour. The best bit is when they say candyman 5 times in the mirror. Some of the references are so 90s like Maggie Simpson, Ricky Lake and Baby Jessica (did she fall down a well?). So I was thinking this LP going to be some kind of funny horrorcore lite, wrong! 8 Steps To Perfection is next and god knows what it's about. Trying to be clever but not catchy. Is that the meaning of underground rap? It's got some nice beats though with little computer game noises and a really cool atmospheric loop that sets a strange vibe. Collude/Intrude begins with distorted commands, an unbelievably funky beat, scratching and disorientating vocal effects. This tune is about some sort of science fiction military football match against a major record company. Aren't they all? Blind's got more reverbed effects. Oh....and hang on....I think they've written a hook on this line "I wanna be payed MC Beserker/Fancy tyin to eat just living". Gee this is almost pop. I'm confused by one of the other lines "Every bloodline is tainted/Signifying malignant raps/Who with bad intentions of Boogeymen and death as a source of laughter." Are they having a go at Horrorcore and Gangsta or are they talking about themselves? More importantly do I care? No. Silence has got a fabulous deep bendy bass sample, choice beats and much scratching. This could get played out on the dancefloor I reckon. Legends is more anti-major label shit. Company Flow claim their style is bizarre (usually if you have to point this out you're not) and independent as fuck (like that's supposed to be meaningful). Sonically there's a great clanky guitar/bass line and some noisy abstract samples. In the final minute it gets into some classic cacophonous scratching. Help Wanted is a sampledelic intro to Population Control with a kind of Brave New World scenario. A classic slowed down tough def jam beat is mixed with eerie samples, aquatic sounds and an off kilter piano loop which makes Population Control a backing track that could have been put together by Moon Wiring Club. The lyrics are kinda 2000AD futuristic but place the song firmly in the 90s with mentions of Bill Gates, Ted Turner and Keyser Soze. Then I'm starting to think they're homophobic with use of the term faggot in a derogatory fashion and not for the first time. Lune TNS is a tribute to graffiti artists and b-boys in NYC with a plinky plonky backing courtesy of a sample from ambient guru Steve Roach. Definitive is more anti major label shtick amongst sci-fi ideas. You get the feeling they only became indie after having major labels slam doors in their faces. Having few hooks and clunky raps would've helped those doors slam. This route to becoming indie is hardly likely to endear you to hardcore indie followers. Anyway I quite like this track with its minimal keyboard, beat, scratching and the top line 'My style Is War & Peace/You're shit is just cliff notes.' This is only halfway through this double LP.

89.9 Detrimental sounds like one minute of a rap battle that Company Flow lost. Vital Nerve features BMS as guest rapper, whoever he may be? Now this is good and the catchiest tune so far giving Raekwon and Ghostface a run for their money, at last. El-p bragging that he's been the 'nastiest MC since birth' over a stark bassline and beat. Is it too little too late though? This is followed by a sprawling epic Tragedy of war. It references Waterworld, Storm Troopers, DEA, Drug smugglers, Jackson Pollock and Watership Down? Strange beat change ups make me like this one a lot. A difficult unfunky beat begins The Fire In Which You Burn. Sitar samples add to the mess along with incoherent raps with too many words. Chorus alert! Krazy Kings has one along with some cool synth stabs. Lyrically it follows their space age hood jams template. Last Good Sleep delves into the darkness with dystopian sounds and a creepin beat. This all adds to the tale of this urban nightmare of alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Info Kill II has another dark creepin beat with terrific synth lines and is one of the more instantly likable tunes on Funcrusher Plus. This tune does actually have a 90s IDM vibe. This is the sort of track I was expecting before I ever put the record on. Hey, it only took 18 tracks to get there. Funcrush Scratch brings proceedings to a close. This is a dark scratching jam fitting with the mid/late 90s turntablism revival and Return of the DJ etc.

All in all pretty much a disappointment. I cannot believe this was so revered. Some editing would have made this an ok single LP. It's hard to imagine kids now going back to it and digging it and using it as an influence. Usually the most dumb arse shit ends up appealing to the following generations see Black Sabbath and AC/DC over Yes and ELP, Darkside over intelligent D&B etc. So I advise you to check out early to mid 90s rap from Memphis as a tonic to get over having to listen to Company Flow.
  

RE: The Wu

Genius is GZA right?

I always thought the GZA was the RZA or The Genius was the RZA. Didn't some of The Wu-Tang Clan have more than one pseudonym? Anyway Genius/GZA's LP Liquid Swords possibly the best Hip Hop record of the 90s and probably the best in The Wu winning streak from Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) through to Ghostface Killah's Iron Man. And that is a tough call as there were 7 gems from 93-96. Anyway Liquid Swords did not even make it into The Wire's end of year lists at the end of 95. The Chef made it into the top 10 but Genius/GZA was conspicuous by his absence. In NME and Melody Maker it faired better but c'mon it should have been somewhere in the top 3!

I'll leave it at just 3 but I coulda' put the lot up here!

17 years later still sounds ahead of the game!

This is the shit!

Fo shizzle!

Do they still say that?

Wu-Tang Clan/Trace & Nico

*The whole point of mentioning Ol' Dirty Bastard the other day was the Wu-Tang Clan connection with a track off the Torque record. The song in question Damn Son by Trace & Nico contains a sample from Raekwon's Only Built For Cuban Linx LP....er which I forgot to mention. I thought yeah I know that sample but it took me a while to pinpoint it. I thought it was ODB but it wasn't then I put on Only Built For Cuban Linx and there it was. A funny bit to sample really. Whatever works I suppose. Here's the two tracks in question!

 

 

 

How could I resist?

Wu Gambinos

Fave track off that record!

 

I'm Livin' In The 90s

Still in 90s zones, I pulled out ODB's debut record the other day. How fuckin' funny is he? Scary & hilarious! He died right? I must check that out. I'm pretty sure he'd already been shot by the time Return To The 36 Chambers had been recorded. He's one of a kind The Old Dirty Bastard. He had me laughing out loud on the tram the other day. Anyone who can make me smile whilst commuting is ok in my book and I do have a book.



Psychotically Hilarious!

The word commute always makes me think of Lipstick Traces, Greil Marcus's peculiar opus on Johnny Rotten's voice and everything that could have possibly been connected to it. Commuting often in its loneliness and isolation reveals to me that I am part of a huge pulsating industrial monolith that doesn't necessarily need me and can spit me out at any moment without a care. Whoah!, that got heavy all of a sudden.