Chef Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx: Mafioso 4 the Masses (ISYMIYSMYW/O)
Written: May 25 '05 (Updated May 25 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: Solid flow, immaculate production
Cons: Raekwon and Ghostface's unimpressive voices, uninteresting subject matter
The Bottom Line: The Wu-Tang Clan will likely continue to elude and confuse me, but at least I've been convinced that at least one of their members' albums is pretty fantastic.
shilmafone's Full Review: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx [PA] by Raekwon
I don't like to admit this about too many of the albums I review on Epinions, but I know pretty much squat about what I'm sitting down to review today. Thankfully, this is largely a function of a not-so-little writeoff, put together once again by the uber-champ of Epinions Music hits, MattA75. For this year's edition of the writeoff, I was paired up with one of Epinions' foremost hip-hop writers, the most excellent paulyoungotti (whose review of this album is bound to be infinitely better than mine). I'm still looking forward to seeing which of the two choices I sent him he decides to do, but of the ones he sent me Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx stood out as the way to go. Not only did Paul describe it as "possibly the best-produced rap album ever", I have to admit the idea of any Xzibit album, even a good one, kind of turns me off a bit. I'm just not into the guy's voice.
So Raekwon it was.
Back to the "not knowing anything" thing. I have never heard an entire album by anyone even related to the Wu-Tang Clan. Maybe that helps, in that I won't be biased as to my feelings toward any individual rapper in the Wu-Tang. Or maybe it hurts, given that I don't recognize any of them except maybe for Method Man, and I mostly recognize his voice thanks to a couple of bad movies and a Limp Bizkit video.
Ouch, I know.
* * *
That said, I love what Wu-Tang members Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and RZA have done on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, an album that technically functions as Raekwon's first "solo album", but features Ghostface Killah on most of the tracks (and the cover), and RZA on constant production. It seems that perhaps Raekwon didn't quite have the confidence to go out on his own--fortunately, it's this rare (if perhaps unintentional) show of humility that ultimately turns Only Built 4 Cuban Linx into a killer album. it's relentless in its attack, as one MC often starts his lines just before the other has finished, creating a constant flow of mostly superb rhymes that, thanks to RZA's masterful production work, never stagnates or becomes "too much". There is a metric ton of well-executed sample work, much of which adds to the dialogue and the mafioso feel of the entire album. That is, if you think you heard Tony Montana in there, chances are you did.
Fly like cashmere, last year, my team caught bodies in Gravesmere
Hit a store owner named Mike Lavonia
Italiano, slanted-eyed bangin them fat Milano
Selling coke right out the bottle
Sometime, a nigga brought nines to test with minds
Crazy peace, buying keys in Greece
...
And so on. The above excerpt, from "Knowledge God", is enough to give you a pretty good idea of the subject matter of the album. This is all mafioso-style hip-hop, complete with its tales of drug dealing, organized crime, and devotion taken to extremes. Honestly, it's a subject I'm not all that interested in, but I can still see the value in it as entertainment. Does it glorify such a lifestyle? Probably. But this isn't for kids anyway. Given the mafia-style undercurrent, however, I find that I have to hold onto the sounds, and not necessarily the words that I'm hearing, and that's what Only Built 4 Cuban Linx makes so easy--plenty of solid rhymes and good production make listening a blast. There's an opening intro that briefly makes one think that the album might be an indictment of the mafioso game, though the rest of the album quickly makes it clear that that's not the case. "Knuckleheadz" and the aforementioned "Knowledge God" follow, interspersing samples of gunshots and dialogue with production based around pianos and strings. Fantastic tunes, both, but nothing compared to "Criminology", which comes next. A big, solid, horn-dominated loop introduces the song, and spooky keyboards back the verses. Raekwon and Ghostface (who go by Lex Diamond and Tony Starks, respectively) spit some aggressive lines, apparently never once stopping to breathe. Add in a long instrumental coda allowing RZA's production to take the front of the stage, and we've got ourselves a banger, people!
The album progresses in a similar way, though there are highlights aplenty. "Rainy Dayz", which features the sultry vocals of one Blue Raspberry, is a fantastic, near-epic (over six minutes!) track with absolutely insane production. RZA found the perfect loop for this one, interspersing strings with a thumpin' beat and more dialogue--it's fantastic. The desire for a different life shines through in lines like While I carry, to earn a decent salary / Soon get married, raise a family, even if most of it is more of the storytelling typical of the album. "Wisdom Body" rides a fantastic jazz-piano loop, and RZA pulls out another show-stopper in the heavily Method Man-inflected "Wu-Gambinos". As a guy who listens to hip-hop for the production at least as much as for the MCing, RZA's work is as good as advertised, a wonder to behold.
Unfortunately, the album falls off a bit on a couple of tracks on the latter half of the album. "Verbal Intercourse" features perhaps the weakest Ghostface verse on the album, as he lets loose with a few unnecessary slurs in a lazy display of verbiosity. The production on the track is uncharacteristically repetitive as well--I just can't get into it. "Ice Cream" suffers a similar fate, and besides sporting a cute metaphor and a decent loop, it mostly falls victim to many of the misogynist clichés that have turned me away from hip-hop in general in the past (a stance I have since dismissed as ignorant). Closing track "North Star (Jewels)" isn't awful, really, it just doesn't seem to do much in its four minutes, and I can't remember it for a second after it ends.
* * *
The verdict? Raekwon and his cohorts have done a pretty excellent thing here, basically putting together a hip-hop album with a mainstream sound that actually appeals to someone like myself whose interests lie pretty exclusively in the underground. Sure it gets mired a little too often in the mundane, but RZA's fantastic production more than makes up for any deficiencies that might pop up in service of the unsavory subject matter. So it's a good album. Unfortunately, it doesn't grab my attention and hold on for dear life like so many of my favorite albums. Perhaps it's my own biases, or perhaps it's the unremarkable voices of Raekwon and Ghostface (voices that have me waiting impatiently for Meth to show up by the time half the album's done), or maybe, just maybe, it's the fact that I just can't identify with it in any conceivable way, but I just can't bring myself to bestow full marks on the album. Maybe someday I'll change my mind, but for now, what Paul has managed to find for me is an album that I'll pull out every once in a while when I need a hip-hop fix, enjoy, and put back satisfied enough to not have to listen to it again for six months.
Honestly, I can think of worse things. Maybe next I'll try Liquid Swords, just to put a definitive end to the debate of which Wu-Tang solo effort is the best.
(as if anyone should listen to my opinion in that debate.)
Much love and many thanks to paulyoungotti for the most excellent pick.
* * *
But yo, guess who's the black Trump?
Dough be flowin by the hour's
Wu, we got the collars, scholars
Word life, peace to power and my whole unit
Word up! Quick to set it, don't wet it
Real niggas lick shots, peace kinetic
--"Incarcerated Scarfaces"
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